Why after-hours matters to MSP clients
Clients pay a managed service provider so that when something breaks, someone answers. A ransomware note at 11pm that reaches voicemail is the moment a client starts looking for a new provider.
But most after-hours calls aren't emergencies: password resets, a printer, one user locked out. Waking an engineer for those burns out your team.
Which tickets should wake an engineer
| Ticket | After hours |
|---|---|
| Whole office or server down | Page now |
| Suspected hack or ransomware | Page now; tell caller not to power off or pay |
| Email down for everyone | Page now |
| Phones or POS down at a business that's open | Page now |
| One user can't log in | Morning ticket |
| Password reset, printer, new device | Morning ticket |
More detail in which after-hours IT tickets should wake an engineer.
Example call
Northgate IT after-hours support, this is Josie. Which company are you calling from?
Baker & Lane Dental. All our computers show a message that our files are encrypted.
Please don't turn anything off or pay anything. How many machines are affected?
After-hours emergency support is $150 an hour, billed to your account. Shall I page the on-call engineer now?
Rate agreed · paging Sam (on call)… accepted
Rotations for small MSPs
A three-engineer MSP can't afford one person carrying the phone every night. A weekly rotation with escalation (on-call engineer, backup, owner) spreads the load. See how to set up an on-call rotation.
What Josie does
- 24/7 Emergency Line: Answers every after-hours call and sorts real emergencies from routine jobs with your rules.
- On-Call Paging + Schedules: Calls your on-call tech with the details. Press 1 to accept. No answer? Next person, then you.
- Smart Call Routing: Daytime triage: urgent calls jump the queue and reach the right person or department.
- For your trade: After-Hours Emergency Line for IT Support Companies and MSPs
Common questions
Can the after-hours line bill clients for emergency work?
Josie states your after-hours rate and gets agreement before paging; the consent is on the transcript for your billing.
Can it tell clients from strangers?
Josie asks for the company and caller name and includes them in the page. You decide whether unknown callers get the emergency path.
What does HireJosie cost?
HireJosie is $29/month for 200 AI minutes, starting with a 7-day free trial — cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Pro is $79/month for 500 minutes, with $0.25/minute overage after that. Every feature is on every plan, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.