MSP

How it works

• Monitors and patches computers, manages backups and security, and answers the help desk.
• Charges a predictable fee instead of billing per emergency.
• Brings a team with different specialities in place of one person.
• Should be able to show you what it does and what it covers.

What can go wrong (example scenario)

A five-person accounting firm relied on a friend's nephew for IT. He patched when asked, backed up when reminded, and moved away in April. The firm found out in May that the backup had failed since February.

How WILDCARD handles it

WILDCARD is an MSP. The cards are the catalogue: CORE for the protection baseline, individual cards for everything else, and vCIO for planning. Each is a managed service with WILDCARD behind it.

• A dental office pays one monthly fee covering every computer, backups and the security stack.
• A law firm wants a provider that documents their environment and can prove patching to the insurer.
• A contractor with five laptops and no office wants them watched wherever the crews are.

Example scenario: A small physiotherapy clinic moved from pay-per-call IT to a managed agreement. In the first ninety days the provider found an expired backup licence, two unpatched PCs and a shared admin password. None had caused a problem yet. All three were fixed before they could.

A question owners ask

Is an MSP worth it for a business my size?

If you have more than one computer and your work depends on email and files, yes. The monthly fee buys someone whose job is noticing problems before you do.