Financial services IT support for everything but the advice
Express IT Solutions runs the technology side of financial firms: the network, Microsoft 365 with MFA and conditional access, the environment custodian, CRM and portfolio tools ride on, backups with tested restores, access that ends when someone leaves, monitoring. The advice stays with your advisors; the boundary goes in writing before anyone logs in.
The work runs from Syracuse, New York, where we have handled business IT since 2005. The same team keeps power plant clients across the country ready for start day; a firm where money moves on a deadline is familiar ground.
Managed IT for a financial services firm covers the technology layer the firm runs on: the network and firewall, Microsoft 365 with multi-factor authentication and conditional access, the environment custodian, CRM and portfolio tools connect through, backups with tested restores, onboarding and offboarding, vendor remote access and monitoring. The provider runs and documents that layer, implementing the technical controls that support the firm’s security and compliance requirements, while the advice and client relationships stay with the firm.
The side of the firm nobody earned a license for
A financial firm runs on two kinds of work, and only one is in anyone’s job description. The client side has the advisors, the underwriters, the loan officers. The other side, the server in the closet, the laptop each advisor set up personally, the backup nobody has watched restore, belongs to whoever objected least.
That is not negligence; it is arithmetic. A firm staffed to advise clients has no hours left for IT, so IT becomes a part-time job, and the gaps are where trouble grows. Closing that gap is managed IT for financial firms in practice, and the engagement runs on the same bones as our managed IT services.
On the infrastructure side of the business, deliberately
The book belongs to the people licensed to run it. What a client should hold, how a policy or a loan is structured: your calls, and an IT company with opinions about them should worry you. We promise the opposite, in writing, before anyone logs into anything.
What we take on is everything underneath the relationship: network and firewall, identity and access, endpoints encrypted and standardized, backups and the proof they restore, the named accounts vendors use to get in, monitoring. Your compliance obligations stay yours; our part is implementing the technical controls that support them, documented as we go. The security layer runs the way our cybersecurity practice runs it everywhere; the deeper stack starts at enterprise security.
CPA or bookkeeping firm? See our accounting firm IT support page; this one is for firms that manage money rather than count it.
Your advisors and your back office.
One accountable IT team, on one standard.
If any of these sound like your office
Common arrangements, because each works right up until it matters.
- Wire instructions arrive by email.
And everyone is a little too busy on a Friday to be suspicious. The defense has to exist before the attempt.
- An advisor left. Nobody is certain every login went with them.
Microsoft 365, the CRM, the VPN. Offboarding without a checklist is a guess.
- The due-diligence questionnaire is sitting in an inbox.
Custodians and examiners ask precise questions. Answers rebuilt from memory take weeks and convince nobody.
- Every client file lives on one server.
And the backup has never been watched restoring. Ransomware is written to find exactly this arrangement.
- Every laptop is set up however its advisor set it up.
Encryption on some, patches on most, admin rights on all. One standard beats five habits.
- The CRM vendor blames the network. The network has no owner.
So the ticket bounces while a client waits. Someone has to own what the tools ride on.
First engagements usually start with the three that sting most. Name yours on a scoping call.
Three failures we prepare financial firms for
The wire that almost leaves
A client’s mailbox, or a lookalike, asks to move a scheduled distribution to a new account. The thread reads right; the attacker has read the real one for weeks, and a quiet inbox rule hides the replies.
If the wire goes, the client’s money is gone; the explanation call, the insurance claim and the regulatory questions all land on the firm.
MFA and conditional access on every mailbox, alerts when a new forwarding or inbox rule appears, encryption for anything carrying instructions. The procedural half stays the firm’s: wire changes get confirmed by a call to a number already on file, every time. Check your own tenant with our Microsoft 365 inbox rule fraud walkthrough.
The advisor who resigned in March
It is August and the account is still live: Microsoft 365 syncing to a personal phone, the CRM seat open, the VPN certificate valid. Nobody decided that; nobody decided anything.
Client records reachable by someone with no duty to the firm, and exactly what a due-diligence review finds first.
Offboarding as a checklist: sessions revoked, passwords reset, mail delegated, VPN and CRM pulled, the list confirmed in writing. Scheduled reviews keep access matched to the org chart between departures.
The questionnaire nobody can answer
A custodian, an insurer or an examiner sends the security questionnaire: which endpoint protection, what encryption, backup cadence, who holds admin. It circles the office for a month.
