MANAGED IT SERVICES CHRISTCHURCH
Your IT needs attention even when nobody has logged a ticket.
We manage the technology behind your business, from supporting staff and maintaining Microsoft 365 through to security, backups, supplier coordination and the work that needs planning months ahead.
When something requires a business decision, we'll bring it to you. The day-to-day management stays with us.
Talk to us about your IT
Tell us what has prompted the conversation. We'll start there.
A lot of IT work happens even when nothing is broken
A support request is the most obvious sign that IT work is happening, but much of what keeps an environment reliable happens before anyone reports a fault.
The work might be as simple as making sure a new starter can access what they need, or noticing that a device is nearing the end of its useful life. It can also involve keeping up with changes from Microsoft, checking that backups are working properly or dealing with a security issue before it becomes a problem for staff.
Managing IT means somebody is responsible for seeing that work, deciding what needs attention and making sure it gets done. Some decisions will need your involvement, particularly where cost, risk or a change to the business is involved. The rest is handled by us, without diverting your attention from running the business.
That ongoing management is as much a part of the service as answering the phone when something stops working.
When your staff need help, they come straight to us
Your staff can contact our service desk directly by phone, email or through the client portal. We assess the impact of the issue and work through it with them rather than expecting a manager to become the intermediary for every IT problem.
Remote support is included in the managed service. If somebody needs help with Outlook, their computer, access to a system or something that has stopped behaving properly, they can ask for it without somebody first having to approve another bill.
The same applies when people join, leave or change roles. We handle the technology around those changes so accounts, access and equipment reflect what that person should actually have.
When an issue crosses into another supplier's system, we deal with that supplier directly. They may know their application better than we ever will, but that does not mean you should spend an afternoon working out whether the problem belongs to them, Microsoft, the network or us.
Our own team provides onsite support across Christchurch and Canterbury. Where a client has regional offices elsewhere in New Zealand, we can also arrange onsite assistance through our partner relationships in the IT Alliance rather than sending somebody halfway across the country for work that needs a trusted person physically present.
The environment still needs managing between support requests
Microsoft 365 is not something that gets configured once and then left alone. Neither are computers, networks, user access or the security controls around them.
We manage those environments over time and maintain the documentation behind them so an engineer making a change can understand what is already there and why it was configured that way.
Updates need to keep moving. Vulnerabilities need to be assessed and remediated. Backups need monitoring and restore testing. Devices eventually reach the point where continuing to run them costs more in disruption than replacing them. Licensing also changes as Microsoft changes its products and as people move through the business.
Some of that work will need a decision from you. The rest should continue without becoming another item on your own task list.
Coordinating change across the environment
Changes to the business rarely affect one piece of technology in isolation.
A new employee might need access to Microsoft 365, the phone system and several business applications before they can work properly. An office move involves setting up the network and internet connection before anybody carries a computer through the door. Replacing a core application can affect user access, computers, security and backups.
The difficult part is rarely completing any individual technical task; it is understanding the dependencies between them and ensuring the work is carried out in the right order.
We coordinate the parts of the environment we manage and work directly with the other specialists involved. Where something needs expertise we do not have, we involve the right supplier rather than trying to make the work fit our own capability.
You still make the decisions that belong with you. We take care of the technical coordination around them.
Planning the work ahead
Our Business Technology Reviews are where we step away from individual support requests and look at the environment as a whole.
We review the IT Roadmap, upcoming equipment replacements, known risks and projects that have already been discussed. We also look at changes coming from Microsoft or other suppliers where they are likely to require work or affect the way the business operates.
This is where future IT expenditure becomes something you can plan for rather than discover at short notice.
If a group of computers is approaching replacement, that can be put into the next budget before they become unreliable. If a larger system change is likely to be needed, we can work through the dependencies before somebody is trying to approve it under time pressure.
We add indicative costs and timing to the roadmap where we reasonably can, then review priorities with you as circumstances change.
When an item moves from the roadmap into a defined project, we scope it as fixed-fee work. You know the agreed cost before the project begins rather than watching an hourly total accumulate while the work is underway.
