Managed IT support

What this is

The ongoing work of keeping a business running: the helpdesk your staff call, the monitoring that catches a failing disk before it fails, the patching that happens whether or not anyone remembers, and the documentation that means the answer is not in one engineer’s head.

It suits a business that has outgrown ad-hoc help and needs one provider accountable for the whole estate. Done properly it is close to invisible: technology that works is technology nobody has to think about, and people who are not thinking about it are getting on with their jobs.

Most of the businesses we support are local ones — Huntingdon, St Ives, St Neots, Cambridge and Peterborough — and being independently owned and down the road is the difference between an account number and someone who knows which of your machines is the awkward one. Being further out changes nothing about the service. Remote support is not limited by geography and it is how most work gets done wherever you are, so the question is only whether anyone ever needs to be in the room — and we will tell you honestly what that looks like from where you sit before you commit to anything.

What is actually delivered

A helpdesk with published targets. Your staff raise tickets by phone, by email or through the portal. Each ticket is given a priority with a response and resolution target attached, and those targets are the same for every customer.

Calls that are always answered. Calls queue. If nobody picks up, you choose to hold or to speak to a live answering service, which takes the details and raises the ticket directly. Nobody gets voicemail and nobody gets an unanswered ring. The response clock starts on those tickets like any other.

Monitoring and automated remediation. Disk space, memory, service state, backup success and hardware health are watched continuously, and a good proportion of routine faults are corrected automatically — hopefully before anyone notices them, which is the point of doing it that way.

Patch management. Operating system and third-party application updates, tested and scheduled rather than left to each machine to sort out. Reported on, so you can evidence it when a customer or insurer asks.

Endpoint protection and containment. Behavioural detection on the device itself, with isolation from the network if a machine starts behaving like a compromised one — automatically where the detection is clear-cut, and by a person where it is not. Windows, Apple and Linux endpoints are all supported.

Privileged access management. Your staff work without local administrator rights and elevate for specific tasks when they need to. This single control closes off most of what ransomware depends on, and it is included rather than sold as an upgrade.

Your estate on record. What we look after is written down and kept current — the devices, the licences, how things are configured — so the answer is not in one engineer’s head and a new person on your account is not starting from scratch. What you get a copy of, and when, is set out on how to leave us rather than left vague.

Vendor liaison. We deal with your connectivity, telephony and software suppliers so your staff do not have to, up to the point where the work becomes a project.

How it is charged

Per managed device for support, per user for the protection tier. Everything above is included in the device charge before any tier is chosen — that list is the argument for paying us rather than someone cheaper.

The package builder shows exactly what is included, and how we charge explains what moves the number.

Related

• Security and compliance Detection, response, and the evidence your customers are asking for.
• Microsoft 365 and cloud Identity, email, files and the permissions underneath them.
• Backup and recovery Backups that are tested, and a recovery time you have agreed in advance.

Questions people ask

Is support really unlimited, or is there a fair-use clause?

There is a fair-use clause, and in ten years of trading we have never had to reach for it — nobody has yet used support in a way we would call unfair. It is there because if the service were genuinely abused we would want the right to say so, not because there is a hidden cap waiting for a bad month. There is no per-ticket charge, and the devices on your agreement are covered including on-site visits during business hours. What is not included is project work, which is scoped and quoted separately.

Do you charge per user or per device?

Per device for support, per user for protection. It means shared desks, shift patterns and part-time staff are not billed as full seats, which matters if you run more people than machines.

How quickly will someone actually respond?

A critical fault has a one hour response target and a four hour resolution target, inside the service window — and if you call while we are open and we answer, we will usually start on it there and then rather than wait for a clock. All four priority levels and their targets are published.

Can we get cover outside nine to five?

Yes. Extended cover runs 08:00 to 18:00 and 24/7 cover is available, both as paid options carrying the same targets across a wider window. Planned work — a migration, a cutover, anything better done when nobody is using the systems — is arranged outside business hours whatever cover you are on. Outside whatever window you buy, we respond on a best-efforts basis at no charge. On-site attendance is business hours in every case.

Before you get in touch

• How we charge What is charged per user, per device and per site, and what moves the number.
• Service levels Response and resolution targets, and the hours they run within.
• Certifications ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials, with the numbers to check them.