"Managed IT" is sold by everyone and defined by almost no one. For a boutique business deciding whether to outsource, the term is only as good as the promises written underneath it.
Managed means responsible, not just reachable
A help desk you can call is support. Managed IT means someone is accountable for your systems staying healthy whether or not you call — patching, backups, monitoring, security — and is measured on it. The difference shows up in the month nothing goes wrong because someone quietly prevented it from going wrong.
The SLAs that prove it
A real managed agreement commits to specifics, not adjectives:
- Response and resolution times that differ by severity, in writing.
- Who owns backups, how often they're tested, and how fast you'd actually be restored.
- A patching and security cadence you can audit — not "as needed," but a schedule.
- A named contact, and what happens when that person is unavailable.
"Managed" should describe who's responsible when you're not looking — not how quickly someone answers when you call.
Ask any prospective provider to show you the SLA, not the brochure. If the commitments are vague, the service will be too — and you'll find out exactly how vague at the worst possible time.