Proactive Maintenance Plan
Reduce downtime, increase profitability, and make your technology work for you.
NSAO is dedicated to keeping your technology investment up and running smoothly so you can focus on your business. You can relax knowing our partnership with your organization means we take your IT personally, and strive to keep your staff productive with the tools they need to drive your business forward.
Change the way you think about IT with NSAO.
What are Managed IT Services?
Most people lump "IT support" into one big blurry category.
Somethings breaks, you call the IT guy, and he does... something with a keyboard. Maybe the problem disappears. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, you pay the invoice and move on.
But in reality, IT support comes in three distinct models, each with its own structure, strengths, and trade-offs.
If you don't know which one you're using (or what you're actually paying for), it's easy to end up with mismatched expectations.
You'll think you hired someone to "manage everything", but what you really got was someone who shows up once a quarter and resets a password.
Here's the big picture:
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Break-Fix is like calling a plumber when the pipe bursts. You only pay when something goes wrong.
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Managed Services (MSP) is like hiring a property manager. They handle upkeep, monitoring , and emergencies on your behalf.
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Co-Managed IT is a team effort: your in-house staff runs the day-to-day, while an MSP supports the backend and handles specialized tasks.
You don't need to be a techie to understand these. But you do need to know what you're signing up for, so you can match the model to your actual needs, not just your budget.
Break-Fix
This is the most basic form of IT support, and for a while, it seems like the most logical one.
For very small businesses -- solo operators, small shops, or startups with a shoestring budget -- Break-Fix might be perfectly fine.
Managed Services Provider
If Break-Fix is calling the plumber only when a pipe bursts, Managed Services is having a licensed pro regularly checking the valves, tightening the seals, and making sure nothing leaks in the first place, even when you're not looking.
Co-Managed IT
In a co-managed setup, your internal IT team and an external MSP work together. Think of it like having an in-house plumber who knows every pipe in the building -- and bringing in a professional plumbing company to handle the city hookups, the flood prevention system, and the pressure testing.