What a maintenance window is, and why yours should be at night
The hours your IT company may restart, update and back up without asking first (sample note).
Patched, backed up and checked before you open
Morrow IT (sample) looks after the computers, email and network of offices with 5 to 80 people. A help desk answers by day; the maintenance runs at night, while the office is closed.
From $35 per user a month (example prices). No long contract: 30 days’ notice.
Tonight at a sample office of 24
Maintenance window 19:00 to 07:00, agreed in the contract. Nobody has to stay late or log off.
Job
18:0020:0022:0000:0002:0004:0006:0008:00
When
Updates and patches install
Thursdays
22:00 to 23:30
Laptops and PCs restart in turn
Thursdays
23:30 to 00:30
Backup of the server, files and Microsoft 365
Every night
01:00 to 02:30
Copy to a second location
Every night
02:30 to 03:30
Restore test
First Sunday of the month
04:00 to 05:00
Health checks: disks, antivirus, certificates
Every night
05:00 to 05:30
Morning report to your inbox
Every night
06:30
Solid bar: every night Striped bar: once a week Outlined bar: once a month The office’s own hours: 07:00 to 19:00, never touched
Bars are drawn to scale in half hours. Times and jobs are a sample client’s schedule.
What lands in your inbox at 06:30
One short email every morning: what ran overnight, what went wrong and what we already did about it. Most mornings it says nothing needs you.
A sample client’s report for Friday 17 October (sample).
Backups
14 of 14 finished
Server, shared files and 12 mailboxes; offsite copy done at 03:21.
Updates
37 installed
2 held back for a week while the vendor fixes a printing problem.
Restarts
22 of 23 laptops
One was switched off at home; it updates when it is next on.
Disk space
1 warning
Reception PC is 91% full. We cleared old downloads at 05:12.
Antivirus
All up to date
No threats found on 23 laptops and the server.
Certificates
Renews in 21 days
Website certificate; renewal booked for the 30th.
What we look after
Six things every small office depends on. Each one has its place in the day or in the night.
Help desk
Phone and email support for everyone in the office, from a forgotten password to a dead laptop.
Mon to Fri, 08:00 to 18:00
Updates and patches
Windows, Mac, Office, browsers and the firewall, tested on our own machines first.
Thursdays, 22:00
Backup and recovery
Server, shared files and mailboxes, copied to a second location and tested monthly.
Every night, 01:00
Security
Email filtering, two-step sign-in, antivirus, disk encryption and short staff training.
Every night, 05:00
Microsoft 365 and cloud
Accounts, licences, shared files and Teams, plus starters and leavers.
Same day on request
Network and Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi, firewall, printers and the internet line, with a current drawing of it all.
Thursdays, 22:00
By day: one number, real engineers
When something breaks during the day, you call or email the help desk and an engineer who knows your office picks it up. No call centre, no ticket numbers to remember.
Open
Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00 (sample)
First reply
Within 30 minutes in opening hours, usually much sooner (sample)
On site
In Springfield and within 25 miles, the same or next working day (sample)
Out of hours
An urgent line for the Complete plan when the whole office is stopped
Plans and prices
One price per person who uses a computer, every month. Each plan lists the jobs it runs in your window.
Essentials
Offices of up to 10 people that mostly need the safety net: backups, updates and someone to call.
- Backups and the offsite copy
- Updates on Thursday nights
- Morning report
$35
per user a month
Managed
Our usual plan for 10 to 50 people. Adds the full help desk, security tools and a monthly restore test.
- Everything in Essentials
- Restore test every month
- Health checks and antivirus
$65
per user a month
Complete
For offices that cannot stop: adds on-site days, an urgent line out of hours and a quarterly review.
- Everything in Managed
- Server checked by an engineer weekly
- Review of the month’s reports
$95
per user a month
Example prices, before tax. Laptops and licences are billed at cost.
Your first 30 days with us
Switching from another provider or from doing it yourself takes about a month. Nothing stops working on the way.
Week 1
We look at everything
An engineer visits, lists every device and account, and checks what is backed up today.
Week 2
We take over the keys
Admin passwords move into our password vault; your old provider hands over in writing.
Week 3
The first night runs
Our agent goes on each computer; the first backup, updates and health checks run that night.
Week 4
We go through it with you
A half-hour call on the first reports: what we fixed, what needs money, what can wait.
Questions before you call
What if we need help at night?
On the Complete plan there is an urgent line out of hours when the whole office is stopped. On other plans, leave a message and the help desk calls back at 08:00.
Do you need to be in our office?
Rarely. Most help desk work is done remotely with your permission. Engineers visit for new equipment, cabling and anything that needs hands.
Will the night jobs slow us down?
No. Everything runs between 19:00 and 07:00. Laptops that are off at night update the next time they start, without forcing a restart in a meeting.
Can we keep our current IT person?
Yes. Many clients keep someone in-house for day-to-day questions; we do the night jobs, security and the difficult cases.
What does the free IT check include?
An hour with an engineer, a list of what is backed up and what is out of date, and an honest price. You keep the notes either way.
IT notes for small offices
A backup you have never restored is a guess
Why a monthly restore test matters more than how many copies you keep (sample note).
A new starter’s laptop, ready in one morning
What to send your IT company a week before someone starts (sample note).
Book a free IT check
An engineer spends an hour at your office (or on a call) and writes down what is backed up, what is out of date and what is fine. You keep the notes, whether you sign up or not (sample).