The True Total Cost of Ownership of IT and Cybersecurity Services in Wealth Management
Why RIAs Should Look Beyond the Sticker Price When Choosing a Technology Partner
Executive Summary
When Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) evaluate potential IT and cybersecurity partners, the first question often asked is deceptively simple: “What’s the monthly fee?” That figure, while easy to compare across vendors, rarely represents the full financial picture.
Many IT providers use low monthly retainers as a marketing hook, then make up the difference through a steady stream of project-based fees for activities like migrations, new office setups, server transitions and more. Over time, these unplanned expenses can easily exceed the supposed savings of a lower base rate.
In contrast, boutique, all-inclusive providers such as Alles Technology follow a partnership model that emphasizes predictability and transparency. Our pricing incorporates nearly all project work into a single, comprehensive monthly fee. Although the initial cost may appear higher, the absence of per-project billing, combined with proactive service delivery and a hospitality-driven culture, often translates to lower long-term costs, reduced downtime, and a more stable operating environment.
This paper explores how the “sticker price illusion” of IT services can distort cost expectations and demonstrates how RIAs can achieve greater control and continuity through a holistic approach to technology management.
The RIA Technology Landscape: Complexity and Risk on the Rise
The modern RIA operates in a far more complex environment than even five years ago. Regulatory expectations under SEC regulations and cybersecurity disclosure rules have heightened scrutiny over data privacy and incident response. Simultaneously, the industry’s rapid shift to cloud-based infrastructure, hybrid work models, and digital client service has made IT both more critical, fragile and difficult to manage.
Firms also face growing external pressure from cyber insurance carriers, regulators and custodians, which increasingly require formalized risk controls, documentation, and continuous monitoring before underwriting coverage, passing exams and meeting requirements. At the same time, advisors and their clients expect near-perfect uptime and seamless collaboration across locations.
In this environment, your core technology is now becoming strategic infrastructure, and requires a much more heightened focus. RIAs that continue to treat IT and cybersecurity as commodity functions, purchased primarily on cost, often pay significantly more in the long run through lost productivity, compliance deficiencies, and reactive emergency spending.
The Two IT Models: Predictable Partnership vs. Pay-As-You Go
Across the wealth management industry, two dominant IT service models have emerged. The first is the generic provider, a traditional managed service firm offering low base pricing that appears attractive at first glance.
These providers often advertise flexible, à la carte packages but rely on project-based billing to maintain margins. Every network setup, hardware replacement, or migration generates additional invoices, often billed at hourly rates between $250 and $350. Even travel, lodging, or after-hours support can trigger surcharges. What begins as a modest monthly retainer quickly becomes an unpredictable series of variable costs that complicate budgeting and erode trust.
The second model, typified by Alles Technology and other boutique firms, takes a fundamentally different approach. These providers integrate project work into their standard service agreements, eliminating surprise invoices and creating true cost transparency. A higher up-front monthly fee covers nearly every operational need, such as labor, consultation, migrations, on-site work, and even travel. This approach transforms the relationship from a vendor-client transaction into a strategic partnership where incentives align around prevention, reliability, and growth, rather than billable hours.
The Hidden Price of “Low-Cost” IT
When comparing real-world project costs, the financial impact of these two models becomes clear. Common IT needs such as new office setups, hardware replacements, email or Azure migrations, and integrations routinely carry price tags ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars when billed à la carte. For instance, a network move or replacement might cost between $3,000 and $30,000 depending on firm size. A server or cloud migration can run from $2,000 to $12,500, with large, multi-office projects easily reaching six figures once travel and lodging are included.
In contrast, Alles Technology includes all such labor and coordination within its monthly retainer, charging only for direct third-party costs such as software licenses or hardware purchases. That means when an RIA opens a new office, integrates a new technology, or migrates to Microsoft 365, those projects are completed without additional billing or negotiation. The result is predictable, all-in pricing that makes financial forecasting far simpler and shields firms from cost spikes at critical moments.
A three-year cost projection underscores this difference. For a 50-user RIA, a generic IT provider charging $6,000 per month might seem economical initially. However, once annual project fees of $50,000 to $90,000 are factored in, total ownership costs balloon to between $366,000 and $594,000 over three years. By comparison, a comprehensive boutique provider such as Alles Technology, charging $9,000 per month with no project fees, totals $324,000 over the same 3-year period. That represents potential savings ranging from $42,000 to $270,000, not to mention the intangible gains of faster response times and reduced disruption.
Additional ROI of Comprehensive Coverage
The advantages of an all-inclusive IT relationship extend well beyond the financial ledger. Firms that partner with comprehensive providers experience greater business continuity, because support teams are empowered to act immediately without waiting for a new project scope or change order. This reduces downtime and ensures that technology issues never delay client service activity.
Security outcomes also improve. Unified infrastructure and continuous monitoring create consistent defenses and simplify compliance documentation, a growing concern as the SEC expands expectations for cybersecurity reporting. Advisor productivity rises, too, since teams can focus on serving clients instead of coordinating fragmented vendor relationships or managing separate billing cycles for every technical issue.
Perhaps most importantly, comprehensive providers serve as long-term strategic partners. They act as virtual CTOs, anticipating future needs, aligning technology roadmaps with business goals, and ensuring that IT investment enhances, rather than interrupts, growth. In a profession built on trust and fiduciary alignment, this partnership-based service model mirrors the very values that RIAs strive to deliver to their clients.
The RIA’s New Due Diligence Framework
Evaluating an IT partner now requires a more holistic lens. RIAs should look beyond the monthly invoice to understand how the provider handles change, risk, and scale. Rather than simply asking for a quote, firms should inquire whether project fees are billed separately for tasks like migrations or new office setups. They should clarify whether support is unlimited or capped, how response times are measured, and what cybersecurity frameworks, underpin the provider’s operations.
Equally important is transparency around on-site support. Many generic firms advertise “nationwide coverage,” but later bill travel and lodging as pass-through costs. Comprehensive providers integrate those expenses into their contracts, ensuring that service levels remain consistent regardless of geography.
The due diligence process, in short, should mirror the fiduciary rigor advisors apply to their own client relationships. A provider that hides costs in fine print is rarely the right long-term partner for a regulated wealth management firm.
Conclusion
As technology and regulation converge, RIAs can no longer afford to view IT and cybersecurity as variable or optional expenses. The industry’s future belongs to firms that embrace predictable, partnership-based models, ones that provide the financial and operational stability necessary to scale without surprise costs or service interruptions.
Choosing a boutique, all-inclusive provider such as Alles Technology is not simply a matter of paying more upfront; it is an investment in reliability, efficiency, and trust. When the next server fails, the next acquisition closes, or the next compliance audit arrives, the true cost of “cheap” IT will reveal itself, both in the additional invoices, and in the business disruption it causes. By contrast, a proactive, fully integrated technology partner ensures that RIAs remain secure, compliant, and focused on what truly matters: their clients.
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