Security is part of managing the environment
Security is part of the managed service rather than something we add on after the rest of the IT is in place.
That includes protecting accounts and devices, keeping systems current, monitoring for security issues and making sure important data can be recovered when needed. Staff security awareness is managed alongside the technical controls.
Advanced includes the security controls needed to protect the accounts, devices, email and data the business relies on. Security Plus adds further protection where the information held, contractual obligations or risk profile justify it.
The Cyber Security page explains those controls in much more detail, including our 7+2 model, 24/7 monitoring, incident response and recovery.
Before we take responsibility for an environment, we need to understand it
Most established businesses have accumulated years of technology decisions. Some systems may work extremely well, others may have been added for a particular reason that no longer exists, and there are often dependencies that aren't apparent until you look properly.
Without understanding that environment, it is difficult to give useful advice about what should stay, what should change and what actually deserves priority.
Where we don't already have that picture, we carry out our Systems Review at no cost. It covers roughly a hundred checks across the technical environment together with the policies, processes and governance surrounding it.
The result gives both of us a much clearer view of where things stand. Existing systems that are working well can be left alone, anything requiring immediate attention can be identified early, and work that is important but not urgent can be planned through the IT Roadmap.
It means the recommendations that follow are based on your actual environment rather than assumptions about what a business of your size ought to have.
Changing IT provider shouldn't become another project for you to run
A handover involves much more than obtaining an administrator password.
There may be years of documentation, supplier relationships, device configurations and access arrangements sitting with the outgoing provider. We gather that information directly from them and work through the transition while your staff continue using the systems.
Every new managed client also goes through our Security and Productivity Kick Start. This is the initial implementation work where we put our management and security controls in place, complete the required configuration changes and address anything that needs to be resolved before the environment moves into normal support.
We do not try to cram every improvement into the handover period. Work that can reasonably wait is documented and moved onto the IT Roadmap so it can be prioritised properly.
We will involve you when we need authority, a commercial decision or context that only the business can provide. The technical handover itself is ours to manage.
What we look after
The managed service brings support, ongoing management, security and planning around the environment together.
Support and operations
- Dedicated support for your staff
- Remote support
- Onsite support where required
- Microsoft 365 management
- Computers and devices
- Networks and connectivity
- User onboarding and offboarding
- Accounts and access
- Asset and licensing management
- Documentation
- Coordination with other technology suppliers
Security and continuity
- Endpoint and identity protection
- Email and web security
- Patch management
- Vulnerability management
- Backup management and monitoring
- Manual backup restore testing
- Security awareness training
- 24/7 security monitoring
- Incident response
- Disaster recovery
- Annual cyber-insurance review
Planning and management
- Account management
- Business Technology Reviews
- IT Roadmap
- Indicative technology budgets
- Device lifecycle planning
- Microsoft licensing reviews
- Monthly reporting
- Project planning and coordination
Work outside the managed-service scope is separately agreed. Larger projects are quoted at a fixed fee so the scope and cost are known before work begins.
In practice
A 30-person Christchurch professional services business moved to ITstuffed from a large national provider.
Their IT was broadly functional, but the leadership team had little visibility of what needed attention next or what future IT work was likely to cost.
We now manage the day-to-day support alongside a rolling 12-month IT Roadmap and indicative budget, reviewed regularly with leadership so replacements, projects and known risks can be planned before they become urgent.
Managed IT packages
We offer two managed IT service levels: Advanced and Security Plus.
Advanced
Advanced is the managed service we recommend for most businesses. It covers day-to-day staff support together with ongoing management of the environment, our security baseline, backups, monitoring and technology planning.
Security Plus
Security Plus builds on Advanced where the business needs stronger security controls because of the information it holds, contractual requirements or its risk profile.
Advanced is suitable for most businesses we support. Security Plus is intended for environments where the information held, contractual obligations or risk profile justify stronger controls. Once we understand the environment and user numbers, we confirm the monthly fee.
Any initial remediation or larger project work is scoped separately and would normally be quoted at a fixed fee.
Microsoft 365 licensing is required and is not included in the managed-service fee.
