Q&A

We’ve always believed in being transparent in our pricing and what services you get for your money.

We have simple pricing which is based on the number of users, computers, and servers you may have. Use our quote calculator here to see how much you could save on your monthly IT costs.

Additional monthly costs will be based on your requirements such as productivity software (Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, etc.), assistance with third party software (e.g. CAD, graphic design, etc.), support with accounting software (e.g. Sage, Xero, etc.), and any additional requirements you may have. This will all be discussed with you upfront so you’ll know exactly what you’re monthly costs will be and what you’re paying for.

No, we treat all of our customers with the same level of excellent, on-demand service. No gold, silver or bronze tiers here!

Not usually but we may need you to provide additional information while chatting with the Technician. If we don’t require additional information, the Technician will let you know.

No. You first have to make a support request and accept our remote access connection for us to access your computer remotely.

Yes. The software we deploy uses strong encryption to protect connections between you and our Technicians. Once our Technician closes the connection, we’re not able to reconnect to your computer until you make another support request.

If the problem cannot be solved remotely, a Technician will be sent to you to solve the issue on-site.

On average, support tickets are solved within 30 minutes. Sometimes more complex issues take longer but we’ll let you know if that’s the case so you can plan around it.

• Document software and hardware changes
• Send Customer log of work performed
• Check backups are running properly
• Perform backup test
• Monitor and maintain server uptime
• Install software patches, service packs and other updates
• Install software upgrades
• Monitor server event logs for potential problems
• Monitor status and availability of cloud services
• Monitor available disk space on servers and company computers
• Perform system and server reboots
• Asset Management
• Telephone Support
• Let Customer know of any potential issues
• Secure remote support
• Maintain internet connection
• Monitor router logs
• Monitor network capacity and performance
• Reporting (Executive and Technical)
• Performance & Strategy Meeting

Microsoft 365 is a productivity suite that includes desktop versions (Business Standard and Business Premium plans) of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote which can be used on both Windows and Mac. Access and Publisher are also included but only for PC (Windows).

As well as the desktop applications, Microsoft 365 also includes communication and teamwork features such as Microsoft Teams, email hosting with the ability to use your own custom domain name (e.g. name@yourcompany.co.uk), and file storage with sharing using OneDrive. Microsoft also offers web (cloud) versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook but these web versions aren’t as polished as Google’s Workspace apps.

Google Workspace is a productivity and collaboration suite but is entirely web-based (cloud). It has apps similar to Microsoft, such as Docs (word processor), Sheets (spreadsheets), and Slides (presentations). Workspace also has email hosting with the ability to use your own custom domain name (e.g. name@yourcompany.com), and file storage with sharing using Drive. Google Workspace excels is in real-time collaboration. It can also import and work with files from Microsoft Office apps.

Unlike Microsoft 365, Workspace does not work offline so that needs to be considered.

This is generally down to preference and familiarity. If your workforce is used to Microsoft applications then stick with Microsoft 365 and vice versa with Google Workspace, but there are differences which can sway your choice.

Google Workspace’s collaboration features are much better than in Microsoft 365. In Google Workspace, you can see the changes others are making in near real-time. This feature is a bit slower in Microsoft 365. If this is an important feature for your business, then Google Workspace is the better choice.

If video conferencing is an important part of your business then Microsoft Teams is a much more polished application than Google Meet. If your organisation has many employees, Microsoft Teams is much more suitable. Teams also has the ability to easily integrate over 700 applications such as Salesforce, DocuSign, and Adobe Creative Cloud. That said, Google Meet is more than capable and perfectly suited for smaller companies with only a few employees.

Where Microsoft 365 shines is the more sophisticated and comprehensive features in their applications. For instance, if you work offline with large data intensive spreadsheets using complicated formulas and numerous tabs, Excel is the clear winner.

There’s also no reason why your business cannot implement both. For instance, using Google Workspace (Gmail) for email and Microsoft 365 for Word and Excel.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are both protocols for retrieving emails from an email server. While they are both email protocols, POP3 is an older protocol with much less features than the more modern IMAP protocol.

While POP3 is fast, it is unidirectional. This means that it can only download emails from your inbox to your device. It also only has two modes; delete and keep. Delete mode means that when an email is downloaded to your device, it is deleted from the mail server. Keep mode keeps a copy on the mail server while also downloading a copy to your device.

IMAP is a much more advanced protocol and is bidirectional. Your device/s sync with the mail server so any changes you make on your device/s are also reflected on the mail server. This allows you to organise your email, sort mail into folders, create emails, etc.

IMAP will be the protocol to use in most cases nowadays as most of us have multiple devices and email clients that need to access the same email account/s.

Absolutely. We can migrate from one platform to another. No loss of emails, calendars, and address books. Migrations will vary depending on your current provider.

