Resources · Return on Investment

IT as a Service ROI calculator

See how much time and money IT incidents cost your business, and what you get back when Overwatch One resolves incidents remotely or prevents them. Change any number and the results update instantly.

Inputs

Enter your values. Results update as you type.

Use industry benchmarks

Incidents per monthYour own count

Average incident resolution time minutes

% of incidents resolved by ITResolved remotely or prevented by Overwatch One IT as a Service. Assumption: 25% if left blank %

Investment per yearYour yearly IT as a Service investment $

Average hourly payOr enter a yearly salary below $/hr

Average annual salaryConverts to hourly: salary ÷ 2,088 hours $/yr

Lost wages & revenue

Number of employeesTotal. Optional, leave blank to skip the lost-wages line

Employees affected per incidentStaff who can’t work during an incident. Follows your number of employees until you change it

% of work lostHow much of their work stops during an incident. Assumption: 100% if left blank %

Average revenue per hour (what you sell hourly)Optional. Leave blank to skip the revenue line $/hr

True hourly cost

Use true hourly costAdds benefits on top of wages: hourly pay × benefits load

Benefits loadAssumption: 1.43 if left blank. BLS private industry: $46.89 total compensation ÷ $32.82 wages ≈ 1.43 (ECEC, June 2026) ×

Breach risk (optional)

Expected yearly breach lossYour own estimate. Leave blank to skip $

Assumed risk reductionYour assumption, not a benchmark. 0% if left blank %

Options

Count break-fix labor avoidedAdds the break-fix labor you would no longer pay for incidents resolved by IT to total value

Range assumptionLow–high band around the point estimate. Assumption: ±30% if left blank ±%

Savings

Estimated ROI per year

—

Enter your numbers to see results: incidents per month, average incident resolution time, investment per year, and hourly pay or salary.

Range: — (±30% assumption)

Total value per year: — · Payback: —

ROI results
Result	Value
Time
Total hours spent on incidents per month
Total hours spent on incidents per year
Hours saved through IT/month
Hours saved through IT/year
Cost of incidents
One full-time employee’s yearly payHourly pay × 2,088 hours
Hourly cost usedHourly pay, × benefits load when true cost is on
Average lost wages (per incident)Affected × hourly cost × downtime hours × % of work lost
Average lost wages per year
Potential revenue loss (per incident)Revenue per hour × downtime hours
Potential revenue loss per year
Savings per year
IT savings per yearHours saved through IT/year × hourly cost
Lost wages savedLost wages per year × % resolved by IT
Revenue loss avoidedRevenue loss per year × % resolved by IT
Breach risk reducedBreach loss × assumed reduction
Break-fix labor avoidedOverwatch labor per incident × incidents resolved by IT
Total value per year
Investment per year
ROI per year(Total value − investment) ÷ investment
Payback periodInvestment ÷ (total value ÷ 12)

Estimate summary

IT as a Service investment per year
Overwatch labor (per incident)$300 covers up to 2 hours, then $100/hr
Overwatch labor per yearBreak-fix labor for incidents not resolved by IT
Estimated total per year

Break-fix vs IT as a Service

Break-fix labor per yearEvery incident billed at break-fix rates
IT as a Service investment
Difference

IT as a Service includes free unlimited remote support. Call, text, or email and we’ll remote in at no extra charge.

Hours per year

Results are estimates based only on the numbers you enter. They are not a guarantee of savings or results.

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Formula

Downtime hours per incident = average incident resolution time ÷ 60
Incidents per year = incidents per month × 12
Total hours spent on incidents per month = incidents × minutes ÷ 60 (per year × 12)
Hours saved through IT = hours spent × % resolved by IT
Hourly cost = hourly pay, or hourly pay × benefits load when true hourly cost is on. Hourly pay = annual salary ÷ 2,088.
IT savings per year = hours saved through IT/year × hourly cost
Average lost wages per year = employees affected × hourly cost × downtime hours per incident × % of work lost × incidents per year
Potential revenue loss per year = revenue per hour × downtime hours per incident × incidents per year
Lost wages saved = lost wages per year × % resolved by IT; revenue loss avoided = revenue loss per year × % resolved by IT
Breach risk reduced = expected yearly breach loss × assumed reduction %
Overwatch labor per incident = $300 + max(0, downtime hours − 2) × $100 (120 min = $300, 180 min = $400, 60 min = $300)
Overwatch labor per year = labor per incident × incidents not resolved by IT; break-fix labor per year = labor per incident × all incidents
Break-fix labor avoided = labor per incident × incidents resolved by IT (counted only when you switch it on)
Total value = IT savings + lost wages saved + revenue loss avoided + breach risk reduced (+ break-fix labor avoided)
ROI per year = (total value − investment) ÷ investment; payback (months) = investment ÷ (total value ÷ 12)
Range = total value × (1 ± range %), with ROI and payback recalculated at each end

