Managed IT Services – Frequently Asked Questions

Empower Fully Managed IT Services – Integris monitors, manages, supports, and secures all IT systems and users for a fixed and predictable monthly fee. 

Empower Co-Managed IT Services – We support internal IT as an extension of your team. This role includes patching, repetitive tasks, one-off services, and special projects. We handle the backend while in-house IT manages everything else. 

Learn More: Problems With Co-Managed IT and How To Avoid Them, Co-Managed IT Overview | Are You Getting Genuine Managed IT Services?, How to Choose a Managed Service Provider, Is Your MSP a Cultural Fit? 

Empower’s core features are fixed, baseline foundational resources included in every Fully Managed IT Service Level Agreement. 

• vCIO – Strategic direction, budgeting, planning, and consulting services with account reviews and IT roadmaps to advance your digital transformation. 
• Managed Services Concierge – Your point of contact for all account details. This trusted advisor is the quarterback between your vCIO and the service team, managing questions about IT services, invoices, and every piece of business enabling technology that supports decision making, collaboration, productivity, compliance, business continuity, security, and efficiency. 
• Client Management Tools – Professional Services Automation, Ticketing, CRM, Remote Management and Monitoring, Documentation, Communication, Notification, and Data Privacy. 
• Vendor Technical Assistance – We interact directly with your other technology vendors for incident remediation, opening tickets, escalating requests, or working to resolve incidents within your IT environment.
  • We will also answer basic questions about your environment or provide access to systems the vendor has requested when approved by the client, such as allocating IP addresses for a copier, a security camera vendor or allowing network traffic for a vendor’s service.
  • This assistance covers hardware manufacturers, software development firms, cloud service providers, ISPs, telecommunication brokers, printer and copier companies, and local couriers. 
• Procurement Services – Integris sources products exclusively from authorized channels and recommends business-class solutions. We also identify configuration options, ensure proper registration, manage licensing and warranties, and guarantee that all products are genuine. 
• Network Management – Monitoring, Administration, Reporting, Domain Name, and SSL Certificate Management, Remote Incident Remediation, and On-site Incident Remediation. 

If a client has more than one location – with expanded Network Management & Vendor Technical Assistance requirements – additional core feature charges will apply. 

Learn More: Five Ways Vendor Technical Assistance Improves IT, VoIP Support vs Vendor Technical Assistance vs System Administration, 4 Tech Services Your MSP Can Improve 

Integris supports midmarket and enterprise clients with Elevate, a portfolio of a la carte services spanning Cybersecurity, IT Consulting, Cloud Services, and Network Connectivity (ISP Services), including: 

• vCISO 
• vCIO 
• Backup and Disaster Recovery  
• EDR 
• Email Security 
• Internet Security and Content Filtering  
• MFA 
• Managed Detection and Response  
• Network Security Management 
• Procurement 
• Project Management Services  
• Security Awareness Training 
• Staff Augmentation 
• Vulnerability Management 

Some midmarket and enterprise clients are Empower clients. However, Elevate services are typically a better match for organizations with 100-1000+ employees and larger internal IT departments, that want augmentation from a strategic partner, who’s not trying to replace them. 

Learn More: What is IT Consulting? | 5 Key Responsibilities of a World-Class vCIO | What is vCISO and Who Needs CISSP Expertise? | What to Look for When Choosing a Second ISP 

By leading with IT strategy and compliance guidance, Integris fills two major gaps in the IT provider industry. This expertise helps SMBs, Midmarket, and Enterprise clients: 

• Save time, money, and increase profitability. 
• Improve team morale. 
• Reduce employee frustration and IT staff burnout. 
• Solidify defenses against data breaches, ransomware attacks, and legal exposure. 
• Lower cybersecurity and compliance risk. 
• Prevent the loss of knowledge, certification expertise, and skill sets from departing IT employees. 
• Leverage best in class tools and onshore help desk with partnership level support. 
• Refocus internal IT resources on mission-critical, strategic endeavors. 

Learn More: 5 Ways to Improve Morale with Technology, 2 Ways to Boost Performance & Simplify Cybersecurity (NIST CSF & M365), The Top 10 Ways ConnectWise Improves Cybersecurity for MSPs & Their Clients, How to Improve Ransomware Preparedness for Cyber Insurance Coverage, How to Minimize Cybersecurity Insurance Problems, The Top 5 Security Controls & Incidents Impacting Cyber Insurance, How to Assess IT Effectiveness 

Integris selectively partners with growing organizations that like applying strategy and budgets to proven IT processes and cybersecurity frameworks based on standards and best practices – to improve performance and lower risk.  

