IT consulting for Syracuse and Central New York businesses.
Sometimes you do not need another IT contract. You need someone who has seen your problem before to look at your setup, tell you the truth about it, and put the fix in writing. That is consulting, and Express IT Solutions has been doing it for Central New York businesses since 2005. See where we work for the town by town list, with distances from our Fayetteville office.
We are an IT consultancy and support company at 511 East Genesee St in Fayetteville, a short drive from downtown Syracuse. We consult on networks, security, Microsoft 365, cloud moves, custom software and AI. We can stop at the advice, or stay and do the work. Either way you leave with a plan you can act on and a local company that answers the phone at (315) 682-6372.
What does an IT consultant actually do?
A consultant answers the questions a support contract does not. Should we replace this server or move the workload to the cloud? Is the quote we just got from another vendor fair? Why does the office Wi-Fi fall over every afternoon, and what would fixing it properly cost? Where would an attacker get in first? Consulting work has a start, a deliverable and an end: an assessment, a plan, a project, a second opinion.
That makes it different from managed IT services, where one team runs your helpdesk, monitoring, patching and security month after month for a flat fee. Plenty of clients use both, and a consulting engagement is often how the relationship starts. But you do not need a monthly contract to hire us for a question, and you never will.
Consulting work we take on
Every engagement below ends in writing: what we found, what we recommend, what it should cost, and in what order to do it.
Technology assessments and IT audits
A full walk through of what you actually run: hardware, licensing, network, backups, security posture and the spend behind it all. Useful before a growth push, after a bad year with a previous provider, or any time nobody in the building can say for certain what would happen if the server died tonight.
Project planning and budgeting
Office moves, server replacements, phone system changes, cloud migrations. We sequence the work, price it, and flag the parts that go wrong when they are rushed, before any money is spent. Our business IT services team can then deliver the project, or your own people can run from the plan.
Security reviews
Where you are exposed, what an attacker would try first, and which fixes buy the most protection per dollar. If the review turns up work worth doing, our cybersecurity services cover the implementation side.
Microsoft 365 and cloud decisions
What belongs in the cloud, what does not, what the licensing should actually cost, and how to move without losing a week of email. We manage Microsoft 365 for our own clients daily, so the advice comes from operating it, not from a sales deck.
Network design
New buildings, renovations, and networks that grew one switch at a time until nobody understood them. We design the layout, spec the equipment and put a number on it. For the hands-on side, see our network support page, and note that a site survey is free.
Software and AI consulting
We are the rare local IT firm that also builds software. PlowzBox, CNY Signal and Eye Consultants run on systems we developed. We have been in business since 2005 and keep AI projects running in production for real businesses, so when we advise on automation or AI, it is grounded in things that are actually running, not in a slideshow.
Second opinions on quotes and proposals
Before you sign someone else’s proposal, have us read it. We will tell you what is fair, what is padded, and what is missing. If the proposal is good, we will say so.
How a consulting engagement runs
- A free scoping call. You describe the question or the problem. We tell you honestly whether it needs a consultant at all; some questions get answered on the call and cost nothing.
- A written scope and price. Fixed price for defined work, or hourly at our published rates. You know the number before anything starts.
- The work. On site anywhere in Upstate New York, remote where remote makes sense, from our offices in Fayetteville and downtown Syracuse.
- Findings in plain English. A written deliverable your leadership can read without a translator: what we found, what to do, what it costs, in what order.
- Your choice on what happens next. Implement with us, hand the plan to your own team, or take it to another vendor. The deliverable is yours either way.
What IT consulting costs in Syracuse
Our rates are published, which is rare in this market. Hourly consulting bills at our standard business rates: $199 an hour remote and $219 an hour on site, billed in 30 minute increments, with the first on site hour billed as a full hour. Defined projects get a fixed written quote instead of an open meter. There is no retainer and no monthly minimum. The full rate card is on our pay as you go page.
If you are already on one of our managed IT packages, technology strategy and planning is part of your plan, so much of what this page describes is work you are not billed extra for.
Advice from people who run networks for a living
Most consultants recommend, and somebody else has to operate the result. We do both. The same company giving you the plan runs helpdesks, networks, backups and security for Central New York businesses every day, and has done since 2005, from the same Fayetteville address. Twenty one years, one company, 4.9 stars from 154 reviews.
That changes the advice. We do not recommend equipment we would refuse to support, and we do not write plans that look clever on paper and fail on a Tuesday morning. If you would rather one team advised, built and then ran the whole thing, that path exists too: it is called outsourced IT, and we will tell you plainly if you are better off there than paying for advice by the engagement.
Questions businesses ask before hiring an IT consultant
Do we need an IT consultant or a managed IT provider?
If you have a defined question or project, an assessment, a migration, a second opinion, you need a consultant, and this page is the right place. If what you actually want is one team running your IT every month, helpdesk, patching, monitoring and security, you want managed IT services. We do both, and the free scoping call will tell you honestly which one your situation calls for.
Can you give a second opinion on another company’s quote or proposal?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things we do. We read the proposal, tell you what is fair, what is overbuilt, what is missing, and what questions to ask before you sign. If the other company’s proposal is good, we say so.
Do you only give advice, or can you also do the work?
Both. Every consulting deliverable is written so that any competent provider could implement it, including your own staff. Most clients have us do the implementation because the people who wrote the plan are a short drive away, but nothing obligates you to.
Do you consult on AI projects?
Yes. We have been building and running AI systems alongside traditional IT since the technology became practical, with AI projects running in production today, and we have been in business since 2005. AI consulting covers what is worth automating, what it should cost, what the risks are, and whether your data and systems are ready. See it as a specialty within the same practice: honest scoping first, then the build if the numbers make sense.
How much does IT consulting cost in Syracuse?
Hourly work is $199 an hour remote and $219 an hour on site, billed in 30 minute increments, from a published rate card. Defined engagements get a fixed written price up front. The scoping call that starts everything is free, and there is no retainer and no monthly minimum.
Do you travel outside Syracuse?
Yes. We work on site across all of Upstate New York from our office in Fayetteville, and we support multi office clients at every location. Where a visit is far enough that travel adds cost, you are told the figure up front and it is agreed before anything is booked.
Bring us the question.
Describe the problem in your own words. We will tell you on the call whether it needs a consultant, a project team or a monthly plan, and what each would cost.
Express IT Solutions, 511 East Genesee St Suite 8A, Fayetteville NY 13066. help@expresssupport.com. Serving Syracuse, Onondaga County and all of Central New York on site and remote.