"Managed IT" gets said so often that it has stopped meaning much. Here's the plain version.
You pay an IT company a flat monthly fee, and they take responsibility for keeping your computers, network, accounts and data working and secure. They watch things around the clock, fix problems (ideally before you notice them), keep everything updated and answer when your people need help.
That's the whole idea. The details are where providers differ, so they're worth knowing.
What should be included
A decent managed IT plan covers at least the following.
- Monitoring. Software on every computer and network device reports full disks, failing drives, offline machines and suspicious activity, so someone sees the problem before your staff does.
- Patching. Windows, Mac and application updates get installed on a schedule, and someone checks that they actually installed.
- Security. Endpoint protection (we use SentinelOne), email filtering and phishing training for your staff.
- Backups. Automatic, off-site and tested. We use Datto.
- Help desk. A real person to call or email when something's wrong, from a locked account to a printer that has decided it's done cooperating.
- Accounts. Setting people up in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and shutting them off when they leave.
- Planning. Someone telling you when a computer is getting old, what to budget for next year, and whether that new software you're eyeing is going to be a headache.
If a plan leaves out backups or security and sells them back to you as add-ons, look hard at what the base price actually covers.
How it's priced
Most managed IT is priced per user or per device, per month. Ours starts at $99 per user per month, and every plan includes security, backups and patching.
The flat fee changes behavior in a useful way. When every call costs extra, people stop calling. They restart the computer for the fourth time, live with the error message and let a small problem grow into a big one. When support is already paid for, they call early, and early is cheaper for everyone.
We also don't do long-term contracts. If an IT company needs a three-year agreement to keep you, that tells you something.
Signs you're ready
If a few of these sound familiar, it's probably time.
- Your office manager has become the IT person, and it's eating their week.
- You're not sure your backups work, or where exactly they are.
- Former employees might still have access to email or shared files.
- Some computers are slow, old or running a version of Windows that no longer gets security updates.
- You handle patient records, client files, financial data or card payments.
- When something breaks, work stops until someone's nephew has a free afternoon.
When you might not need it yet
If it's just you and a laptop, a full plan may be more than you need. Turn on multi-factor authentication, use a password manager, back your files up to the cloud and let the updates install. Look again when you hire your first few people or start keeping customer data you'd hate to lose.
Once you have a handful of employees, shared files and customers counting on you, a flat monthly fee usually costs less than the alternative, which is losing days of work at the worst possible moment.
Our managed IT page lists what's in each plan, and the pricing page has the numbers. If you'd rather talk it through, a free assessment will show you where you stand today.