• We’re a national provider with a local footprint in 20+ local markets, giving clients broad coverage and personal attention in their communities.  
• We’re SOC 2 Type II certified, providing clients with information security/data protection resilience that fewer than 1% of MSPs can promise.  
• We only partner with operationally mature companies so we don’t get weighted down with clients that drain resources allowing us to focus on like-minded clients.  
• Our high touch service model combines high level strategy with personal attention, so you’re never lost in the shuffle.  
• For Empower clients, Integris creates and maintains powerful, quiet, and secure IT systems by actively engaging and advising our clients in regularly scheduled Strategic Business Reviews with a vCIO. 
• Most Integris locations limit new client onboardings to two per month. This approach allows us to institute comprehensive, data-driven quality controls – upfront – which create increasing operating leverage for our clients throughout the lifetime of the relationship.
• For Elevate clients, we combine MSP best practices with the convenience of a managed value-added reseller (VAR). This hybrid approach gives your internal IT department direct support from Integris. Why is this important? Most VARs are simply agents for hardware, software, and app manufacturers /developers rather than day to day solution partners and administrators, after the sale. 
• Integris has a full menu of options allowing us to engage in whichever capacity fits your operational needs. 

Learn More: 3 Ways a SOC2 Compliant MSP Improves Cloud Security, Your MSP Onboarding Checklist for Success 

Empower is responsive by design and perfectly suited to organizations that appreciate the value of following a standards-based approach to inform the architecture and lifecycle management of their IT systems.  

This alignment means clients enjoy business optimizing technology that doesn’t require constant, reactive, emergency intervention – so they have more time to focus on growing their business. 

We give users direct access to support, which eliminates bottlenecks and allows us to collect data and insights to identify training gaps and recommend system improvements. 

Our Service Level Agreement (SLA) prioritizes client matters and response times by P1, P2, P3, and P4. A significant server or cloud application outage is a P1. 

Assisting with a password reset is a P4. Good news: we can set you up with a self-serve password solution, so you don’t have to open a ticket. 

The outcome is like the concept of compound interest. When you invest in the process over time, both quality of service and responsiveness accrue. Failure to invest (or starting late) makes it impossible to catch up. 

Elevate responsiveness is driven by strict SLAs for each product category. 

Learn More: 4 Leading Drivers of Responsive IT Service for Your Business, What is an IT Steering Committee?, Top 10 IT Best Practices To Adopt Right Now 

Each Empower client is assigned a Managed Services Concierge, and a vCIO with day-to-day support from a service pool of engineers who respond based on the priority levels P1, P2, P3, and P4. 

Empower clients have three ways to open tickets: 1 – phone, 2 – email, and 3 – website.  

Integris will provide portal access for all authorized Client personnel to its client ticketing and support systems. All initiated support will be recorded and trackable through the system. 

Elevate clients also have three ways to open tickets: 1 – phone, 2 – email, and 3 – website, along with direct access to an escalation desk of subject matter experts for your service. 

Empower 

All IT systems for managed IT service clients are covered, secured, monitored, and managed 24/7/365. 

The user help desk is available during standard business hours, which vary by regional time zones. 

We also have customized plans for companies that require user support outside standard business hours. 

Regardless of your plan, Integris maintains on-call engineers 24/7/365. 

Elevate 

We monitor all central systems and critical services that run your business – 24/7/365.  

Reactive support is available 24/7/365. This includes responding to hard system down alerts, automated alerts, and end-user triggered alerts; anything indicating high business impact or the inability for users to access business systems. 

The user help desk is available during standard business hours, which vary by regional time zones. 

We also have customized plans for companies that require user support outside standard business hours. 

Operationally mature organizations in the following verticals: 

• Architectural/Engineering  
• CPA 
• Consulting  
• Finance 
• Healthcare  
• Insurance 
• Legal  
• Manufacturing  
• Nonprofit 
• Professional Services  
• Real Estate  

Is your industry missing from this list? Don’t worry, we love extending our focus whenever we meet open, honest, competitive, growth-oriented businesses that want strategic IT direction and compliance expertise. 

The largest Empower clients have around 1,000 employees and our smallest clients have 10-20 employees. Most Empower clients are in the 50-150 headcount range. 

Elevate partners with companies with 150-4000 employees. Our average Elevate client has 250-500 employees. 

Integris does not have an onboarding fee for Empower services. However, if our technology assessment uncovers gaps or vulnerabilities with your IT infrastructure, there is a charge to remediate any deficiencies by implementing responsible IT architecture.  

There is a concrete business rationale for this requirement: If you have a distressed IT environment with aging, non-standard equipment, Integris cannot guarantee the quality of service and responsiveness you deserve. 

Common trouble spots include: 

• Misconfigured single-sign on 
• Operating without multi-factor authentication 
• Incomplete backup and disaster recovery 
• Endpoints missing anti-malware protection 
• Expired firewalls 
• Unsecured Wi-Fi networks 
• Seven-year-old consumer-grade workstations 
• Missing patches 
• Unrestricted administrative rights 
• Unsupported operating systems 

There is a standard, one-time onboarding fee for Elevate clients. The set-up fee varies depending on the a la carte services you select. 

Project fees are $150.00- $225.00 per hour and vary based on region. 

We’re a national provider with over 600 employees in over twenty offices, serving more than 1,800 clients across three time zones. 

Integris was formed through the merger of several highly successful IT providers. We’ve combined great people and practices from these legacy companies to form our organization. As a result, we’ve experienced extraordinary growth in our short history, both through acquisition and organic sales gains.

