The Operations Leader's Guide to Managed IT
For VP Operations, COOs, office and practice managers, and owners
You run the business, and nobody on staff runs IT. This guide covers what to check in an SLA, who responds after hours, how day-to-day communication works, and what a safe handoff looks like.
Key Questions Operations Leaders Ask
Whether you are a VP Operations, a COO, a practice manager or the owner, these are the questions to get answered before you hand over your systems
What uptime targets do you work to?
Uptime targets depend on your architecture, so we agree them per scope and write them into your contract. Response times are fixed: a person on critical incidents within 1 hour, 24/7.
How fast do you respond to a critical incident?
A person responds and starts triage within 1 hour, 24/7, on managed email, cloud and DevOps. Routine requests are answered within 4 business hours.
Who gets paged at 3am?
We do. P1 incidents get a response 24/7 on every plan. Professional and Enterprise add 24/7 human response for everything else, not just emergencies.
We don't have an IT team. Who do we deal with?
A shared Slack or Teams channel on every plan, monthly business reviews, and a dedicated account manager from Professional upward. You don't need a technical contact on staff.
What visibility will I have?
Monthly reports and business reviews in plain language: what we fixed, what we found, and what we recommend next, with SLA performance included.
What happens if we leave?
Your accounts, domains and licenses should stay in your name, not ours. You keep all the documentation and runbooks we create, and month-to-month terms are available.
What to Check in a Service Level Agreement
Response-time promises look alike on paper. These six checks show what a provider is actually committing to.
What counts as a P1
Is the P1 definition written into the contract in business terms?
"Email is down for everyone" or "the booking system is offline" should be a P1 by definition, not a judgment call made at 2am.
When the clock starts
Does response time start at the provider's alert or at your phone call?
If the clock only starts when you notice and report the problem, a 15-minute SLA can mean hours of downtime.
Response vs. resolution
Is the promise an engineer working on it, or the problem fixed?
Most SLAs guarantee response, not resolution. Ask what updates you will get while the fix is under way, and how often.
What uptime covers
Which systems does the uptime percentage include, and is maintenance excluded?
An uptime number that excludes the systems your staff use every day doesn't protect your operations.
What a miss costs
Are service credits applied automatically, or only if you file a claim?
Credits you have to chase rarely get claimed. Automatic credits keep the provider honest without adding admin work.
Measured results
Will you report actual response times every month?
Targets are easy to publish. Ask to see measured performance in the monthly report, and in a reference call before you sign.
PlatOps puts response times in writing: a person on critical incidents within 1 hour, 24/7, and routine requests within 4 business hours. What each managed service includes, and what it costs, is set out on the pricing page.
Compare Plans & SLAsDay-to-Day Operations
How we integrate with your team on a daily basis
Communication Channels
How we stay in sync with your team
- Dedicated Slack channel or Teams workspace
- Shared email alias for non-urgent requests
- Phone/SMS for critical escalations
- Monthly business review meetings
- Quarterly roadmap planning sessions
Reporting & Visibility
What you'll see and when
- Real-time infrastructure dashboard (24/7 access)
- Daily digest of completed work and alerts
- Weekly ops summary with key metrics
- Monthly SLA report with trend analysis
- Quarterly executive business review
Runbooks & Documentation
Operational knowledge management
- Standardized runbooks for common procedures
- Architecture diagrams and system documentation
- Incident response playbooks
- Change management procedures
- Disaster recovery plans
Team Structure
Who you'll work with
- Dedicated account manager (Professional and Enterprise)
- Primary and backup engineers
- Escalation path to senior engineers
- Access to specialty teams (security, compliance)
- Dedicated account team on Enterprise
Reducing Your Operational Burden
The tedious, time-consuming work we take off your plate
3am Pages
Your team gets woken up for production issues
Our on-call team handles it, escalates only if needed
Impact: Better sleep, reduced burnout, improved retention
Patch Management
Manual tracking, testing, deployment of security patches
Automated patch management with testing and rollback
Impact: Reduced vulnerability window, consistent patching
Vendor Management
Managing relationships with 10+ infrastructure vendors
Single point of contact, we handle vendor coordination
Impact: Simplified procurement, consolidated billing
Compliance Paperwork
Quarterly evidence gathering, audit preparation
Monthly control and evidence checks with Security & Compliance Support, from $1,500 a month
Impact: Audits become a review of evidence already collected
Capacity Planning
Manual monitoring, reactive scaling decisions
Proactive capacity monitoring with forecasting
Impact: Prevent outages, optimize costs
Documentation
Outdated runbooks, tribal knowledge
Living documentation, automated updates
Impact: Reduced onboarding time, consistent execution
Transition Process
From signed contract to full operations in four weeks, whether you are moving from an in-house person, another provider or nobody at all
Week 1: Discovery & Assessment
- Audit infrastructure, accounts and security posture
- Identify critical systems and dependencies
- Collect credentials and vendor contacts from your current provider
- Meet key staff and agree escalation contacts
- Deliver a gap analysis and onboarding plan
Week 2: Tool Setup & Integration
- Deploy monitoring and alerting
- Connect cloud accounts and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
- Set up the shared Slack or Teams channel
- Document undocumented procedures
- Create initial runbooks
Week 3: Shadow Operations
- Handle incidents alongside your team or current provider
- Validate runbooks against real alerts
- Take over routine maintenance windows
- Confirm escalation paths
- Agree the handoff date
Week 4: Full Operations Handoff
- Assume full operational responsibility
- Take over after-hours on-call
- Retire old access and shared logins
- Weekly check-ins to fine-tune processes
- Schedule the first monthly business review
A Low-Risk Handoff
We shadow your team or current provider before taking on any responsibility, and keep joint coverage during the handoff week. You keep full control throughout onboarding. Still weighing your options? Compare in-house vs. freelance vs. MSP vs. PlatOps.
Built for Operational Excellence
The commitments behind our plans
4 hrs
Routine requests
Business hours, Monday to Friday
1 hr
Critical-incident response
24/7 on managed email, cloud and DevOps
24/7
Automated monitoring
A dedicated security operations center is quoted separately
Other Buyer's Guides
Most decisions involve more than one leader. Share the guide that fits each of them, or start with the evaluation checklist for any managed provider.
The CISO's Guide
Security Operations & Risk Reduction
Threat detection, incident response, compliance management, and security program maturity. For security leaders evaluating managed security partners.
Read GuideThe CTO's Guide
Technical Evaluation & Architecture
Deep dive into security architecture, technology stack, team integration, and technical evaluation criteria. For technical leaders evaluating managed services partners.
Read GuideThe CFO's Guide
Financial Analysis & ROI
Cost analysis, ROI calculations, and risk mitigation strategies. Built for financial leaders building the business case for managed services.
Read GuideReady to compare specifics? See plans, SLAs and pricing or compare in-house, freelance, MSP and PlatOps.
Free 30-minute call
Make IT One Less Thing to Manage
Book a free 30-minute call. Tell us where IT slows your team down today, and we'll show you what we'd take over and how support would work.
No commitment. Video call or phone, whichever you prefer. Run by senior engineers, serving clients since 2014.
What you leave the call with
- Where IT is slowing operations down
- How support and escalation would work
- A senior engineer, not a salesperson
Prefer it in writing? Request a written review