The people supporting you get to know your IT
Our service desk is based in Christchurch and clients work with the same technical team over time.
The engineer dealing with an issue has the history of the environment behind them rather than seeing each request in isolation. They can see previous changes, the documentation around the systems involved and how those systems fit into the wider environment.
Healthcare is part of ITstuffed's history as well. Our founder and Managing Director, Daniel Lechner-Page, worked as a registered nurse and paramedic before starting ITstuffed, and that experience influenced some fairly practical habits in the way we approach technical work.
We want engineers to understand an environment before changing it, document what they have done, consider what else a change might affect and have a way back if the result is not what was expected.
None of that is unique to healthcare, but working in environments where poorly understood changes could have serious consequences made those habits difficult to dismiss as administrative overhead.
Frequently asked questions
What does managed IT actually include?
Managed IT covers the support your staff use every day as well as the ongoing administration and maintenance of the environment behind them.
That includes Microsoft 365, computers and devices, access, networking, security, backups, monitoring, documentation and technology planning. We also coordinate with other technology suppliers when an issue or change crosses into systems they are responsible for.
The exact scope is agreed with you before the service begins.
What does managed IT cost?
Our managed service starts at $675 + GST per month for five users.
The final monthly cost depends on the service level and the number of users we are supporting. Once we understand the environment, we recommend either Advanced or Security Plus and confirm the recurring cost before you commit.
Is cyber security included?
Yes.
We include the security controls required to manage the environment properly rather than offering an inexpensive support package and making the important controls optional afterwards.
Security Plus adds further capability for organisations with higher security requirements.
Appropriate Microsoft 365 licensing is also required and is separate from the managed-service fee.
What isn't included in the monthly service?
Large projects and work outside the agreed managed-service scope are quoted separately.
That may include an office move, a significant infrastructure change, a large migration or other project work that falls outside normal management of the environment.
Where we can define the work properly in advance, we quote the project at a fixed fee so both the scope and cost are agreed before it begins.
Can you work with our existing software suppliers?
Yes.
If an issue involves a specialist application, we work with the supplier that knows that product. We continue to manage the parts around it that belong with us, such as the computer, Microsoft 365, identity or network.
The client should not have to work out which supplier owns each part of a technical problem before asking for help.
Can you work alongside an internal IT person?
Yes, provided the responsibilities are clear.
Some businesses retain an internal person who looks after particular applications or operational work while we manage the wider environment, security or areas requiring specialist capability.
We agree those boundaries at the beginning so there is no ambiguity about who is responsible for what.
How do our staff contact support?
Staff can contact our service desk directly by phone, email or through the client portal.
We log and prioritise the request according to its impact on the business. Remote support is included in the managed service.
Do you provide onsite support?
Yes.
Our team provides onsite support across Christchurch and Canterbury.
For clients with regional offices elsewhere in New Zealand, we can also arrange onsite assistance through our partner relationships in the IT Alliance when somebody needs to be physically present.
How disruptive is changing IT providers?
Most of the technical handover takes place between us and the outgoing provider.
We gather the access, documentation and information needed to take over the environment, then plan the transition around the business continuing to operate.
We involve you where authority or a business decision is required rather than making you coordinate the handover yourself.
Do we need to replace our existing equipment when we move to ITstuffed?
No.
We assess what you already have and keep equipment that is still suitable, supportable and appropriate for the environment.
If something does need replacing, we explain why and whether the work needs to happen during onboarding or can be planned for later.
What happens before you recommend a managed IT package?
We first need to understand how the business is using its technology and what is already in place.
Where we need more detail, we complete our Systems Review. That gives us enough information to identify anything that needs attention, leave alone what is already working well and recommend the service that fits the environment.
Thinking about how your IT is being managed?
You may have a specific issue, an upcoming change or simply be questioning whether the current IT arrangement is doing enough for the business.
You do not need to diagnose the problem before speaking with us.
Tell us what has prompted the conversation and we'll start there.
Start the conversation
Based in Christchurch and managing IT for businesses across Canterbury and the wider South Island.