Your Questions, Answered by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ
Explore Our Frequently Asked Questions About IT Services and Cybersecurity Solutions.
IT Solutions
Providing tailored IT solutions designed to meet the specific needs of SMBs.
Frequently Asked Questions: Everything You Need to Know
Discover detailed answers to common questions about IT services, cybersecurity solutions, and support options.
The Basics
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What Are Managed IT Services?
Managed IT services are a monthly subscription in which an external IT provider — like Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ — proactively runs your business technology so your team doesn't have to. That includes 24/7 monitoring, security, patching, help desk, cloud management, and strategic advice. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's plans come in Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers — all with 24/7/365 support, a 5-minute response commitment (99%+ achievement), and a named Client Success Manager per account.
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What's the Difference Between Managed IT and Break-Fix?
Break-fix is reactive — you call for help only when something breaks, and you pay by the hour. Managed IT is proactive — a fixed monthly fee covers monitoring, prevention, and unlimited support so most problems never reach you. For most SMBs, managed IT costs less overall because it eliminates the downtime, emergency rates, and lost productivity that break-fix creates.
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What's the Difference Between an MSP and an MSSP?
A Managed Service Provider (MSP) handles all your IT — networks, devices, cloud, help desk, and security. A Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) focuses only on cybersecurity monitoring. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ is a full MSP with built-in security operations — SOC 2 certified, with endpoint detection and response, email filtering, and incident response covered under our Managed IT plans, so you don't need a separate MSSP contract.
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What's Included in a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Managed IT Plan?
Every Managed IT plan includes 24/7 monitoring, patching, unlimited help desk, endpoint security, email protection, backup, and a named Client Success Manager. Unlike most MSPs, we also include professional services on the majority of IT projects — migrations, network builds, cloud rollouts, and deployments are covered with no separate project fees. Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers layer on additional security tools, vCIO time, and hardware-as-a-service options.
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Is My Business Too Small for Managed IT?
No. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ serves Canadian SMBs from about 10 to 500 employees. If your team relies on email, cloud apps, or business software to work — and losing them for a day would cost real money — you're the right size for managed IT. Smaller businesses often benefit most because they can't justify a full-time IT hire but still face the same security threats as enterprises.
Choosing an MSP
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How Do I Choose the Right MSP?
Look for four things: a written response-time guarantee (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's is 5 minutes), verifiable third-party certifications (we're SOC 2 certified, B-Corp, MSP 501 top 100 globally), transparent pricing with no per-ticket overages, and a named account contact — not a rotating help desk. Also check for industry-specific experience: we serve legal, healthcare, financial services, aviation, manufacturing, and more.
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In-House IT vs. Outsourced IT: Which Is Right for My Business?
In-house works when you need someone on-site every day and can afford $80K–$120K/year salary plus benefits, plus a backup for vacations. Outsourced (MSP) works when you want broader expertise for less money and 24/7 coverage without hiring three people. Many mid-size businesses use a hybrid model: an internal IT person for day-to-day, an MSP like Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ for after-hours, security, and specialized projects. We call this co-managed IT.
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What Should I Ask an MSP Before Signing?
Ask for:
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their written SLA and response-time commitments
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their tenure and retention numbers for both clients and technicians
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whether professional-services project work is included or billed separately
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their security certifications (SOC 2, B-Corp)
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which specific tools they use for monitoring, security, and backup — real MSPs have specific answers, not "we use industry-standard tools."
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What Sets Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Apart From Other MSPs?
Four things:
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Ranked #97 globally / #1 in Western Canada on the 2026 MSP 501, one of Canada's 50 Best Managed IT Companies for five consecutive years (2021–2025), and Great Place to Work-Certified — Top 100 Best Workplaces in Canada and 2026 Best Workplaces in Technology.
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A 5-minute response commitment — delivered on 99%+ of tickets, 24/7 across all plans.
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A named Client Success Manager per account plus a 24/7 help desk team — strategic account ownership and around-the-clock technicians, not one or the other. Our team is intentionally built using EOS's "Right Person, Right Seat" discipline.
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Professional services included on the majority of IT projects — migrations, deployments, and network builds are covered with no separate project fees.
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What If I'm Already With Another MSP?
Switching is smoother than most people expect. We start with an IT assessment and a written transition plan. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ handles the technical migration — tool changeover, documentation transfer, access handoff — while your current provider stays live until we're fully cut over. Typical transition takes 30 days with no downtime for your team. Most of our clients came from another MSP.
Working With Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ
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How Does Onboarding Work?
Onboarding takes ~30 days in three phases:
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IT assessment — we document your systems, users, tools, and vulnerabilities;
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Transition — we deploy monitoring, security tools, and access;
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Live support — your named Client Success Manager takes over. Most clients see fewer help-desk tickets within the first 60 days because we fix issues we find during the assessment.
