Managed Support
Your Northrock Experience
What is Managed Support?
Managed support takes the decision making out of when to reach out to I.T. Have a need or a request? Just launch a ticket and we'll get you through it!
Technology is constantly evolving. You need a trusted advisor that can keep your organization running smoothly and offer insight from a wide breadth of experience then apply it directly to your organization's unique situations.
But Why
is Managed Support the best option?
Your team wants to get their job done. They want their tools to work. They want to have the access and the software that will allow them to be efficient.
Managed support, when done correctly, accomplishes all of these things. Go ahead. Be a hero for your team. Call Northrock today!
Covered Items
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Troubleshooting of PCs, laptops and network devices
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PC Install/Move/Add/Change
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Monitoring of network and device health
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Security monitoring
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Alert resolution
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Preventative maintenance
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OS and Software Updates
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Team member onboarding/offboarding
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Microsoft 365 management
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Microsoft Office applications' support
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Warranty claim processing
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Periodic onsite visits
*Note: this list is just a summary. Complete list is included in our proposals.
Remote AND Onsite support
Everything listed is included for both remote and onsite support.
Unlimited Requests
We do not restrict the number of requests you can make of these items. It means you are free to seek IT's help when you need it!
How do we charge for it? Check out the pricing section below.
Included services
Quarterly Reviews
High level consulting on technology processes and strategy for your organization.
Password Manager
To assist with secure passwords, MFA, password sharing, security and more!
Security Training
Protect your organization by giving your team the education they need to stay safe.
Custom Portal
Access reports, ticket statistics and interact with our team using your custom portal.
Asset Management
Have the details of your technology assets at your fingertips
Reporting
Regular reporting to keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on.
Availability
Our support hours are Mon-Fri from 8:30am to 5:00pm. At this time, we only offer after-hours support on an emergency basis and it is charged at rates accordingly.
As we grow and expand our team, we aim to also increase our standard support hours. We are working towards 7-day a week service, with slightly extended hours.
Keep an eye on our blog or sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when that is available. Of course, we'll update this page when we launch it.
Pricing
Our goals in pricing our Managed Support are:
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Simple to understand and predict,
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Provide value to your organization that exceeds its cost,
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Cover our costs with enough buffer to be sustainable.
Pretty simple, right? That's what we thought too when we first started on this adventure!
The "All You Can Eat" model
Our Managed Support is priced at a flat-rate per-user per month (sometime per-device depending on business structure) and features unlimited requests of items that are listed within our agreement. We want to make sure the scope of services in the agreement are standard enough that they cover all the day-to-day IT needs across all our clients.
Our value lies in you not having to think about reaching out to us, it just becomes a habit. This maximizes efficiency for your team. So we include as much as possible in the agreement.
BUT
Not all organizations are the same, so we can't have the same rate for everyone. So when we price our Managed Support plan, it becomes a fixed set of services at a custom rate.
How do we figure out the rate?
We start with our base rate per-user that is derived from our internal costs. From there, we adjust using our custom calculator accounting for the following criteria:
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Number of locations and devices at each location
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Number of devices per user
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Environment complexity (network infrastructure, software, configurations)
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Level of sophistication of users
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Turnover rate
While sometimes other criteria come into play, these typically cover most scenarios.
Once we have established the rate, we periodically review to make sure that it accurately reflects both the value we're delivering to you, as well as the costs for us.
As organizations grow and evolve, sometimes the rate will change. In those instances we will give you evidence for why the rate is changing, as well as options should you disagree with our assessment.
We feel this approach allows you to get an IT package that achieves the goals we set out with.
What about non-covered items?
Our base Managed Support plan covers all the day-to-day stuff. But what about everything else?
Support Plan add-ons
Examples: VoIP services, enhanced security package, backup services, compliance requests
These are typically also priced per-user or device and are included based on the specific needs of your environment.
Projects
Examples: Cloud migrations, Office moves, Line of Business software deployments, Technology Adoption projects, network infrastructure upgrades, Assessments
Our projects are typically quoted on a fixed fee per project basis unless they are unique enough that we don't have the experience to accurately predict (a rare occurrence).
Custom Training
If you require group training, we can come up with custom rates based on subject matter, group size and delivery format.
Priority or Off-Hours Support
Any time support is required faster than our response times allow, or off-hours, we charge on a per-incident basis. For off-hours support, we also bill hourly.
Out-of-scope support
For anything that we can do and lies outside what's included in our plan, but isn't big enough to be a project, we charge our standard hourly rate. But these requests are few and far between.