Managed IT Services Plans: Essential, Business, and Enterprise

Break-fix is reactive: something breaks, you call, you pay for the time to fix it. Managed IT is proactive: a provider monitors your environment continuously, catches problems early, maintains your systems on schedule, and provides helpdesk access for a flat monthly fee. The financial model is fundamentally different, and so is the outcome. Break-fix creates a misaligned incentive where the provider earns more when things go wrong. Managed IT creates alignment where your provider earns more by keeping things running. For more context, see our managed IT vs break-fix comparison.

Per-seat pricing is based on the number of managed devices and users, the tier selected, and any add-on services. The base rate covers the standard service matrix for that tier. Servers, specialty devices (printers, network hardware), and cloud-only users may be counted differently than standard workstation users. We will walk through the seat count methodology during the discovery call so there are no surprises in the proposal. We do not use hidden "per-device" surcharges that inflate the real cost after you sign.

No. We offer month-to-month agreements for organizations that need flexibility, and annual agreements for those who want the lower effective rate. Month-to-month requires 30 days notice to cancel. Annual agreements have a 60-day termination clause after the first six months. We do not require multi-year lock-ins as a condition of doing business. If you are leaving a bad IT relationship and are nervous about commitment, we understand that concern and will work with you on terms that feel appropriate.

Minor fluctuations within 10% of your contract baseline are absorbed without a billing change. If your team grows significantly or you add a new location, we discuss the scope change at the next QBR (or immediately if the change is immediate) and formalize it in a contract amendment before the change hits your invoice. We handle reductions the same way. You will never see an invoice surprise from a user count change you were not aware of.

Remote support is included in all tiers. On-site support for Triangle-area clients (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, RTP) is available and typically included for issues that genuinely require physical presence, such as hardware failures or network infrastructure work. For extended project work on-site, that time is scoped and billed separately so you are not paying a monthly rate that subsidizes on-site time you never use. We serve clients across North Carolina, and for clients outside the Triangle, we discuss on-site terms during the proposal phase.

Yes. Co-managed IT is a common arrangement where we handle the infrastructure monitoring, security layer, and helpdesk overflow while your internal person handles the hands-on daily requests and user relationships. This gives your internal IT resource a tier-one support escalation path and specialized backup for security incidents, server work, or compliance projects outside their expertise. See our co-managed IT services page for details on how this arrangement typically works.

Standard onboarding for the Essential and Business tiers runs two to four weeks from contract signature to full active management. Enterprise tier onboarding, or environments with complex infrastructure or compliance requirements, typically runs four to six weeks. The onboarding timeline is written into your proposal. We do not begin billing until the monitoring and security tools are fully deployed and tested in your environment.

Our entire delivery team holds CMMC-RP certification, which is the registered practitioner credential for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 work. We support HIPAA Security Rule compliance for healthcare organizations, PCI DSS for businesses that handle card data, and SOC 2 for technology companies. For defense contractors navigating CMMC requirements, we provide gap assessments, System Security Plan development, and pre-assessment preparation through our compliance add-on tier. Craig Petronella additionally holds DFE #604180, CCNA, and CWNE credentials.

Petronella Technology Group's managed IT client base includes defense contractors and government subcontractors, healthcare practices and medical groups, financial services and insurance firms, professional services (law, accounting, consulting), manufacturing and engineering firms, and technology companies. See our industry pages for details on how IT and security requirements differ by sector. Most clients in regulated industries end up on our Business tier or above because of the compliance baseline requirements their sector requires.

Incidents are triaged immediately when detected by our monitoring systems or reported by your team. Our incident response process includes containment, evidence preservation, root cause analysis, and remediation -- in that order. For Business tier and above, we coordinate with your cyber insurance carrier if required. For Enterprise tier and compliance add-on clients with active regulatory obligations, we assist with breach notification requirements as part of the incident response scope. We document every incident with a written post-incident report so you have records for insurance, auditors, or leadership review.