Key assumptions

All inputs start empty and are your own numbers. We don’t pre-fill incident counts or durations from industry averages.
If you leave an assumption blank, the calculator uses the default shown in grey: 25% resolved by IT, 100% of work lost, 1.43 benefits load, 0% breach risk reduction, ±30% range. The PDF marks any default that was used.
Downtime per incident equals the average incident resolution time.
Average lost wages assumes the affected staff are paid while they can’t work, scaled by the % of work lost.
Potential revenue loss assumes sales stop completely during downtime. If you can still sell (cash, paper orders), lower your revenue per hour.
IT savings per year counts the time of whoever handles the incident (the line in our original sheet). Count other idle staff under employees affected so no one is counted twice.
A full-time year is 2,088 hours (40 hours × 52.2 weeks), as in our original sheet.
The benefits load (default 1.43) comes from BLS total compensation ÷ wages. Industry presets use their own BLS ratio.
Overwatch labor for incidents that still need hands-on work is paid under break-fix or IT as a Service alike, so it appears in the estimate summary but not in ROI. ROI only counts value that changes.
The low–high range is an assumption (default ±30%), not a statistical confidence interval.
Breach loss and its reduction are entirely your own estimates. We don’t pre-fill breach costs.

Benchmark sourcing

Industry presets fill hourly pay, salary, and the benefits load from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, Table 4: private industry workers by occupational and industry group, June 2026. Staff counts in presets are examples, not benchmarks. Edit them to match your business.

Industry presets and BLS sources
Preset	BLS series (Table 4)	Wages /hr	Total comp /hr	Load	Salary (× 2,088)
Restaurants & Hospitality	Accommodation and food services industry	$16.18	$20.03	1.24×	$33,784
Healthcare & Medical	Health care and social assistance industry	$35.13	$49.93	1.42×	$73,351
Professional Services	Professional, scientific, and technical services industry	$51.88	$75.97	1.46×	$108,325
Construction & Contracting	Construction industry	$36.13	$51.96	1.44×	$75,439
Legal & Law Firms	Professional, scientific, and technical services industry	$51.88	$75.97	1.46×	$108,325
Education	Educational services industry	$40.16	$55.85	1.39×	$83,854
Non-Profit	Other services industry	$28.11	$37.95	1.35×	$58,694
Residential	Private industry workers	$32.82	$46.89	1.43×	$68,528

Default benefits load 1.43: private industry total compensation $46.89/hr ÷ wages $32.82/hr (benefits about 30% of compensation). Source: BLS ECEC news release, June 2026.
Legal & Law Firms and Non-Profit use the closest published BLS group, because BLS doesn’t publish them separately. Residential uses the all-private-industry average as an example value of your time.
The grey example hints (3 incidents, 120 minutes, 25%, $12,000, $150/hr) and the 2,088-hour year come from Overwatch One’s original ROI sheet. Overwatch labor rates ($300 per incident up to 2 hours, then $100/hr) are Overwatch One’s rates.
Method references: the lost-wages line follows the common downtime formula of people affected × hourly cost × duration (IsDown downtime cost calculator). The ±30% range follows the band used by Tideline Insights’ ROI calculator.

Why this matters

For a small business, IT incidents rarely show up as one big bill. They show up as a register that won’t print, a laptop that won’t connect, or a front desk waiting on a reboot, with a few people stuck at a time. This calculator puts those hours and dollars in one place so you can see what an incident really costs you, compare break-fix labor with a predictable yearly investment, and decide what makes sense. If the numbers say IT as a Service isn’t worth it for you yet, that’s useful to know too.

Want to see your real numbers? Book an assessment or Ask Scout.

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