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How Fast Do You Respond to Issues?
Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's 5-minute initial response commitment is delivered on 99%+ of tickets, 24/7/365 — for any request, big or small. That means a real technician is on your ticket within 5 minutes at any hour — not a bot, not "we'll get back to you." Don't wait if you have an issue: our team is on call day, night, weekends, and holidays. Every Managed IT plan (Silver, Gold, Platinum) includes this coverage.
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Do You Sign an SLA?
Yes. Every Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ contract includes a written Service Level Agreement covering response times, resolution targets, uptime commitments, and escalation paths. If we miss the SLA, it's documented and reported. That's a big reason we've been on Canada's Top 50 MSP list for five straight years — measurable accountability.
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Do You Offer Onsite Support or Just Remote?
Both. About 90% of IT issues can be resolved remotely, which is faster for you and cheaper for us. When something genuinely requires hands-on-hardware — a switch install, a physical migration, a site survey — we send a technician on-site. We have offices in Calgary (HQ), Edmonton, Red Deer, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, and ²Ñ´Ç²Ô³Ù°ùé²¹±ô, so we can cover most of populated Canada quickly.
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Who Handles My Support Tickets, and Who's My Account Contact?
Two separate roles:
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Day-to-day support tickets go to our 24/7 help desk team — specialized technicians who answer, triage, and resolve issues around the clock.
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Every account also gets a named Client Success Manager (CSM) as your strategic contact. The CSM isn't your ticket-taker; they know your business, technology stack, growth plans, and pain points. They handle account reviews, escalations, budget planning, and long-term strategy. Most MSPs give you one or the other. You get both.
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Pricing & Value
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How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost?
Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Managed IT plans start at $1,000/month and typically run $1,000 to $20,000/month for most Canadian SMBs, depending on team size, complexity, and tier (Silver, Gold, Platinum). Simple environments with 10–20 users typically start around $1,000–$2,500/month. Complex multi-site environments with heavy cybersecurity, cloud, and vCIO layers can exceed $30,000/month. Every quote starts with a free consultation to understand your needs and scope — no cost, no obligation.
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What's Included in the Monthly Price?
The monthly fee covers 24/7 monitoring, unlimited help desk, patch management, endpoint security, email protection, backup, cloud management, and — critically — professional services on the majority of IT projects (migrations, deployments, network builds). Most MSPs charge project fees on top of the monthly retainer. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ includes them. What's not included: hardware purchases, third-party software licenses, and truly custom development work.
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Are There Hidden Fees or Overage Charges?
No. Managed IT plans are fixed monthly billing with unlimited help desk — no per-ticket, per-user overages, or emergency rate multipliers. The one exception is major hardware purchases or third-party software licenses, which pass through at cost. If a project falls outside the "majority" that's included, we quote it upfront in writing — never a surprise invoice.
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How Does Managed IT Save My Business Money vs. Hiring In-House?
A full-time IT hire in Canada costs about $80K–$120K/year in salary plus 25% in benefits, plus training, tools, and PTO coverage — call it $120K–$160K all-in for one person. A Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ plan for a similar-sized business typically runs $12K–$60K/year and gives you a team of specialists (security, cloud, network, help desk), true 24/7 coverage, and named accountability. For teams under ~50 employees, managed IT is typically 50–80% cheaper than hiring in-house — with broader expertise.
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What Does a First Conversation With Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Look Like?
Every engagement starts with a free consultation — a discovery call where we learn about your business, your current IT setup, priorities, and pain points. From that call we scope a proposal and provide a quote. There's no cost and no obligation. If you decide to move forward, the detailed IT assessment happens during onboarding, as we deploy monitoring and take over your environment. Book at gamtech.ca/book-a-consultation.
Security & Compliance
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Is Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Certified for Security?
Yes. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ is SOC 2 certified — meaning an independent auditor has verified our security controls against the industry-standard Trust Services Criteria (Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy). We're also a Certified B Corporation, one of Canada's Top 50 Best Managed IT Companies (five consecutive years), named ESET Canada MSP Partner of the Year in both 2024 and 2025, and Great Place to Work-Certified — named to the Top 100 Best Workplaces in Canada (under 100 employees) and the 2026 Best Workplaces in Technology. That last part matters: happy, tenured technicians handle your IT — not a rotating queue.
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Does Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Help With HIPAA, PIPEDA, and Industry Compliance?
Yes. We help clients meet PIPEDA (Canada's federal privacy law), HIPAA (US healthcare), PCI-DSS (payment cards), SOC 2, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and ISO 27001 — plus industry-specific frameworks. Our approach: document what your regulator or framework requires, map your systems to those requirements, close gaps, and produce the audit-ready evidence. We work with clients in healthcare, financial services, legal, retail, and local government — all regulated sectors.
