Outsourced IT Support
Outsource your IT to a team that answers the phone.
We take over the daily work of your IT: help desk, monitoring, security, backup, and Microsoft 365. You keep the decisions. A family-run team in Hoffman Estates since 1994.
Outsourced IT support, answered directly
By Joe Engelking, CEO. Updated November 2026.
What is outsourced IT support?
Outsourced IT support means an outside company runs your day-to-day IT instead of an employee or a one-person IT department. That covers the help desk your staff calls, monitoring and patching, security, backups, and Microsoft 365 administration. You pay a monthly plan and get a team with more skills and more coverage than a single hire.
What do we hand off, and what do we keep?
You hand off the daily work: tickets, updates, monitoring, backups, security tools, and calls to vendors. You keep the business decisions, like budgets, which software to buy, and who gets access to what. We recommend and explain, and you decide. Your accounts stay in your name, and you own the network documentation we create.
Is outsourcing IT cheaper than hiring someone?
For many small businesses, yes. One hire costs salary and benefits, covers one set of skills, and leaves a gap during vacations and sick days. An outsourced plan is a predictable monthly cost with a team behind it. Plans start at $75 per user per month, and the price depends on headcount, devices, and compliance needs. We quote the same day after a free assessment.
Can we keep our own IT person?
Yes. If you already have someone in house, a co-managed arrangement gives them backup for the pieces they are short on, such as security, Microsoft 365 administration, and after-hours coverage. They keep control of your systems. Fully managed means we run all of it. Both are outsourcing, and we help you pick the one that fits. See co-managed IT services.
How long does it take to move to LME?
Most transitions take two to four weeks from kickoff to cutover, depending on your environment and how much documentation your current provider shares. We build and test the new setup alongside your existing one, confirm you own your accounts, and cut over on a planned date. If your current provider will not cooperate, we can get an attorney involved. More in our guide to switching IT companies.
| Topic | Outsourced with LME | One in-house hire | Pay-per-fix support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Help desk plus around-the-clock monitoring | One person, business hours | Only when you call |
| Skills | A team across security, cloud, and backup | What that person knows today | Whoever is sent |
| When someone is out | Support continues | A gap in coverage | Depends on availability |
| Approach | Proactive: monitoring, patching, tested backups | Depends on workload | Reactive, after something breaks |
| Cost | A predictable monthly plan | Salary and benefits | Invoices that vary with each problem |
What outsourcing looks like when it goes wrong
Prairie Contractors in Frankfort hired an outside technician to move them to Office 365. The technician failed partway through. Nothing had migrated, and the company had lost access to its old email. We took over, finished the migration, set up Office 365 properly, and then added monitoring automation, backups, security, and a help desk. If you are weighing a provider, ask who is responsible when a project stalls.
Questions to ask any outsourced IT provider
- Who answers the phone, and what happens after hours?
- Will you come on-site, and how quickly?
- Do we own our accounts and documentation if we leave?
- How often do you test a restore from backup?
- Who watches security alerts, and what do they do when one fires?
More questions about outsourced IT support
Plans start at $75 per user per month and depend on headcount, devices, what needs protecting, and any compliance requirements. Email-only users cost less. After a short discovery call you get a written quote the same day, and there are no surprise line items.
Security, backup, and recovery are built into every plan, with around-the-clock monitoring of systems and threats. When you compare providers, ask which tools they use, who watches the alerts, and how often they test a restore.
Yes. Many problems are fixed remotely, and when one cannot be, we offer on-site support. Our office is at 1265 Freeman Road in Hoffman Estates, so we are a short drive from much of the northwest suburbs.
Mostly small businesses, typically with fewer than 50 employees. We also work with larger teams that need help with security, Microsoft 365, or compliance.
Yes. We help with HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 work, and with the security questionnaires that customers and insurers send. We fill them out accurately, then make sure your systems match the answers. See our compliance guide for how that works. Read the compliance guide.
An outsourced IT provider (an MSP) runs your IT on an ongoing basis for a monthly fee. A consultant works on a defined project and then leaves. Many businesses use both at different times, and we will tell you honestly if a project is the better fit. Read more in MSP or IT consultant.
Related services and guides
Managed IT services, IT help desk, cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery, co-managed IT, and IT services in Hoffman Estates.