Alex Mailer

Network administration can vary in complexity. In house administration can give you more flexibility, but you may wind up with a lower level of expertise. If network administrators make between $36,000-$60,000 then, with benefits, the cost of these people will be between $46,800-$78,000. If your network outsource vendor charges between $75-200 per hour (the average nationwide is close to $150/hour), then these salaries would yield 312-520 hours or about one quarter of a year. You will want to do this calculation for your local market salaries and network administration labor rates. Hold an amount in reserve to support your in house network administration to contract for outside expertise when this is required.

A correctly installed network takes minimal day-to-day intervention. For a network of 5-20 users, we suggest that there will be 20-30 minutes/day and around 1 hour once/week.

The number of support people will depend on the complexity of your network. A good rule of thumb is one technical support person for every 50 PCs, and one support person for every 3 servers in use. A network of 100 stations and 6 servers performing different functions would probably need 4 technical people working as a team to take care of hardware, software, and training issues. These technical people will make all the other people much more efficient. For a smaller network, let’s say 25 stations and 1 server, there is probably only about a half-time job for network administration.