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What Happens If My Business Is Breached?
Managed IT clients get an incident response plan on Day 1. Gold and Platinum plans also include Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's Breach Recovery Guarantee — our written commitment on containment and business restoration if you experience a breach on our watch. If a breach is suspected, our security operations team contains the incident (isolate affected systems, revoke credentials, start forensic capture), then rebuilds from clean backups. Because we run 24/7 monitoring with layered detection, most incidents are caught before they become full breaches. We coordinate with law enforcement, cyber insurance, and legal counsel as needed.
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How Do You Protect Against Ransomware?
Layered defense — no single tool stops every attack. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ clients get:
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email filtering that blocks 99%+ of phishing attempts,
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a layered detection stack — EDR (endpoint), MDR (managed 24/7 monitoring), XDR (across cloud, network, and endpoints), and ITDR (identity threat detection) — that catches ransomware, phishing, and account-takeover attempts before they spread,
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multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all critical systems,
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immutable off-site backups that can't be encrypted,
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quarterly security-awareness training for your team — because 82% of breaches involve human error.
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Where Is My Data Stored?
It depends on the service. Managed IT monitoring data and your Microsoft 365/Google Workspace data live in the cloud regions those vendors use. For clients using Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's Hosted Private Cloud, data is stored in Canadian data centres for PIPEDA compliance and data sovereignty. If Canadian residency is a hard requirement for your business, tell us during the consultation and we architect around it.
Services & Coverage
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Where Does Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Serve?
Eight offices across Canada: Calgary (HQ, 7212 Flint Pl SE), Edmonton, Red Deer, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, and ²Ñ´Ç²Ô³Ù°ùé²¹±ô. We serve local businesses in each of those markets and their surrounding metros — plus fully remote support for clients anywhere in Canada. About 90% of IT support is delivered remotely; onsite technicians are dispatched from the nearest office when hands-on work is needed.
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What Industries Do You Specialize In?
Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ supports Canadian SMBs across 14 verified industries: legal firms, professional services, financial services & accounting, healthcare & medical practices, aviation, automotive, audiology, retail & e-commerce, manufacturing & logistics, real estate & property management, local governments & municipalities, nonprofits, education & training, and hospitality & tourism. Each industry gets a tailored playbook for compliance, workflows, and industry-specific software.
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Do You Offer 24/7 Support?
Yes — 24/7/365 support is included on every Managed IT plan (Silver, Gold, Platinum), for any request, big or small, any time. Password reset at 2 AM? Call us. Printer glitch on a Saturday? Call us. Full-blown security incident on Christmas Eve? Call us. No severity threshold, no minimum ticket size, no per-request charges — the same 5-minute response applies around the clock. Don't wait when you have an issue: reach the on-call team any time via phone, portal, or email. (Sales inquiries and non-urgent scoping calls are handled Monday–Friday, 8 AM–5 PM MST.)
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Do You Provide Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS)?
Yes. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ offers Hardware-as-a-Service across Canada — predictable monthly billing for laptops, desktops, servers, and network equipment, refreshed on a set schedule (typically 3–5 years). HaaS eliminates the capital-expense hit of hardware refreshes, includes proactive replacement of failing gear, and covers warranty coordination. Especially useful for growing teams that need consistent hardware provisioning without procurement overhead.
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What Services Do You Offer Beyond Managed IT?
Alongside Managed IT, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ offers Cybersecurity Services, Cloud Solutions (Microsoft 365, Azure, AWS, hybrid), Hosted Private Cloud (Canadian-hosted, SOC 2-aligned), Disaster Recovery, Virtual CIO (vCIO) for fractional IT leadership, IT Consulting for projects and audits, Network Security, Managed Print Services, and Robotic Process Automation. Most are also available standalone if you already have an MSP but need specialized help.
Partner with Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ's Trusted IT Experts
Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ is dedicated to empowering businesses across industries with secure, reliable, and scalable IT solutions. Our team of specialists understands the unique challenges and demands of each sector, delivering tailored services to keep you competitive and secure in today’s digital world. Contact us today to explore how our managed IT and cybersecurity solutions can transform your operations.
Key Benefits:
- 24/7 Support: Reliable, around-the-clock IT assistance to ensure uninterrupted business operations.
- Enhanced Security: Proactive cybersecurity strategies to protect against constantly evolving threats.
- Custom Solutions: IT services tailored to the unique requirements of each industry.
- Scalable Technology: Flexible IT solutions designed to grow alongside your business.
- Industry Expertise: A team with in-depth knowledge of your sector's challenges, regulations, and needs.
Get started today!
Don’t wait to take control of your IT. Schedule your free consultation with Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ today, and start building a stronger, more resilient IT foundation for your business