Managed IT Services in the GTA

When it comes to the pricing for managed IT services, the price can vary by region, provider, and customer. However, there are a few basic ranges that can help you understand the general pricing. There are Managed Service Providers (MSP) that provide support for a monthly fee. The fee you pay is likely determined by the services provided, the size of your organization, etc. To make the pricing easier, you can fill out the Price Form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

To put it simply, a managed IT service is handled by a firm outside your company, and it provides information technology services and support to your IT infrastructure, networking, servers, workstations, cloud services, and other related technologies that you run at your company.

The Managed Service Provider (MSP) you go with is meant to provide you with 24/7 support to resolve any issues with your company’s IT. The benefits for businesses without an in-house IT team are obvious, but what about companies that have an in-house IT team? Can a managed IT service benefit these companies?

The answer is an emphatic yes! Instead of having your in-house IT team spend hours troubleshooting issues, they can instead leave the maintenance tasks to a managed IT service while they stay focused on growing your business – rather than constantly putting out fires. Also, your IT team may not have the necessary expertise to deal with certain technologies, so you’ll end up spending more money on things that can cost less when hiring a third-party company.

Having server issues? Can’t access your cloud-based storage? Dealing security issues? Well, this is the benefit of having a Managed Service Provider (MSP) you can turn to.

Managed IT services are offered by Managed Service Providers to handle businesses’ IT operations. Even though some Managed Service Providers (MSP)  offer partial IT managed services, it is always better to have a professional and experienced company handle all aspects of an IT system. Cutting corners on your IT setup can deeply hurt your organization because omitting an important service such as backups or monitoring might mean total data loss, and that could be difficult or impossible to restore. Serious IT professionals will never offer incomplete service, because they are fully aware of the fragility of the modern IT world, and they know that the consequences of not having proper IT support can be dire. That’s why a good IT provider offers a full set of services for their clients as part of their managed IT services. These include:

Speaking of incomplete services, many Managed Service Providers don’t cover essential services, such as disaster recovery, which leaves clients vulnerable and unprotected. In the event of a flooding or a fire, all data will be lost and the company will suffer greatly from all aspects. Therefore, before you shop for cheaper options that include only partial IT services, ask yourself just one important question: “Can my business afford a complete loss of data?” We know the answer to this question, and you do too, so take all the measures necessary to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Essentially, IT MSP and IT outsourcing are the same thing. However, some Managed Service Providers (MSP) allow you to choose which IT services you want in their outsourcing packages, while IT-managed services typically take a more holistic approach.

Many people think that a small business requires a different set of services than a medium-sized business or a large corporation. In reality, the size of your business absolutely has no impact on what IT services you should get. You should always get the full package and a good Managed Service Provider treats all businesses the same. Every service is just as important as the other. You must have a security setup because you’re vulnerable if you don’t. You must have email and cloud backup, otherwise, you have nothing to fall back on if something goes wrong. 

A startup needs full IT coverage from day 1! From the first day, you move into a new office, your system should be in full operational mode. That means installing proper cabling, having a professional panel, and a network running smoothly. While we’re talking about the network, you should also make sure that your network can “handle” the workload. For example, if your company does heavy graphics, then you’ll need a lot more than the standard 1GB switch to carry all the data. You need to size your switch, build a proper infrastructure, establish workstation security, and protect your data folders. All of this may seem overwhelming, but it’s always better to invest a little more effort into building a proper setup initially than to deal with constant IT issues later. If your business doesn’t have a solid IT infrastructure backing it up, you will soon experience problems that will hinder your daily operations, affect productivity, and make business difficult.

There are many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) out there that claim that they are experts in the field, but the truth is that IT is an ever-changing industry with enormous advancements that arise on an almost daily basis. We’ve seen experts in the field get run over by this fast-changing world, to the point where they simply can’t keep up. In IT, one of the most important rules is to find someone who can keep up with the latest technology and advancements, and who can help you get the most out of your IT setup. In general, these are the guidelines to follow when looking for experts for your infrastructure. 

