For years, the deal was simple. When a computer broke, you called your computer guy. He came out, fixed it, and sent a bill. If that's how IT works at your business, there's a good chance your computer person is very good at fixing things.
The problem isn't the person. The job changed.
A computer guy is paid to fix what you report. Nobody is paid to do the work in between. And today, the work in between is where businesses get hurt: the attack nobody was watching for, the backup nobody tested, the update nobody installed, the fake email nobody noticed was sent in your name.
Here are six things that usually don't happen when IT means "call someone when it breaks", with a quick question you can ask yourself for each one.
Antivirus on each computer used to be enough. It isn't now. Attacks come in through stolen passwords, fake invoices and unpatched software, and they often happen at night or over a weekend. Fixing a computer after it's infected is not the same as noticing an attacker before they lock up your files.
Texas businesses and residents filed 97,912 internet crime complaints with the FBI in 2025, reporting $1.83 billion in losses, the second most of any state (FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report). Contractors alone filed 17% of the ransomware complaints the FBI received from businesses outside critical infrastructure.
Ask yourself: if someone broke into our network at 2 a.m. on a Saturday, who would notice?
What our managed plans include: endpoint detection and response on every computer, watched 24/7 by a security operations center; security log monitoring; email security for phishing and malicious attachments; and a managed firewall at each covered location.
Most businesses do have a backup. The question is whether anyone has ever proven it works. Backups get set up once and then quietly fail: a drive fills up, a password changes, a job stops running. You find out on the worst day of the year.
And many owners assume Microsoft backs up their email and files. Microsoft keeps the service running, but recovering what your people deleted, overwrote or lost to ransomware is your job.
Ask yourself: when was a file last restored from our backup as a test? Is our Microsoft 365 email backed up at all?
What our managed plans include: Microsoft 365 backup with an immutable email archive (email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams), and server backup to immutable offsite storage for each server on the plan. Immutable means the copies can't be changed or deleted, including by ransomware. And we test-restore backups, so we know they work before you need them.
Windows updates are only part of it. Browsers, PDF readers, accounting software and the firewall itself all need updates, every month. On a break-fix arrangement, updates happen when someone is already there for something else, if they happen at all.
This matters more every year. In Verizon's 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, exploiting known software flaws was the most common way attackers got in, and only 26% of vulnerabilities known to be under active attack were fully fixed, with a median of 43 days to fix them (Verizon 2026 DBIR executive summary).
Ask yourself: could anyone show me this month's update report for every computer we own?
What our managed plans include: operating system and third-party patching, and a managed firewall that is monitored and kept up to date.
Your email domain (the part after the @) can be used by criminals to send email that looks like it came from you: fake invoices to your customers, fake payment changes to your vendors. Three settings called SPF, DKIM and DMARC tell the world which email is really yours. They're easy to get wrong, and they need watching after they're set up.
A computer guy usually doesn't touch them unless you ask, and most owners don't know to ask.
Ask yourself: could someone send an email as us today? Run our free email and domain security check and find out in about a minute.
What our managed plans include: DMARC, SPF and DKIM set up and monitored for your primary email domain, plus email security for phishing and malicious attachments. See DMARC management for how it works.
Break-fix is reactive by design. Your computer person isn't watching your systems between visits, isn't planning next year's replacements, and isn't reviewing what went wrong last month. That's not laziness. Nobody is paying them to.
The result: small problems grow quietly until they become expensive ones, and every visit starts with "what changed since last time?"
Ask yourself: when did our IT person last call us about a problem before we noticed it?
What our managed plans include: monitoring, patching, backup and security that run continuously instead of when someone calls.
A "stack" is the set of tools that protects and runs your business: security software, backup, email filtering, firewall, device management. A computer guy typically installs whatever was on sale or whatever the last client used, so every office ends up different, and nobody uses any one tool deeply enough to know its blind spots.
We do the opposite. Every client gets the same standard set of tools, and we work in them every day. When something odd shows up on your network, we've usually seen it before on someone else's.
Ask yourself: could our IT person list every tool protecting us, and tell me who watches each one?
Most owners tell us they don't want the admin passwords, and that's fine: we document everything and keep it secure. If you do want admin access, we'll set you up with your own separate admin account, which we monitor like everything else. If a change made with that account breaks something, fixing it is billable work.
Not sure who holds the keys today? Our free checklist, If Your IT Person Disappeared Tomorrow, walks you through what to collect in about 20 minutes.
| Computer guy / hourly | Monitoring Plan | Managed: Cybersecurity Only | Co-managed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | By the hour (ours: $150/hr) | $15/computer, $99/month minimum, plus hourly fixes | From $1,490/month for up to 10 users | Quoted to what we take on |
| Cybersecurity watched 24/7 | No | No | Yes | Yes, shared with your IT person |
| Backups tested and immutable (incl. Microsoft 365) | Rarely | No | Yes | Yes |
| Patching every month | When someone's there | We tell you who's behind; installing is hourly | Yes | Yes |
| Email domain (DMARC) monitored | Rarely | No | Yes | Yes |
| Someone watching between calls | No | Health alerts only | Yes | Yes |
Managed plans include Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses for every user. Small teams of 1–5 people can start at $795/month. See all rates or price your business with the pricing calculator.
We'll be honest: for a one-to-three person office that mostly needs things fixed, hourly help or our Monitoring Plan can be the right fit. If that's you, we're glad to help on those terms.
But once you have customer data, a team on email all day, an insurance application to answer, or regulators to satisfy, "call someone when it breaks" leaves too much undone.
This isn't about replacing anyone. With co-managed IT, your IT person stays in charge of what they know best, and we add the 24/7 security, patching, backups and email protection that one person can't carry alone.
Per month, often yes. But break-fix only pays for fixing what you report. Cybersecurity monitoring, backup testing, monthly patching and email domain protection aren’t part of that bill, so they usually don’t happen. Our managed plans start at $1,490 per month for up to 10 users, and $795 per month for teams of 1–5.
Six things usually fall through the cracks on a break-fix arrangement: cybersecurity monitoring, checking that backups actually restore, keeping every system up to date, watching your email domain (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), proactive work between calls, and a standard set of tools anyone knows inside and out.
Not anymore on its own. Modern attacks use stolen passwords, fake emails and unpatched software. Our managed plans use endpoint detection and response watched 24/7 by a security operations center, plus email security, multi-factor sign-in and security awareness training.
Microsoft keeps the service running, but recovering what your people delete, overwrite or lose to ransomware is your responsibility. Our managed plans include Microsoft 365 backup with an immutable archive covering email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams.
Yes. With co-managed IT, your IT person keeps doing what they know best and we add the security, patching, backups and email protection one person can’t cover alone.
If you want them. Most owners don’t, and we document and secure everything either way. If you’d like admin access, we set up your own separate admin account that we monitor. If a change made with it breaks something, the fix is billable.
For a one-to-three person office that mostly needs things fixed, hourly help ($150 per hour during business hours) or our Monitoring Plan ($99 per month minimum) can be enough. Once you handle customer data, answer a cyber-insurance application or face compliance rules, you need the work in between done too.
Take our free 12-question IT scorecard, run the free email and domain security check, or book a free IT & Security Assessment for a written plan.
Book a free 15-minute discovery meeting. No pressure, no obligation.
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