IT Support Service FAQ

Before we get to the most common FAQ we get asked about our service, it’s probably worth addressing the most fundamental question of them all…

Why do I need an IT Support Service?

Small Businesses

If you are a small business, you probably don’t have a dedicated IT department. However, someone still has to tackle those IT tasks – buying equipment and setting it up, setting up email and user accounts, and fixing things when they go wrong.

When starting out as a business, that’s often done by the business owner, a ‘mate who knows about this stuff’, or perhaps someone else tech-savvy inside the business. You might even have enlisted another IT Support provider on an ad-hoc or even monthly commitment for basic assistance.

While this is great and entirely normal as you’re starting out, as you grow and become established, YOUR time is usually better spent on other things like growing the business. THEY may not have all the right skills and expertise to do it effectively or, more importantly, securely.

An effective outsourced IT Support Service will:

Free up company internal resources by removing the need for end user support to be handled internally
Have a knowledgeable and experienced helpdesk that supports perhaps dozens of companies and hundreds of users, giving them (i.e. US) exposure to many common questions and problems, allowing quick response and resolution
Set up new staff and equipment to your specific company requirements quickly and efficiently
Improve your security and data management with a design and oversight delivered by experienced and qualified IT professionals

Medium Businesses

If you are a medium sized business you may have a dedicated internal IT support person or department. However, this can represent a significant overhead in terms of salary and departmental budgets. Employing the services of an outsourced helpdesk can provide significant saving as we can leverage economies of scale that are otherwise unavailable.

If you already engage a 3^rd party to provide your IT Support Service, you may need to periodically review whether they are providing the support and additional services you need as you grow to ensure they are keeping up with your pace of change.

As well as having our core Helpdesk on hand, our senior management team are qualified assessors for security standards such as Cyber Essentials and ISO27001. Being able to call upon this skill set can transform your business by getting you qualified in these standards, greatly improving organisational security and governance.

Our clients are more likely to obtain cyber insurance through implementation of our security policy and information management fundamentals. Our security baseline exceeds the requirements of the Cyber Essentials standard, meaning you can be confident that your organisation and company data are secure.

Qualified and experienced IT Professionals and Security Experts
Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, and ISO27001 Certifications for your business
Cost efficient outsourcing frees up internal resources and budgets
Detailed security reporting

Who do Macnamara Support?

Our clients typically have between 10 – 300 staff. If your business is outside of this range, no problem. Get in touch and we’ll see what we can do to help.

We support everyone in your organisation, whether they are full time, part time, or external contractors (as long as they have an account on your system), as well as all company owned devices and office networks including servers, routers, printers, wireless and cabling. More limited helpdesk support is available to staff who are working on home networks or on personal devices.

Do you support our other vendors and suppliers?

We provide support for your line of business applications with the vendor as long as you have an active support contract with them. We will work with them where software specific support is required. This also includes hardware support, such as printers, where you have a managed print service contract in place.

Do you provide anti-virus and other security tools?

We provide your essential security software requirements such as anti-virus and anti-ransomware, web filtering, Office applications, and more.

What technologies do you Support?

We primarily work with Microsoft products and services (Windows for PCs and Laptops, Microsoft 365 for Cloud Services) but we also support Macs and Android, and Linux for service specific applications such as VPN servers. The core service is based on Microsoft technologies delivered through Microsoft 365 and Azure.

Do you support any Cloud platforms other than Microsoft?

We may support other services not listed above, but typically where something other than Microsoft 365 is in use as the core platform, we would aim to migrate you. Email and Document services from other providers (e.g. Google Cloud or DropBox for Business) may be supported if there is a business case for having them in place. We will always endeavor to determine your requirements and support the best solution.

What is covered under Support?

The following is a typical but not exhaustive list of the things we support. If you have other support requirements, we are happy to discuss.

End user support for all staff
Device management (PCs, Laptops, Mobiles)
Servers and office networks (including routers, switches, printers, cabling)
Microsoft 365 including Email, SharePoint, OneDrive, Office and all other Microsoft 365 apps
Microsoft 365 Licensing
Microsoft Teams Phone System
Other Cloud Services (including servers, VDI, virtual networks)
Backups (On premises Server and Microsoft 365)
Anti-Virus & Anti-Ransomware
Web filtering
Monthly security reporting
Domain Management

Do you support our office?

