Home › Business IT Support
Business IT support
Security, backups, Microsoft 365, cloud and Windows networks, for small businesses that want someone reliable rather than a ticketing system. Seven years running the IT for a regulated financial services firm.
7
Years with one financial services client
2
Offices supported
10+
Years in IT
1
Person you ring
Seven years, one client
I look after the IT for a regulated financial services firm
Morgan Financial Group Limited are independent financial advisers with offices in Bath and Cheltenham, privately owned and FCA regulated. I have run their IT for seven years.
That matters more than it might sound. Financial advisers hold some of the most sensitive personal data there is: income, pensions, savings, health. All of it sits inside a regulated environment with real obligations around data protection, business continuity and security. It is not an environment that tolerates guesswork.
And seven years is the part I would actually point at. IT suppliers get changed. Staying in place across two offices for seven years is a better reference than any certificate I could put on this page.
What that involves
- Two offices kept working and talking to each other
- Confidential client data protected properly
- Backups that are tested, not just scheduled
- Security, patching and endpoint protection
- Microsoft 365, email and shared access
- New starters set up, leavers shut down cleanly
- Someone to ring when something stops
If I can be trusted with that, your business is comfortably within what I can look after.
Where this fits
The quiet third of what I do
Most of my week now goes on two things: helping people in later life with their technology, and building websites for small businesses. This page is the third thing.
I’ve looked after business IT for years and I’ve no intention of stopping. The financial services client above has been with me for seven of them. Existing clients get exactly the same service, and I’m happy to take on new ones where it’s a good fit.
What I’m not is a large managed service provider with a call centre and a three-year contract. If you want a named person who knows your setup, answers their own phone and doesn’t talk down to you, that’s exactly what this is.
Best fit
Businesses of roughly two to twenty-five people, in Wiltshire, Bath, Berkshire or South Bucks, who want IT that simply works and someone they can ring by name when it doesn’t.
What I cover
The things that keep a small business running
Cyber security
Antivirus and endpoint protection, email filtering, phishing awareness, firewalls, password management and multi-factor authentication. The basics, done properly, stop the overwhelming majority of attacks on small businesses.
Backup & recovery
Automated daily backups, held off site, and, crucially, tested. A backup nobody has ever restored from is not a backup, it’s a hope. I check that yours actually works.
Microsoft 365 & cloud
Email, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive set up and licensed sensibly. Migrations from old servers or other providers, done at a weekend so nobody loses a working day.
Windows Active Directory
User accounts, group policy, permissions, shared drives and domain joins. Setting it up, tidying up someone else’s, or moving you off it entirely to cloud identity if that suits you better.
Networks & connectivity
Broadband, routers, business wi-fi that reaches the whole building, VPNs for people working from home, and cabling that isn’t a bird’s nest behind the desk.
Day-to-day support
The ordinary things: a laptop that won’t start, a printer nobody can reach, a new starter needing everything set up, an old machine needing replacing. Remote where possible, on site when it isn’t.
How I work
No contracts, no minimum term, no nonsense
- Pay for what you use. Ad-hoc support by the hour, or a fixed monthly amount if you’d rather budget for it. No three-year tie-in either way.
- One named person. You get me, not whoever is next in the queue. I’ll already know how your setup is put together.
- Plain English. I’ll explain what’s wrong and what it costs to fix in words you can repeat to your business partner.
- I’ll tell you when not to spend. Plenty of IT problems have a free answer. You’ll hear about those too.
- Honest about limits. If you outgrow me, or need something outside what I do well, I’ll say so and help you find the right people.
Also worth knowing
I build websites too, so if your business needs both, that’s one supplier, one invoice and one person who understands the whole picture.
Existing IT clients: nothing has changed. Same number, same person, same service.
Questions
Reasonable things to ask
Yes, where it’s a sensible fit. My focus has shifted towards web design and later-life tech support, so I’m selective, but a small local business wanting dependable, straightforward IT is very much still something I do, and I’ve been doing it for the same financial services client for seven years.
Roughly two to twenty-five people. Below that it’s usually simpler than you think and I’ll say so; above that you’ll eventually want a team rather than one person, and I’d tell you that honestly too.
If you want one. Some businesses prefer a predictable monthly figure covering monitoring, updates, backups and a set amount of support time. Others prefer to pay by the hour when they need me. Both are fine and neither locks you in.
Ring me straight away. Disconnect affected machines from the network but don’t switch them off, and don’t pay anyone anything. You should also report it to Action Fraud. I’ll help you work out what was reached, restore from backup and close the door behind it.
Usually, but not always. It depends on your software, your internet connection and how you actually work. I’ll look at it and give you a straight recommendation, including “leave it alone for now” if that’s the right answer.
Also from Swarm ICT
Seamwork: AI, wired into the tools you already use
Most people who try AI ask it to write an email. That is about a tenth of what it can do. Seamwork wires it into the systems your business already runs on, so an enquiry can be read, logged, priced and passed to the right person before anybody has opened it.
Seamwork is part of Swarm ICT, run by me with Lewis and Ryan. Same way of working as everything else here: plain English, a fixed price agreed before we start, and I will tell you if you do not need it.
Built for businesses of two to five people. Setup is £750, half on booking and half once it is working. The first conversation costs nothing.
Got something that isn’t working?
Describe it in plain English and I’ll tell you what it’ll take to sort out.