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Guides for Business Owners and IT Decision Makers

These guides explain managed IT services in plain language: what they include, how they compare with hiring IT staff, how to choose and switch providers, and how to protect the systems your business depends on.

They are written by TechStarters, a managed IT and cybersecurity provider supporting businesses nationwide since 2010, with offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York.

Popular Starting Points

All Managed IT Guides

What Are Managed IT Services?

How managed IT works, what it usually includes, how it compares with break-fix support and how it is priced.

Read the managed IT services guide

Managed IT Services vs. In-House IT

Compare a managed IT provider with your own IT staff on coverage, expertise, security, cost and control.

Compare managed IT and in-house IT

Questions to Ask a Managed IT Provider

The questions that show how a provider handles support, security, backups, pricing, contracts and a future exit.

See the questions to ask

How to Switch Managed IT Providers

A step-by-step plan for contracts, administrator access, data and security when you change providers.

Plan a provider switch

Microsoft 365 Security Checklist

Settings and habits that protect business email, files and accounts in Microsoft 365.

Review the Microsoft 365 checklist

The Cost of IT Downtime

How to estimate what an outage costs your business and the practices that make outages rarer and shorter.

Estimate your downtime cost

Break-Fix vs. Managed IT Services

How pay-as-you-go IT support and managed IT services compare on cost, response, security and planning.

Compare break-fix and managed IT

Cyber Insurance Requirements

The security controls insurers commonly ask about, and how to prepare before an application or renewal.

Review the cyber insurance checklist

Employee Onboarding and Offboarding

The IT steps that get new employees working on day one and remove access securely when someone leaves.

Use the onboarding and offboarding checklist

When to Replace Business IT Equipment

Signs that computers, servers and network equipment are due for replacement, and how to plan replacements ahead of failures.

Plan equipment replacements

Small Business Cybersecurity Checklist

The security basics every small business should have in place, from accounts and devices to backups and a response plan.

Use the cybersecurity checklist

10 Signs You Need Managed IT Services

The most common signs that a business has outgrown ad hoc IT support, and what to do next.

See the signs

Ransomware Protection for Businesses

How ransomware gets in, the protections that stop most attacks and how to recover if one gets through.

Protect against ransomware

Business Continuity Plan Checklist

The IT side of a continuity plan: critical systems, recovery targets, backups, remote work and testing.

Use the continuity checklist

IT Budget Planning Guide

What to include in an IT budget, from support and software to equipment replacements, security and projects.

Plan your IT budget

Explore Our Managed IT Services

Request a Managed IT Services Quote

Tell us about your business, your locations and your devices, and we will send a written proposal with per-device monthly pricing. Prefer to talk? Call (877) 932-0040.

Request a Quote