IT support & managed IT services in Nanaimo

Honestly, and by design. Everyday support — Microsoft 365, email, accounts, security, backups, device setup and the problems that surface on a Tuesday morning — is delivered remotely, and distance makes no difference to any of it. What distance does change is physical work. Reaching Nanaimo means a ferry from Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen, so on-site attendance is arranged in advance rather than called out on the day. We plan hardware, server and network work into scheduled visits, hold spare equipment on your premises so common failures can be swapped locally, and bring in a local trade when a job is mostly cabling.

That scenario is the reason we try not to leave a business depending on one box. Where it makes sense, email, files and line-of-business systems move to cloud services, and a dead server stops being an emergency. Where a server has to stay on site, its configuration is documented and backed up off-Island, so it can be rebuilt onto spare or replacement hardware without waiting for anyone to cross the strait. We also keep a labelled spare or two in your comms cupboard for the failures that are most likely — a switch, a firewall, a laptop.

Three things, in order. Battery backup on the server, firewall and switch, sized to ride out a short outage and shut everything down cleanly in a long one. Backups held off the Island and tested by actually restoring something, not by checking a green tick. And a written page naming who calls whom, how staff reach email and files from home, and which systems can simply wait. The December 2018 windstorm cut power and took the city's water treatment plant offline. November 2024 put Nanaimo among the hardest-hit communities on the Island. Neither was a surprise, and neither will be the last.

Typically a help desk for staff, device management and patching, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace administration, security tools, backups, vendor coordination and regular planning. Projects such as office moves, server replacements or migrations are usually scoped separately. Every agreement we write lists exactly what's covered.

A managed service provider is an outside company that takes ongoing responsibility for your IT for a monthly fee — help desk, security, device management, backups and Microsoft 365 — instead of billing by the hour when something breaks. The point is that the provider is paid to prevent problems, not to fix them after the fact. For most small businesses an MSP is the IT department they would otherwise have to hire.

Break-fix support is paid by the hour when there's a problem, so nobody is responsible for preventing the next one. Managed IT covers ongoing maintenance, security and support for a monthly fee, which makes costs predictable and rewards fewer problems. Our managed IT vs. break-fix guide covers when each makes sense.

Yes. Many growing companies have one internal IT person who is stretched thin. We can take on the help desk, security tooling, after-hours projects or strategic planning, while they stay focused on the work only an insider can do.