What is 24/7 IT support?
24/7 IT support means your team can get help whenever they're working, not only between nine and six. For some businesses that's a deal closing late or a partner working through the weekend. For others it's colleagues in another time zone whose working day starts as London's ends.
With us, support is 24/7. A real person answers the phone, always. Every ticket gets a human reply, so the person who raised it knows we've seen it. If someone can't work, we prioritise them.
What does our 24/7 IT support cover?
Round-the-clock support is part of the same service our clients use every day. It covers:
- IT support and helpdesk. Help with laptops, phones, accounts and Microsoft 365, from people who know your setup.
- Looking after your systems. Keeping devices, servers and software updated and working.
- Cyber security. Protecting accounts, devices and data, and helping you answer your clients' security questions.
- Backup and disaster recovery. So your data can be recovered and the business can keep working if something fails.
- Phones. Business phone systems that work from the office, from home or on the move.
Most issues are sorted in a quick remote session: that's 98% of IT requests. For bigger problems, we aim to identify the fix within 30 minutes. How long the fix itself takes depends on the issue.
Who needs 24/7 IT support?
Not every business does. If your whole team works nine to five in one office, standard hours may cover most of what you need, and we'd say so. It matters more when:
- Your people work early, late or at weekends, or travel for work.
- You have staff or offices in other countries.
- Partners, founders or directors can't afford for their working day to stop.
- A system failure overnight would stop the whole team the next morning.
Many of the businesses we look after are in finance, investment, legal and professional services, where deadlines don't keep office hours and clients expect security to be taken seriously.
What 24/7 IT support looks like in practice
A real person, whatever the time
Nobody wants to explain a problem to a voicemail at 11pm. When your team calls us, a real person answers, always.
People who know your setup
Help at any hour is more useful when the people behind it understand your systems. We're a team of 17, and many of us have been here for years. Meenash and Nazheer joined in 2016, Jamie in 2017, and Ryan and Jessica in 2018. You'll know us by name, and we'll know your business.
Staying until it's fixed
When one client's network went down, we went to site and arranged a temporary connection so their team could keep working while we chased the provider for a permanent fix. We stayed beyond normal hours to restore and test everything, so they could start the next morning without disruption.
Priority for the people who can't stop
Our VIP concierge service is for founders, partners and directors whose working day can't afford to stop. They get a direct line to a senior engineer and IT director who know them, with priority support when they need it. We also take care of the practical things, like a new phone, a home setup or a laptop ready before a trip.
Help thinking ahead
The best out-of-hours call is the one that never has to happen. Alongside day-to-day support, we help you plan for security, compliance and new systems, so fewer problems land at awkward times.
How to choose a 24/7 IT support company
Many clients who switch to us do so because their last provider stopped picking up, or closed tickets without fixing anything. If round-the-clock support matters to you, these are the questions to ask:
- Who answers the phone out of hours? Is it a real person, and do they have access to your setup and history?
- Is 24/7 included, or charged separately? Get it in writing, including what counts as out of hours.
- What are the service commitments? Response times should be set out in your contract, for day and night.
- Can someone come on site? Some problems need a person in the room. Ask how that works at short notice.
- Will we know the people? Ask to meet the team who will look after you, and ask how long they've been there.
- Do they cover staff abroad? If you have people in other time zones, check their working day is covered too.
- How do they handle security incidents? Ask what happens if something suspicious turns up at the weekend, and whether they hold certifications such as Cyber Essentials Plus. We do.
- What does it cost? Ask for one clear monthly figure. Ours starts from £1,000 a month.
You'll find more on evening and weekend cover in our guide to out-of-hours IT support.