Supporting your office (or offices) has always been central to our core service. We will support everything on your office network including servers (if you still have any), routers, wireless, internet connectivity, printers, cabling, and more.

If you have a serviced office (e.g. Regus, Workspace) we have extensive experience liaising with them on your behalf to ensure your network is segregated and secure.

Do you support work from home and hybrid working?

Of course! We’re here to support your team wherever they choose to work. Hybrid working is the ‘new normal’ and we have fully adapted our offering to accommodate you and your staff wherever they choose to work from. For reasons of privacy, however, we would have limited scope to troubleshoot or support personal (BYOD) devices and home networks.

Will you host and support our website?

We don’t support websites directly or provide website hosting, but we will fully support and manage your domain and will work with your chosen web hosting provider to make the necessary DNS changes as required. We are also able to offer some guidance in this area if you need it.

How are services billed?

Support is on a monthly basis. The cost of support is calculated on the number of staff you have, plus the required Microsoft 365 Licensing and other services. We can set up payment via Direct Debit, or via invoice for BACS transfer.

Do you provide one-off services?

Our support is based on a monthly contract and so we do not do one-off projects, with some exceptions. These would relate to ISO or Cyber Essentials auditing or Security and Awareness Training. If you have a requirement for this outside of an IT Support Service contract, please get in touch and we can discuss.

What is the contract term?

The contract term is typically 1 year. A 3 Year contract is also available.

What is the cancellation period?

The Service Contract has a cancellation notice period of 3 months. Some subscriptions (e.g. Microsoft 365 Licensing) may be fixed on an annual subscription.

What does it cost?

Every client is different and the monthly costs may therefore change according to what is supported. The cost will be determined based upon our initial call and subsequent proposal. During the contract term, the monthly support fee is fixed. At contract renewal, costs are reviewed.

What is included in the monthly fee?

All user support is included in the monthly support fee. There is no limit on the number of requests or tickets you make, and we do not charge on an hourly or ticket basis for Core IT Support. We only charge extra where you want to add something new, usually as a project. This is always agreed in advance.

Are there any hidden extra costs?

Our pricing is very transparent and there are no hidden costs. Extra billing outside of the monthly support is always agreed up front. Additional costs are typically only incurred for purchasing of equipment, or to add additional staff, devices or services to the support contract.

Do you charge to come on site?

If we are supporting equipment under warranty or a service that is covered under the support monthly contract, there are no additional charges for site visits. If a visit is required for a job outside of core support, such as new cabling or a new office, or to fix something not under warranty, there may be additional costs for the visit. This is always agreed in advance.

Is there a setup fee?

If there is a need to make a significant change to your setup, for example where your current setup is inadequate for your company needs, there may be an onboarding fee to discover the requirement and make those changes. However, if no significant changes are required, and we would just be taking over support of your systems, there would be no onboarding or setup charges.

What reporting do you offer?

We don’t provide monthly reports on tickets and service desk usage, because our belief is that this is not a good metric on which to base the value of our support service. Just because you have had more or fewer tickets opened in a given month does not mean you are in better or worse shape! Those metrics are however always available on request should you need them.

We do provide in depth monthly security reporting to give you a detailed overview of your security status, as well as reporting on sharing of company data outside of the core access controls, whether that sharing is with other members of staff or with external 3^rd parties.

How do we contact you when we need help?

Support requests can be made either by email or phone, whatever works best for you.

How do we operate?

Our core basic service is based on the Cyber Essentials Standard (see HERE for more info) and actually exceeds that standard. We always start with Security first.

Computers are just tools used to access information. They are not a thing that inherently needs to be looked after in and of themselves. Without the need to access to information, there’s no need for them.

Where we stand apart from other IT Support Service providers is that we take Information Management as the defining aspect of our relationship. We ensure that information is stored and accessed in a secure fashion by the people who need it. We then look after the devices used to access the information and make sure they are up to the job.