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Manufacturing IT support in the UK typically costs between £60–£150 per user/month, and includes far more than basic helpdesk services.
A specialist provider should cover 24/7 monitoring, cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery.
For a manufacturing business with 20–100 employees, this often equates to £1,500–£10,000/month, depending on complexity, number of sites, and machinery integration.
The key difference from standard IT support is the ability to reduce costly downtime (often £1,000+ per hour) and support both office IT and production environments.
24/7 system monitoring
Remote & onsite support
Typical response times: 15–90 minutes
Unlimited vs capped / Hourly support models
Endpoint protection & ransomware defence
Network segmentation (IT vs OT environments)
Email security & phishing protection
Compliance with Cyber Essentials / ISO 27001 etc.
33% of UK manufacturing firms experienced cyber incidents in 2025
Daily backups (cloud + local hybrid)
Recovery Time Objectives (RTO): < 4 hours typical
Recovery Point Objectives (RPO): < 1 hour typical
Downtime prevention planning
ERP systems (e.g. Sage, SAP, etc.)
MRP software
CAD file storage & performance optimisation
Server and database management
It is often recommended you go to a specialist software hour for the main platforms and keep the general day-2-day support separate.
CNC machines, PLCs, SCADA systems
Network connectivity to machinery
Legacy system support
IT/OT integration
Hardwired and Wi-Fi networks must be managed to control and legacy devices.
Small (10–25 users): £1,000–£2,500/month
Medium (25–75 users): £2,000–£6,000/month
Larger (75+ users): £5,000–£10,000+/month
Include variables:
Number of sites
Machinery integration
Compliance requirements
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Do they support both IT and OT environments?
Can they demonstrate downtime reduction results?
Do they offer clear SLAs and response guarantees?
For over 20 years Syn-Star has been supporting manufacturing businesses.
We have over 80 clients we support on a monthly, fully managed basic.
Certifications:
Coverage Area:
South UK
Hampshire
Surrey
West Sussex
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A UK engineering firm based near Basingstoke with 45 employees across 2 sites was experiencing 3–5 hours of downtime per month, per site, costing them approximately £3,000–£5,000/month in lost production.
After implementing proactive monitoring, network upgrades, and backup systems, downtime was reduced by 72% within 90 days.
Quantify impact:
Most UK manufacturing businesses pay between £60 and £150 per user/month, depending on complexity. A 30-user company typically invests £2,000–£5,000 per month, with higher costs for multi-site operations or shop floor integration.
Yes—but only specialist providers. Manufacturing-focused IT support includes legacy hardware ensuring stable connectivity and minimal downtime across production environments.
Standard IT support focuses on office systems, while manufacturing IT support includes both IT and operational technology (OT). This means supporting production-critical systems, reducing downtime, and ensuring machinery connectivity.
Most specialist providers offer 15–90 minute response times, with critical production issues prioritised immediately. Many include 24/7 monitoring (not 24/7 support) to prevent issues before they cause downtime.
Manufacturing IT support typically includes hourly, daily backups with hybrid cloud storage. Most providers aim for a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) under 4 hours and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) under 1 hour to minimise production loss.
Yes. A proactive IT strategy can reduce downtime by 50–90%, depending on current systems. With downtime often costing £1,000+ per hour, this delivers significant ROI.
Some specialist providers support systems like Sage, SAP, and industry-specific MRP platforms, ensuring performance, uptime, and secure access for production teams.
Syn-Star support the environments, but not the actual software and settings within the products.
Yes. Manufacturing businesses face unique risks such as ransomware targeting production systems and supply chain attacks. Effective IT support includes network segmentation, endpoint protection, and compliance with Cyber Essentials.
In most cases, no. If your production runs outside standard hours, 24/7 monitoring and support helps prevent costly overnight downtime and ensures issues are resolved before the next shift. However most It is for building and sending jobs to machines. So if the machines are just running through the night, there is not a requirement for 24/7 support.
Look for:
Proven experience with manufacturing systems and environments
Ability to support both IT and OT
Clear SLAs (response times and guarantees)
Evidence of downtime reduction results
Giles Cleverley founded Syn-Star in 2002 shortly after graduating from Portsmouth university with an honours degree in Business & Economics.
His extensive knowledge and experience in IT strategy and business technology solutions. He is passionate about driving innovation and delivering tailored IT support that helps UK small and medium size businesses thrive. Under his leadership, Syn-Star continues to provide cutting-edge managed IT services designed to meet the evolving needs of modern organisations.
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