1. How many years they’ve been in business? Experience counts a lot. 
2. Look at their reviews. A simple Google search will tell you a lot about the company itself and how they treat their clients.
3. Recommendations. Ask around. Is someone you know already using this company’s services? Would they recommend the company?

You should also make sure you ask the right questions. For example, an IT company may tell you they offer full support, but make sure to check what that support includes. Do you have access to 24/7 support and monitoring? Is there a helpdesk? Do they have insurance (a really important question that will show you how legit the company is)?

There are so many things that can go wrong in IT if you don’t have the right experts by your side. For example, if your security system is not set up properly, anyone can access your company’s sensitive files. What we’ve seen throughout the many years in business, are bad IT setups. So many times have we “inherited” a bad IT setup from a different IT company, and this poor setup has been hindering the processes and daily operations of the business for much too long. That’s why we cannot stress enough how important it is to set up your IT infrastructure correctly from the beginning. 

Another common issue is maintenance. Think of your IT setup as a car. Just like your car needs proper maintenance to avoid engine problems, so does your IT setup need regular maintenance to avoid network failure. From monitoring backups to making sure they go through smoothly, to fixing bugs that happen on an almost daily basis, a Managed Service Provider is the engine that drives the business. As we always say, most IT issues arise from cutting corners, as some businesses think that they cannot justify the costs of setting everything up correctly. To that matter, we ask one simple question: “Can your business afford to be down for days simply because you did not have a backup of your work, and a disaster made it all disappear?” Let professionals handle your IT, and you’ll be able to focus more on growing your business rather than wasting time fixing IT issues.

New workplace technologies have been a boon to small, medium and large businesses. Things like cloud solutions, customer relationship management (CRM) software, payment processing tools, and backup software have made it easier for companies to streamline processes and operate in a more efficient manner.

Reliance on those technologies sits at the core of most businesses nowadays, and without understanding the risks of mismanagement of business-critical IT solutions, a company could face challenges. The benefits of adopting these new business technologies are innumerable – but so too are the issues that can arise from an IT Infrastructure that is not properly maintained and managed.

Any business owner should ask a few simple questions and determine the extent to which his/her company is dependent on IT. For example: Can my business operate without IT? What is the daily cost of unavailable IT to my business? Is there a Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) or Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in case of severe IT damage? Are there proper periodic backups of important data? Is there a plan against ransomware or other viruses? This may sound self-explanatory, but in our experience, most small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) start thinking about answering those questions when it is too late. This highlights the importance of managed IT services.

A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is a company that manages a customer’s IT infrastructure and/or end-user systems. They provide services such as network, application, infrastructure, and security. MSPs provide these services via ongoing and regular support and active administration on customers’ properties, in their MSP’s data center (hosting), or in a third-party data center. 

Managed Service Providers offer many benefits. With an MSP, you have access to full IT support whenever you need it. MSPs most often serve small and medium-sized businesses. This is because smaller companies have limited means to in-house IT services, so Managed Service Provider services are helpful and can serve as a way to obtain IT knowledge. Larger businesses may also use a Managed Service Provider, but they may choose to contract with an MSP to supplement in-house IT staff.

A Managed Service Provider may be able to prevent IT problems from happening, which prevents disruptions in business operations.

Outsourcing an IT team is far more cost-effective than having somebody in-house perform these updates and maintenance. In many cases, hiring a staff member to take care of IT issues means that they will either be inundated with work or you will end up paying them a salary while they aren’t doing much at all. They will also keep the same work hours as the rest of your staff. In other words, if any issues occur overnight, they will not be resolved until the following business day. Yes, you could have your in-house tech work after hours but this will translate to overtime pay which can, and usually does, end up costing more in the end. You also don’t need to worry about your IT expert taking time off or paying out any additional bonuses.