Managed IT services
Hands-on IT operations during Canadian business hours: patching, backup checks, account and device administration, and current documentation.
What we review
- Patching: Scheduled operating system, firmware and application updates for agreed systems, with exceptions recorded.
- Backup verification: Checking that backups completed and running periodic restore tests, not just reading success emails.
- Identity administration: Joiners, movers and leavers, group membership and privileged account hygiene.
- Device administration: Enrolment, configuration and compliance of managed laptops, desktops and mobile devices.
- Monitoring alert review: Reviewing alerts from your existing tooling during business hours and acting on what matters.
- Vendor and licence coordination: Renewals, licence counts, support cases with vendors, and a single view of contracts.
- Documentation: Keeping network, system and procedure documentation current as the environment changes.
- End-user support: Where needed, a defined level of user support scoped in writing rather than assumed.
Deliverables
- Operating schedule: What is done, how often and on which systems, agreed in writing.
- Patch and backup reports: What was updated, what was deferred and why, and restore test results.
- Account change record: Joiners, leavers and access changes processed, with dates.
- Asset and licence register: Devices, systems, licences and renewal dates in one place.
- Current documentation: Network, system and procedure documents kept up to date.
- Periodic service summary: Work done, open issues and recommended improvements in plain language.
Engagement boundaries
- Work is carried out during Canadian business hours. There is no round-the-clock monitoring, on-call rota or staffed operations centre.
- Response expectations are agreed in writing and apply within business hours only; out-of-hours cover is not offered because it is not staffed.
- This is not an unlimited helpdesk. Any end-user support is scoped in writing, with its limits stated.
- Alert review relies on the monitoring tools you have; it is a business-hours review, not continuous detection and response.
- This differs from retained IT and security management, which is scheduled advisory review; managed IT services is hands-on operational work.
- Changes outside routine operations go through your change process with your approval.
- Routine operation reduces the chance of failures and drift. It does not prevent every outage or incident.
- Incident response during an active breach is separate work and subject to availability.
- Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately rather than absorbed.
- This service does not certify compliance with any framework or standard.
Questions before the work starts
How is this different from retained IT and security management?
Retained management is senior advisory review on a schedule: checking drift, access and risk, and advising on change. Managed IT services is the hands-on operational work itself, such as patching, verifying backups and administering accounts and devices. Some organizations use one, some both.
Do you provide a helpdesk for our staff?
Not as an open-ended service. If your staff need user support, a defined level is agreed in writing, including what is covered, how requests are made and the business-hours response expectations. Many organizations keep a simple internal first point of contact and use this service for the infrastructure behind it.
What happens outside business hours?
Nobody is on call. Work happens during Canadian business hours, and scheduled maintenance is planned for agreed windows. If you need round-the-clock monitoring or response, you need a provider staffed for it, and we will say so.
What access do you need?
Named administrative accounts with the permissions required for the agreed scope, created by you and removable by you at any time. Credentials are never requested by email or chat.
How is this priced?
By agreed scope, covering the systems and users included and the routine tasks performed, set out in writing before work starts. There is no published price list because environments vary widely.
What happens if we decide to stop?
You keep the documentation, registers and reports, and access is handed back or removed in an orderly way so the next person can pick up where things were left.
The platforms this work covers
Ongoing operation covers the platforms in your agreed scope, worked on a schedule during business hours.
- Microsoft 365 and Entra ID
- Microsoft Intune
- Microsoft Azure
- Amazon Web Services
- Windows Server and Active Directory
- Fortinet FortiGate
- Cisco
- Backup platforms in use
Audits available
- Backup and restore check: what is protected, whether jobs complete, and the result of a test restore.
- Patch posture review: which systems are current, which are overdue, and what is blocking updates.
- Account hygiene review: leavers still holding access, shared accounts and privileged accounts without clear owners.
Other ways we can help
Engagements are often scoped together; these are the closest neighbours to this one.
Need routine IT work done properly, without hiring a full team?
Start with a free initial consultation. Share roughly how many people and devices you have, the main systems you rely on, and what is being missed today. The reply will set out what an ongoing arrangement would include, and what it would not.