Every IT company promises "full support". The word means different things to different providers — here is a checklist you can put in front of any of them, including us.
1. Who answers, and how fast
Ask for the response time in writing, and ask what happens outside working hours. A support desk that answers in four hours during the day is honest; one that promises "immediate response 24/7" for £20 a user rarely is.
2. Is remote help unlimited or metered
Some contracts include a set number of hours and bill the rest. That is fine — as long as you know it before the first busy month. Ask what happens when the allowance runs out.
3. Who keeps the systems updated
Windows updates, Microsoft 365 settings, antivirus, router firmware. If nobody is named, it is nobody's job. Updates are the dullest part of IT and the one that quietly prevents most incidents.
4. Backups: taken, monitored, and tested
Three different things. Plenty of companies have backups running that nobody has ever restored. Ask when the last test restore was done and what it proved.
5. Starters and leavers
A new person needs an account, a mailbox, licences and access on day one; someone leaving needs all of it removed the same day. If this is not in the contract, it becomes an emergency every time.
6. What is explicitly not included
This is the most useful question. Our answer: we look after computers, servers, networks and accounts. The business applications running on them — accounting software, clinic systems, CRM — are supported by their own vendors. We keep the platform under them healthy. A provider who claims to support everything has usually not thought about it.
7. Documentation and exit
Ask who holds the passwords and whether you get documentation of your own systems. If leaving your provider means losing the keys to your own network, that is not a contract, it is a hostage situation.
8. The real monthly cost
Per user, per month, with a minimum. Ours is £45 per user without servers and £60 with servers, minimum £300 a month — published on the site so you can compare before you speak to anyone. Ask others for the same numbers in writing.