Weeks of staff time, and answers nobody is comfortable signing.
Documentation maintained as part of operations: asset inventory, access map, configurations, backup and restore logs. Answers get read off a current page; that is supporting your security and compliance requirements from the IT side.
What our team handles at a financial firm
Plain descriptions. The specifics come out on the first call anyway.
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Identity, MFA and conditional access
Every person works from a named account with MFA. Conditional access blocks sign-ins from places the firm does not work, admin stays separate from daily accounts, and remote access runs through the same identity, not a shared password. Same discipline as our Microsoft 365 support practice.
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Email and wire-fraud defenses
Filtering tuned for the impersonation mail financial firms actually receive, alerts when a forwarding rule nobody created appears, encryption for statements and instructions. Staff get awareness training for the same mail; filters catch most of it, not all of it.
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Endpoint protection, encryption and patching
We standardize endpoint protection, disk encryption, patching and access controls across firm laptops rather than relying on each advisor to configure their own machine. A lost laptop becomes a hardware loss, not a disclosure event; missed patches get flagged by monitoring, not found during an incident.
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Onboarding, offboarding and access reviews
A new hire starts with the right access on day one, from a checklist. A departure ends with every account closed, confirmed in writing, and scheduled access reviews keep the list honest in between.
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Backups, tested restores and business continuity
Client files, the mail archive, anything still on a local server: backed up on a schedule, with copies ransomware cannot reach, and restores tested on a calendar instead of assumed. The continuity plan is written down, so a bad morning has a script.
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The environment your custodian, CRM and portfolio tools ride on
Those platforms belong to their vendors; everything they depend on is ours: the connection, the workstations, identity, the server down the hall if one remains, and the move to the cloud when its time is up. When a vendor says the problem is on your end, that ticket is ours; vendor techs get named, logged access that ends with the session.
Tell us which of these the firm is missing. The conversation is free and specific, the price in writing.
Straight answers for partners and operations managers
The questions we actually get asked.
What does managed IT include for a financial firm?
Network and firewall, Microsoft 365 with MFA and conditional access, endpoint protection and encryption, patching, onboarding and offboarding from checklists, backups with tested restores, vendor coordination, monitoring, documentation. The same list covers a two-advisor office and a lender; only the weight moves.
Can you make us SEC or FINRA compliant?
No, and be wary of any IT company that says yes. Compliance obligations belong to the firm. Our part is implementing and documenting the technical controls that support them: MFA, conditional access, encryption, access reviews, tested backups, logging. A questionnaire or an exam then gets answered from current documentation, not memory.
How do you help protect Microsoft 365?
With the controls that stop what firms actually see: MFA on every account, conditional access that blocks sign-ins from places the firm does not work, admin separated from daily accounts, alerts on new inbox and forwarding rules, retention set on purpose. Most incidents start in a mailbox, so the tenant gets hardened first.
Can you work alongside our existing IT person?
Yes. Co-managed is normal here: your person keeps what they are good at, and we carry monitoring, security, backups and helpdesk depth. Who owns what goes on paper, so nothing falls between two chairs.
How does switching IT providers work?
Quietly, and mostly without the old provider’s cooperation. We inventory what exists, take over accounts and licensing, change the credentials that matter, and run briefly in parallel so nothing drops, with the plan in writing first.
What does IT support cost for a financial firm?
Hourly for projects, or a flat monthly rate, with the price in writing before work starts. Published plans run $65, $80 and $99 per user per month; what each includes is on the MSP packages page. Firm specifics get priced on the first call.
What happens when an advisor or a staff member leaves?
Access ends, from a checklist, confirmed in writing: sessions revoked, passwords reset, mail delegated, VPN and CRM pulled, devices accounted for. Departures are routine; handling them from memory is what makes them dangerous.
The cheapest week to fix any of this is a quiet one
Each failure on this page is cheap to prevent, expensive to live through, and decided in a quiet week. The scoping call is specific: what you run, where it is weak, what we would do first, a price in writing. If your setup is fine, you will hear that too.
Book a scoping call
Three fields. A person at our Fayetteville office reads it.
Tell us what the firm runs on.
How many advisors and staff, which custodian and CRM you work in, whether anything still lives on an office server, and what failed last month. Enough for a straight recommendation and a price in writing, usually on the first call.
Fayetteville, NY 13066
Syracuse, NY 13202
help@expresssupport.com