“We have been doing our own IT and want it done properly.”
Nothing is broken. That is the best possible time to look.
Most people arrive here after something went wrong. You are in the smaller group who got ahead of it, and that genuinely puts you in a better position than almost anyone else we talk to.
Typically someone internal has been the de facto IT person: an owner, an office manager, whoever was most comfortable with computers. They did a reasonable job. But it was never their actual role, the business has grown, and the arrangement is now held together by one person’s memory.
Deciding while calm is a real advantage. You can compare properly, phase the work, and budget it rather than paying whatever it costs at two in the morning.
Right now
What is probably true today.
Based on what we find in businesses that arrive this way. Not all of it will apply. Enough of it usually does.
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Things work, but almost nothing is documented. What exists lives in one person’s head.
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Whoever handles IT is doing it alongside their real job, and it is quietly eating their week.
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You bought sensible products, but nobody has checked whether they are configured to actually do what you assumed.
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Backups exist. Nobody has restored from them to see whether they work.
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Accounts have accumulated. Former staff, old contractors, services somebody signed up for once.
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You have no way to answer a client security questionnaire or an insurance renewal with evidence.
Regardless of who you hire
What to do this week.
None of this requires us. Do it yourself, or hand it to whoever helps you with technology.
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1
Write down who does what, and what happens if they are away
The single most useful hour you can spend. If your de facto IT person went on holiday for three weeks, what would nobody be able to do? That list is your actual risk register.
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2
Restore one real file from backup
Not check the dashboard. Actually retrieve something and open it. Doing this while calm is the whole point; the alternative is finding out during an incident.
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3
Count the people, not the payroll
Every person with a login: staff, contractors, seasonal help, the bookkeeper. It is almost always more than expected, and it changes both your risk picture and what anything costs.
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4
Decide what you actually want to keep doing yourselves
Bringing in help is not all or nothing. Some businesses keep their internal person for day-to-day and bring us in for security, monitoring, and the parts that must run continuously. Worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
Worth reading next
Managed I.T. Services vs Hourly I.T. vs In-House I.T. vs Hybrid: An Honest Assessment of Your I.T. & Cybersecurity Options
Every year, we speak with countless companies that ask what types of I.T. services they really need for their business.
How Much Should You Spend on Managed I.T. Services?
Real numbers from real Arizona contracts: what managed IT costs per device, why per-user estimates mislead, and how to budget for your business.
If you would rather not work through it alone
Fifteen minutes, and we will tell you what we would do.
No pitch on the first call. Tell us what happened and we will tell you honestly how serious it is, what we would tackle first, and whether you need an assessment at all.
No pitch on the first call. If we are not a fit, we will say so and point you somewhere better.