Integris and Integris employees have the following certifications and partnerships: 

• AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) 
• Certified Meraki Networking Associate (CMNA) 
• Cisco Partner 
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) 
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Security (CCNA Security) 
• Duo Partner 
• Certified RSA Authentication and Security Management Engineer  
• SonicWall Gold Partner 
  • Certified SonicWall System Administrator (CSSA)  
  • SonicWall Network Security Administrator (SNSA)  
• Microsoft Gold Partner 
  • Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA) 
  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) 
  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) – Server Infrastructure 
  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) 
  • Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) 
  • Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) 
• VMware Partner 
  • VMware Sales Professional (VSP)  
  • VMware Technical Solutions Professional (VTSP)  
  • VMware Certified Professional (VCP) 
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) 
• Storage Craft Partner 
• HP Silver Partner 
• HPE Silver Partner 
• Lenovo Gold Partner 
• Dell Gold Partner 
• WatchGuard Gold Partner 
  • Network Security WatchGuardONE Specialization 
  • Secure Wi-Fi WatchGuardONE Specialization 
  • Multi-Factor Authentication WatchGuardONE Specialization  
• Veeam Gold ProPartner 
  • Veeam Sales Professional (VMSP) 
  • Veeam Technical Sales Professional (VMTSP) 
  • Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE) 
• Xerox Gold Partner 
• Apple Certified Associate 
• Fortinet Certified Partner  
• Datto Certified Partner  
• BlackPoint Certified Partner  
• Nodeware Certified Partner 
• CompTIA 
  • Linux+ Certified  
  • Security+ Certified  
  • Network+ Certified  

Learn More: Certifications, Credentials, & Partnerships 

No. Our clients have both on-premises equipment and cloud environments. Some clients are 100% cloud while others are mixed or “hybrid.” Since everyone’s setup is different, Integris will always support what makes the most sense for your business.  

Learn More: The 4 Stages of IT Evolution, 3 Ways the Cloud Improves Cybersecurity and Performance for SMBs, 5 Ways Microsoft 365 Can Transform Your Business 

The effective date of your agreement triggers the billing cycle, and your first bill covers your first month of service. 

Since the dedicated resources and facilities assigned to your business are active 24/7/365, IT services are billed a month in advance. 

Because managed IT is an “always-on” fixed-fee service – and not based on accumulating monthly usage – we exercise financial discipline and cover costs as they occur – which is around the clock. 

The transition period is typically 30 days and includes collaboration with your current provider for the knowledge transfer of all IT systems details and credentials.   

We recommend you continue service with your current provider during this time. This overlapping approach makes the transition more seamless.  

Plus, the incumbent IT provider will be more likely to cooperate with account transfer details if your account is still active.  

Key onboarding details cover:  

• Introduce your vCIO, Technical Operations Manager, and Project Manager at the Client Kickoff Meeting. 
• Review contracted services and transition details.  
• Deploy Integris remote monitoring and management tools.  
• Explain how to contact the Integris support team.  
• Swiftly remove the highest priority risks and create a future-focused technology roadmap.  
• Review and schedule remediation project to implement Responsible IT Architecture controls and address other findings highlighted in the assessment report.  
• Document all critical systems, including new user setup checklist and new computer setup process.  
• Secure the environment and ensure that only Integris has access to the network after all systems have been documented.  

Our top-notch project coordination ensures that your team knows exactly when to expect down time, transition day-to-day end user support, the impact on the business while the onboarding is being implemented and what the overall timeline is for each step of the project.  

Learn More: Your MSP Onboarding Checklist For Success 

Integris supports the most popular computer systems, accessories, software, and displays distributed by Ingram Micro, a Fortune 500 supplier with over 1,500 information technology products and services.

We support SMBs, Midmarket companies, and Enterprises with most of the following vendors:

• 8X8
• Acer
• Apple
• Arctic Wolf
• Aruba (a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company)
• AWS
• Azure
• Blackpoint Cyber
• Cisco
• Cisco Meraki
• Citrix
• Datto
• Dell
• DUO
• Fortinet
• Google Workspace
• HP
• IBM
• Infosec
• Juniper Networks
• KnowBe4
• Lenovo
• Logitech
• M365
• Meraki
• Microsoft
• Nextiva
• Nodeware
• OpenDNS
• Polycom
• Proofpoint
• Ring Central
• Ruckus Commscope
• Samsung
• SentinelOne
• Symantec
• Veeam
• Viewsonic
• VMware
• WatchGuard
• Vonage, and more

Visit Clutch for detailed, multi-faceted reviews, conducted by analysts who personally interview Integris clients by phone. Clutch’s formal process includes business entity verification, payments and legal filings, and financial verification. Clutch analysts solicit highly structured feedback by asking each Integris client the same five questions: 

• What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 
• How did Integris perform from a project management standpoint? 
• What did you find most impressive about them? 
• Are there any areas they could improve? 
• Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

For 176 other client comments, see the following Google Reviews. 

We also have video testimonials: