Insights
Hiring an IT company in Dallas
The questions people ask before they hire anyone: who to call, how to tell a real provider from a disappearing one, what access to hand over, what an owner-led company can and cannot cover, and what to expect on the first call. Written by the person on the other end of that call.
Results
At what size should a small business hire an IT company?
Nobody hits an employee number and suddenly needs IT support. Five specific triggers do the job instead, and one of them, the accidental IT person, is already costing you more than a provider would.
Can IT problems be fixed without someone coming to your office?
Most support requests in a small office are software, email, account or network-configuration problems, and all of those are fixed over a remote session. Here is the honest split between what remote support handles and what genuinely needs someone standing in your server closet.
Can one person handle IT for our whole office?
The fair question to ask any small IT provider. Here is the honest version: you deal with me directly, but you do not depend on me alone. What I handle myself, what my team covers behind me, what happens during vacations, illness and overlapping emergencies, and when a larger provider is the better choice.
Do you need an IT guy on call or a managed IT plan?
Hourly help is cheaper right up until the day it is not. Here is a break-even worksheet using my published rates, the signals that hourly has stopped working for your office, and an honest answer for offices that are genuinely too small for a plan.
How quickly can a new IT company take over your systems?
Day-to-day support can move in days; a properly documented, monitored and secured environment takes about a month. Here is the realistic timeline, and the things that make it faster or slower.
How to check an IT provider's references and reviews
Most IT reviews are noise and most reference calls are wasted on the wrong questions. Here is how to read a review properly, the five questions that get honest answers from a reference, and what a refusal actually means.
How to check that an IT company is legitimate
A verification checklist anyone can run in fifteen minutes before handing an IT provider the keys to the business, plus what a legitimate provider will happily show you.
How to find a reliable IT person in Dallas
Where to look, how to shortlist three candidates in an afternoon, and the five checks that tell you whether an IT provider will still be answering the phone next year.
IT company or freelance IT guy: which is right for your office?
There are three models, not two: the moonlighting freelancer, the small owner-led company and the multi-technician MSP. Here is what each really costs you and where each one falls down.
IT support for Dallas nonprofits and churches
Nonprofits and churches run on donated equipment, volunteer help and tight budgets, which creates IT problems a normal small business never has. Here is how to handle each of them, what nonprofit software pricing changes, and how to get support you can actually afford.
National IT chain or local Dallas provider: which should you hire?
National IT franchises and local Dallas providers each win at something different. Here is the honest comparison on who answers the phone, who knows your building, how escalation works, what the contracts look like, and which one fits an office of your size.
What access does an IT company need to your systems?
Handing over the keys is the moment most owners hesitate. Here is precisely what a provider needs, why each item exists, what nobody should ever ask you for, and how to take it all back.
Have a question these did not answer?
Ask me directly. If it is a good question I will probably write the article.