Web Domain

In simple terms, it is a name given to a unique web address, i.e. ‘www.yourcompany.co.uk’, accessible to the public or not! You may have a website on this domain name to help your customers or potential customers find information about you, place orders and much more.

Every business needs a web address if you want customers to contact you online through a web form or email. Setting up emails is covered in another FAQ section. This has to be set up properly in the first instance to prevent problems down the line. Your domain can be your biggest asset and will be more important than your company name. Your domain is in our view the most important business decision you will make as this is the route for everything else you need to deploy in your business.

Windows Domain

In an internal business work environment you may have a local domain such as yourcompanyname.local, it can be your own network and is managed internally by software like Microsoft Active Directory. Basically, it is your own registered address so that you can share data stored on your network and also manage permissions as to who can access the data. If you do not have a managed server in your business to control the access to resources and information locally you may want to consider a NAS (Network Attached Storage) this has a similar function as a server at a fraction of the cost. Alternatively, you can adopt what is known as a cloud-based network that manages access to resources online. We manage this for you!

IMPORTANT!

‘yourcompany@gmail.com’ or ‘yourcompany@hotmail.co.uk’ is not a business domain. These examples are public emails and you do not own them. They can be taken away anytime if you breach their terms and are not transferable. They are free which means you have no resources should you lose access or get hacked.

If you use a platform such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your emails can be managed directly. You can create multiple email addresses such as manager@yourcompanyname.co.uk and sales@yourcompanyname.co.uk. You have control because you own the domain name. Email addresses utilising your company name always look more professional.

Sounds complicated? That why we will manage it for you!

• Ensure relevant software, services and equipment list in the Equipment, software and services Schedule and Activities within this document are available to the Customer.
• Respond to support requests in a timely manner.
• Do its best to escalate and resolve issues in an appropriate, timely manner.
• Maintain good communication with the Customer at all times.

• Notify issues or problems in a timely manner using your online reporting system or by telephone.
• Provide access to equipment, Hardware and Software and services for the purposes of Work, maintenance, updates and fault prevention.
• Keep your support team informed about potential changes to your IT System. For example, you have purchased new network attach devices such as VOIP phones or printers.
• Maintain good communication at all times.

A server is a device not too dissimilar to a PC. It can provide services for other PCs connected to it such as data storage, user management, printer services, data backup, etc.

There are multiple hard drives in a server, are generally configured to reduce the risk of data loss. Your data is available on multiple disks so in the case of a single disk failure, there is no data loss. (Raid-redundant array of independent disks).

The data on the server can be shared to a specific user or groups of users. For instance, you may have an accounting department and a design department. The design department is unlikely to need access to the accounting data. This also comes into play when managing access to data to comply with GDPR.

A server would normally operate at a hardened security level to protect the data held within.
There may also be multiple power supplies. This reduces another possible single point of failure. Should one power supply fail the secondary will take over.

The processor (CPU) tends to be of a higher standard than a general desktop/laptop processor with the ability to handle larger workloads. Servers can come in all shapes and sizes (e.g. rack, blade, tower) but they all do the same job.

A server can be configured in such a manner to best meet the needs of the business. In short, it’s a fault tolerant ‘PC’ with centralised data storage and user management.

Example scenario

Say you have 5 PC’s or laptop’s (devices) with 7 users and no server. Data management and security will have to be managed at each device.

Security at each device will be set locally (an account for everyone who is likely to use the device). If someone forgets their password, it could be a problem. Also, the data is potentially on multiple devices. Another issue could be if a member of staff leaves the organisation.

Centralised data will most likely have to be managed via a cloud application such as One Drive or Google drive. This can be complicated and lead to data mismanagement Printers will be controlled by each device Staff would have to have access to multiple passwords for multiple devices.

Backing up data would have to be managed on each device separately. Anti-virus would also have to be managed on each device separately.

Let’s look at the same scenario but with a server

You now have centralised data. All users are controlled from the server (e.g. passwords can be reset by authorised personnel).

Users can be added, deleted, or simply locked out. Printers can be managed from a single device. All staff members can log onto any device with their own username and password. You may have more staff than devices. Data access can be securely controlled centrally (e.g. only specified staff can access certain information). You can perform network-wide updates. You can perform selective backups (e.g. backup one device instead of 5).

Let’s ask the question again, do I need a server?

It’s probably down to cost and the size of your organisation. We recommend that you should have some form of server if you have more than 4 users.

A traditional server can cost from £3k up to tens of thousands of pounds (though typically £3-7k) and are ideal for 10+ users.

An alternative is a NAS (Network Attached Storage). The cost is approximately £700-1.4k and sufficient for up to 9 users. A NAS will cost no more than a high-end PC. It will have most of the functionality of a high-end server.

Small businesses could manage with cloud storage to access shared data. However, once your business has more than 4 users, a NAS would be recommended. For 10 or more users a small business server would be preferable.

A server/NAS is an investment, but for data security and management, it’s more than worth it.