Managed IT should cover everything your business runs on: every computer, every Microsoft 365 account, your security, your backups, help for your people, and a plan for what comes next. It should also include the setup work that makes all of that hold together, not only help when something breaks.
Here is what that looks like, item by item, so you can check any proposal against it.
Not A Help Desk Plan
This is not a list of tickets you are allowed to log. A help desk answers questions when something goes wrong. Fully managed IT means one team takes responsibility for your whole setup: how it is built, how it is secured, and how it stays that way.
Support fixes what is broken. Management stops it breaking. If you are weighing the two, our post on co-managed vs managed IT services explains the difference.
Use this list to check what you have today, or what a proposal in front of you actually covers.
Good managed IT starts with onboarding, not with the first ticket. We look at every computer, account and system you have, fix every issue we find, and lock it down with zero trust security. Depending on your size and starting point, that takes 6 to 12 weeks. Week 1 puts endpoint protection and backups in place. Then we dig into every IT issue and build a plan, roll out the security framework, and finish with documentation and help for your HR team to write acceptable use policies.
Every person with company email works on a company-owned computer that we manage, or on a Cloud PC. Laptops are registered with Windows Autopilot or Apple Business before they ship, so a new computer setup takes us 20 to 25 minutes instead of about 3 hours by hand. Updates, encryption and endpoint security are applied to every one. Read how we manage company laptops for a remote team.
Your email, files and sign-ins are where most attacks start. We build NIST-aligned email and data security with the tools inside Microsoft 365 Business Premium, starting with domain and email security. Then come multi-factor authentication, Conditional Access and a compliant device policy, so company data only opens on devices you own and we manage.
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) on every computer, identity threat detection and response (ITDR) on every Microsoft 365 account, and privileged access management tools. Our monitoring tools watch your systems 24/7, with emergency automations set up for anything critical. See our managed EDR, MDR and ITDR services.
Every mailbox, OneDrive, SharePoint site and Teams, plus your NAS or server if you have one, backed up and restore-tested. Microsoft 365 keeps your files available, but that is not the same as a backup, which we explain in cloud storage vs backup. See our backup and recovery services.
Your IT department, not a call centre. The same in-house team helps your staff every time, including after hours, so the person on the other end already knows your setup. Over 95% of issues are resolved remotely, and critical issues get a response in under 30 minutes. See how our help desk works.
New hires should have their laptop, accounts and access on day one. People who change roles should lose access they no longer need. People who leave should lose all access on their last day. We run all three from a standard process, approved by one person in your business we call your Tech Approver. Read our secure employee offboarding checklist.
Cybersecurity awareness and Microsoft 365 apps training from Bigger Brains: over 4,000 hours of short lessons in more than 10 languages, with quizzes and completion reports that show who finished which course and when. See our security awareness training.
Regular business reviews, IT reports and a technology plan from a virtual CIO who knows your business. When a client, insurer or regulator asks you to prove your security, you should have the evidence ready. Read can you prove your IT policies are enforced and see our IT compliance services.
Yes. Let’s face it, a five-person team is still a target, and attackers do not check your headcount first. Our five-person clients run the same controls as our 75-person clients. What changes with size is the number of devices and accounts, not the list. A team of 8 needs the same email security, device policy and tested backup as a team of 80.
The list does not grow much as you scale either. What grows is the value of having it in place before you hire the next 10 people, so each new hire starts as smoothly as the first.
When you compare proposals, ask each one the same questions. Specifically, whether:
Our guide on how to compare IT support quotes goes through each line.
The monthly fee is per team member. Our current ranges are on our pricing page, and what managed IT services cost in Toronto explains what drives the number.
The setup is quoted after we see your environment, because the starting point changes the work a lot. A team already on Windows 11 Pro computers and Microsoft Entra ID needs far less work than a team starting with personal laptops and shared logins.
Fully managed IT should include the initial setup, management of every computer, Microsoft 365 security, security monitoring, tested backups, help for your staff, onboarding and offboarding, training, and regular planning and reporting.
No. Computers and Microsoft 365 licences are billed separately. When you buy computers through us, the setup is included, and re-assigning a laptop to a new person is covered by the management fee.
Onboarding takes 6 to 12 weeks depending on your size and starting point. Endpoint protection and backups go in during week 1.
Want one team to run all of this for you? See how fully managed IT works, or talk to our team.
