This post explains what a Fixed Managed Service Provider (FMSP) retainer actually looks like for that kind of business — what we deploy, what we charge, and what you should expect when a device lands on our bench.
Why Apple-First Businesses Need a Different Kind of Support
A generic IT reseller in Bryanston will quote you for a Windows fleet, a Synology, and a Sophos firewall, and they will do a reasonable job until the day a partner walks in with a M3 MacBook Pro and asks why FileVault is fighting with their Microsoft 365 sign-in. We have seen this exact scenario more times than we can count. Apple hardware is not difficult to manage, but it does not respond well to being treated as if it were a Dell.
A medical practice on Club Street running fourteen iMacs and a handful of iPads at reception needs Apple Business Manager linked correctly to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Jamf or Jamf School pushing configuration profiles, and a sensible backup story that survives a four-hour load shedding stretch. A law firm near the Victory Park campus needs encrypted device enrolment, conditional access, and a clear POPIA-aligned record of who accessed what. A jeweller off Glenhove Road needs point-of-sale iPads that do not wander off the network every time the fibre flickers.
These are not exotic problems. They are just Apple problems, and they need someone who lives in the Apple ecosystem daily.
What an FMSP Retainer Actually Covers
Our fixed-monthly fleet plans are built around three layers.
The first layer is device management. We enrol every Mac, iPhone and iPad into Apple Business Manager and bind them to a Jamf or Jamf School tenant. That gives us zero-touch deployment — a new MacBook Air arrives at your reception, the user signs in, and within twenty minutes the machine has the right apps, the right Wi-Fi profile, FileVault encryption, Sophos endpoint protection, and the user's Microsoft 365 mailbox configured. No technician visit. No USB sticks.
The second layer is identity and email. Microsoft 365 Business Premium gives us conditional access, Intune co-management for the Windows stragglers most practices still have (usually a single accounting workstation), and proper mailbox retention. We configure multi-factor authentication on every account, set up SharePoint document libraries with sensible permissions, and lock down legacy authentication protocols that attackers love.
The third layer is monitoring and response. Sophos endpoint agents report into a central console we watch. We get alerts on failed backups, unusual sign-ins, and devices that drop off the management plane. When something breaks at 16:45 on a Friday, you do not have to phone around — we are already aware.
For most practices in the Linksfield and Victory Park corridors, an FMSP retainer sits somewhere between R7,500 and R28,000 a month depending on headcount and complexity. Ad-hoc work outside the retainer is billed from approximately R899 per hour. Hardware diagnostics start from R599 assessment, and that fee is credited against any repair you authorise.
Hardware Repair Is Part of the Same Conversation
This is where a lot of managed service providers fall short. They will manage your fleet beautifully but when a MacBook Pro takes a coffee spill at the practice on Ridge Road, they send it to a third-party shop and add a margin. We do the repair ourselves. Our workshop has handled more than 18,000 Apple repairs across MacBooks, iMacs, iPads and iPhones since we opened, and that experience feeds directly back into the managed service.
If a device comes in with a logic board repair requirement — say a failed power management IC on a M1 MacBook Air, which we see often — we can usually quote within 48 hours and turn it around inside a week. Liquid damage recovery is a separate workflow: ultrasonic cleaning, board-level inspection under a microscope, component replacement where corrosion has eaten traces. We offer up to 3-year warranty on component-level board repairs we perform in-house, which is something the Apple authorised channel cannot match because their model is whole-unit swap, not repair.
For reference on what Apple themselves recommend versus what is actually repairable at component level, the Apple Support site is useful for verifying serial numbers and warranty status, but it will not tell you that your R45,000 MacBook with a R22,000 board quote from Apple can often be repaired for a fraction of that.
The Local Geography Matters More Than You Think
We are based in Hyde Park Johannesburg, roughly fifteen minutes from the Sandton pre-primary campus, twenty from Victory Park, and twenty-five from Linksfield depending on the M1 traffic. That proximity is the whole point. When a partner's iMac will not boot the morning of a hearing, we can have a courier or a technician on site faster than any nationally franchised operation.
