Document your ongoing managed IT relationship clearly

The legal risk usually comes from using a one-size-fits-all approach where the underlying facts are more specific than that. Managed services often involve ongoing monitoring, administration, maintenance, vendor coordination, reporting and support over a longer period, so the contract needs to reflect that continuing relationship. If the document is too generic, you can end up with unclear obligations around uptime expectations, service inclusions, client dependencies, change requests and responsibility for third-party systems. A stronger agreement helps set the commercial rules before those issues become contentious.

A managed services agreement commonly covers the services being supplied on an ongoing basis, service levels, support processes, exclusions, fees, term and renewal, confidentiality, intellectual property, data handling, liability limits, termination rights and transition arrangements at the end of the relationship. It may also deal with reporting, subcontracting, client cooperation and assumptions about the client environment. Because managed services can involve access to systems and information over time, the right drafting and advice depend on For Managed Services Agreement, the wording should follow your real information flows. For Managed Services Agreement, collection points and disclosure practices shape the drafting. information.

An IT support services agreement is often narrower and more reactive, dealing with helpdesk requests, troubleshooting and support incidents. A managed services agreement is usually broader and more operational, covering an ongoing service model with recurring responsibilities, monitoring or administration across a client environment. In practice, the line can blur, so the right document depends on what you are really selling. If your offering includes continuing oversight or bundled managed functions, it is usually better to document that properly rather than squeeze it into a simpler support contract.

Yes. Managed services businesses often have multiple plans, optional add-ons, varying response commitments and different assumptions depending on the client's systems. We can reflect those commercial differences in the agreement, whether through the main terms, schedules or service descriptions. Useful details include your service tiers, onboarding process, monitoring tools, subcontractor use, support windows and any client obligations that affect delivery. The legal position also depends on the way information is handled in practice, so your actual workflows matter when data-related wording is included.

Often, yes. Templates can miss the commercial structure of a managed services offering, especially where the relationship is long term and operationally detailed. Common weak points include vague service descriptions, poor treatment of client dependencies, generic liability wording and no clear process for changes, renewals or offboarding. That can create friction when the client expects broader coverage than you intended. You receive practical guidance on the issues in scope, while any broader risk position depends on your documents, conduct and implementation, particularly if your real-world service delivery differs from what the contract says.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Managed Services Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.