Managed IT support and helpdesk

What this usually includes

• A single route for staff to ask for help, by telephone and, when you want it, in writing.
• Remote help where that is appropriate and the person at the machine is willing.
• On-site work when the fault, the building or the person requires it.
• Starters and leavers: accounts, mail, devices, and what happens to their files, done from your instruction.
• Patching on a schedule you have accepted, with exceptions recorded.
• Liaison with the suppliers you name: the line, the Microsoft tenant, a line-of-business vendor.
• A short record of changes that matter, left so the next person is not guessing.

What is usually scoped separately

A new network, an office move, or a migration is a project. Putting it inside a monthly arrangement makes both harder to understand. We separate them, and we say so at the start.

Any target for how quickly we respond is written for your organisation. We do not publish a universal promise, and we will not invent one in a first conversation.

Confidentiality

We see screens. The rule is need-to-know. Access is limited to the task. We do not browse, and we do not discuss what we saw except with the people you have named. In a small office that may be one person. In a larger one it is a list, not the whole staff.

Passwords and recovery details are held only in the way the agreement describes, and only for as long as the engagement requires.

Disruption

Remote support is used when it is genuinely quicker and the user is comfortable with it. If we need the machine, we agree the moment. Changes that can wait until outside the working day are scheduled that way when you ask. We do not arrive on a floor and start again without a window.

Related

• Cyber security

  When the support arrangement needs a sharper look at who can sign in, and at the mail.

• Microsoft 365 and cloud

  When the daily work is mostly accounts, mail and files.

• Backup and data recovery

  When the question is what happens if the live files are lost.

Questions

What does managed support cover?

The agreement says. Typically it is a way for staff to ask for help, administration of users and accounts, patching as agreed, liaison with named suppliers, and a record of changes. A move or a new network is usually scoped separately.

Will someone look through our files?

Access is taken for the task in hand. We do not browse client data out of curiosity, and we do not discuss what we see except with the people you have named.

Is on-site support included?

Visits are arranged when the work needs them, or when you ask. Whether they sit inside a monthly arrangement or are scheduled as separate visits is written down, not assumed.