We also know the building stock. The medical suites along Club Street and the older office parks around Glenhove and Oxford Roads have specific quirks — fibre handover points in awkward cupboards, ageing electrical reticulation that punishes power supplies, generator transfer switches that need surge protection upstream of every workstation. The professional offices near the Victory Park campus, especially the converted residential properties, often have Wi-Fi coverage problems that no amount of Jamf configuration will fix without proper access point placement.
These are the small things that turn an IT contract from acceptable to actually useful.
Pricing Transparency: No Surprises on the Invoice
We publish our rates and we stick to them. Ad-hoc support is billed from R899 per hour, in fifteen-minute increments after the first hour. Hardware assessments start from R599 assessment and are credited against approved repairs. FMSP retainers are quoted fixed-monthly after a free scoping session, and they include unlimited remote support within agreed scope, quarterly on-site reviews, and discounted hardware rates.
What we will not do is bill you for the same problem twice. If a Mac came back from us last month and the same fault recurs, that is on us. If we recommended a backup configuration and it failed because we configured it wrong, we restore it without charge and we tell you what we got wrong.
POPIA compliance is built into how we operate. We sign data processing agreements with every practice, we keep a register of devices and users we have access to, and we can produce an audit trail when your information officer needs one.
What to Expect When You Drop a Device Off
Bring the device to our Hyde Park workshop or arrange a collection. We log it into our ticketing system, photograph it, and issue you a job number by SMS and email. Diagnostics begin the same day in most cases. Within 24 to 48 hours you receive a written quote — not a phone call where you have to remember numbers, but an itemised PDF with parts, labour, warranty terms and turnaround time.
If you approve, we proceed. If you do not, we return the device at no further cost beyond the R599 assessment. No pressure, no upsell.
For managed clients, the process is even simpler: we collect, repair, and return, and the cost either falls inside your retainer or is itemised on your next monthly invoice.
To get a scoping conversation booked, you can contact us directly, WhatsApp us on 064 529 5863, or book online at zasupport.com/book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How quickly can you onboard our practice onto an FMSP retainer?
For a team of under twenty users on an Apple-first fleet, we typically complete onboarding within ten to fourteen working days. That includes Apple Business Manager setup, Jamf enrolment, Microsoft 365 tenant review, Sophos deployment, and a documentation handover. Larger or more complex environments take three to four weeks.
Q: Do we need to replace all our existing hardware to be managed?
No. We work with what you have. Most of the practices we onboard near the Linksfield and Victory Park campuses have a mix of three to six year old Macs alongside newer machines, and we manage all of them through the same Jamf tenant. We will flag devices that are genuinely at end-of-life, but we do not push hardware refreshes you do not need.
Q: What happens during load shedding?
We design every environment with load shedding in mind. That means UPS units sized correctly for your network equipment, cloud-first document storage so nobody loses work when a Mac shuts down unexpectedly, and mobile failover for fibre where the practice cannot afford downtime. For sites with generators, we make sure surge protection is in place upstream of sensitive equipment.
Q: Can you support our Windows machines too?
Yes. Most of the businesses we manage have at least one Windows device — usually an accounting workstation running Pastel or Sage. We handle Intune enrolment, patching, and endpoint protection on those alongside the Macs. We are Apple-first, not Apple-only.
Q: How do you handle POPIA compliance for medical practices?
We sign a data processing agreement that sets out exactly what data we have access to and why. We maintain device and user inventories, log administrative actions, and can produce reports when your information officer requires them. We do not access patient records — our access is limited to the infrastructure layer.
Q: What is the warranty on repairs done under our managed service?
Component-level repairs carried out in our Hyde Park workshop carry up to 3-year warranty depending on the component and the nature of the fault. Whole-unit replacements and parts sourced from Apple carry the standard manufacturer warranty. Either way, the warranty terms are written into your quote before you approve any work.
