Outsourced IT services for Syracuse and Central New York.
An IT department is not one job. It is a helpdesk, a security function, a patching schedule, a backup discipline, a planning cycle and a buying department, and in most small companies all of it lands on one overworked person, or on whoever in the office is “good with computers”.
Outsourcing IT means handing that entire function to one firm that already has the team, the tools and the habits. This page is about that decision: whether to hire, co-manage or outsource, who each one suits, and what changes on day one if you outsource to us. Express IT Solutions has been the outsourced IT department for Central New York businesses since 2005, from offices at 511 East Genesee St in Fayetteville and 120 Madison St in downtown Syracuse. The full town by town list is on the service areas page.
What outsourced IT actually means
You keep your business. We run the technology under it: the support your people call, the monitoring that watches your systems, the patching that closes holes, the security that filters what reaches your inboxes, the backups that make a dead drive an inconvenience instead of a crisis, and the yearly plan that stops IT spending being a surprise.
Outsourced IT and managed IT describe the same relationship from two directions. Outsourcing is the decision you are making; managed IT services is the machinery that delivers it, on a flat monthly fee. This page is about the decision. That page, and the MSP business packages behind it, are about the machinery.
What you hand over, and what you keep
- You hand over the phone calls. Your staff stop asking the office manager and start calling a help desk that picks up, by phone, email or remote session. Full detail on our IT helpdesk services page.
- You hand over the watching. Servers, network and machines report in around the clock on business plans, and people step in on alerts, so nobody in your office has to notice a problem first.
- You hand over the maintenance calendar. Windows, software and firmware updates happen on a cycle we own, in a reboot window you choose, instead of whenever somebody remembers.
- You hand over the security function. Protection on every machine, email filtering and the alerts, run as one job with a name on it rather than a tool somebody installed once. Deeper work lives under cybersecurity services.
- You hand over the bad week. Backups run, restores get tested on a calendar, and the written plan for a dead server or a ransom note exists before it is needed.
- You hand over the wiring closet. Wi-Fi, switching, cabling and firewalls, documented so the next person in the closet is not guessing. See network support.
- You keep the decisions. You get a yearly technology plan and a budget to approve or reject; we do not buy anything for you without a written yes.
- You keep your data, your accounts and your vendors. Licenses, domains and admin accounts stay in your company name, and you can remove our access any day you choose. Projects such as office moves and hardware refreshes run through our business IT services.
Outsourcing versus hiring in house
One in house IT person gives you one set of skills, one point of failure, and zero coverage on vacation, sick days and the day the resignation letter lands. The same budget line, outsourced, buys a team: helpdesk hands, a network person, a security function and someone thinking about next year, none of whom take all their knowledge with them when they leave.
It also buys a number you can see in advance. Our plans are a flat published per seat fee, $65, $80 or $99 a month per seat depending on the package, printed on a public pricing page and a downloadable rate card. No local competitor publishes their pricing at all. If a firm will not show you a price list before you sign, ask yourself what else gets decided after the contract.
In house, co-managed or fully outsourced: which fits?
Hire in house
Fits when you have enough work to keep one person busy and enough scale to cover their vacations. One set of skills, one salary, one point of failure. You own the documentation only if they wrote it down.
Co-managed
Fits when you have an IT person you trust who cannot also be the overnight monitoring, the patch cycle and the security function. They keep what they do best; we carry the rest, with who owns what on paper.
Fully outsourced
Fits when there is no IT department, or the person who was the IT department just gave notice. One flat monthly fee per seat, one number to call, and an IT function that does not resign.
Keep your IT person, outsource the rest
Outsourcing is not always all or nothing. If you have an IT person you trust, we work alongside them, taking the after hours monitoring, the security stack, the patching grind or the overflow support, while they keep the parts they do best. That co managed arrangement is common, and it is often what saves a good internal hire from burning out.
How switching to outsourced IT works, and what changes on day one
- A free scoping call. How many people, how many machines, what is already in place, what hurts most. No obligation on the other end of it.
- A written proposal. Which package fits and exactly what is included, with response expectations and inclusions confirmed in writing before you sign anything.
- Day one. Your staff get the help desk number and start using it the same day. We inventory every device and its specs, put the passwords in a vault, map the network, list every vendor and license, and switch monitoring on. Nothing gets changed before it is documented. For managed clients we keep every device and its specs on record.
- Steady state. Your people call the helpdesk, the systems get watched, and you get a technology plan instead of a technology lottery. No long lock ins to get started. The machinery behind it is our managed IT services in Syracuse NY.
One company for IT, security, software and AI
Most outsourced IT firms stop at keeping the lights on. We are also a software and AI shop: in business since 2005, with AI projects running in production every day, and real products like PlowzBox and CNY Signal running on systems we built. When your outsourced IT department can also automate the paperwork it sees you drowning in, the relationship pays for itself differently.
Twenty one years, one town, one phone number, 4.9 stars from 154 reviews. On site anywhere in Upstate New York, remote support beyond it, and multi office businesses supported at every location.
Outsourced IT questions, answered straight
What is outsourced IT?
Outsourced IT means an outside firm runs your company’s entire technology function, support, monitoring, patching, security, backups and planning, instead of you employing IT staff to do it. You pay a flat monthly fee per seat, and the firm carries the tools, the team and the responsibility.
Is outsourced IT the same as managed IT services?
Effectively yes. Outsourced IT is the business decision, and managed IT services is what providers call the delivery: one team, flat fee, everything watched. Our managed IT services page details exactly what the machinery includes, and our MSP business packages page shows the levels and prices.
How much does it cost to outsource IT in Syracuse?
Our pricing is published: flat per seat plans at $65, $80 or $99 a month depending on the package, plus a public pay as you go rate card for anything outside a plan. Which package fits depends on headcount, machines and what you already run, and we scope that on a free call with the inclusions confirmed in writing before you sign.
Do we lose control of our systems if we outsource?
No. It is your business and your data; we run it and document it. You get plain English reporting on what exists and what we did, and a yearly plan you approve rather than discover. Documentation of your environment is part of the point: most new clients arrive with systems only one departed person ever understood.
What happens to our current IT person?
If they are good, keep them. We regularly work co managed, taking monitoring, security, patching and overflow support while your person keeps the local knowledge and the parts of the job they like. Outsourcing the grind often makes the internal role better, not redundant.
What do your IT outsourcing services in Syracuse include?
Everything an IT department does, run by one local firm: a help desk your staff call, 24/7 monitoring on business plans, patching, endpoint and email security, backup with test restores, network care and a yearly technology plan, for a flat published fee per seat. IT outsourcing services from Express IT Solutions cover Syracuse and Central New York from offices in Fayetteville and downtown Syracuse, with on site visits across Upstate New York.
Are we locked into a long contract?
No long lock ins to get started, and everything you are signing up for is confirmed in writing first. We publish our prices and put inclusions on paper because we would rather keep clients by being good than by making leaving painful.
What long-term clients say
Word for word from public Google reviews. Names as the reviewers published them.
“Express Computer Service is terrific. no matter how large or small the issue is with our computers, they respond…”
Barbara Rothschild · public Google review
“I have been a customer of Express Computer Service for over 25 years and your customer service has been, and continues…”
D.A. Thomas · public Google review
“I have always had good experiences with this team. They listen to the problem and take the time to go over it with you if you need or want them to. Very good experience and reasonable.”
Sue Kazel · public Google review
Find out what your IT department should cost.
Tell us how many people you have and what is not working. You will get a straight recommendation, a package that fits, and the price in writing, usually from the first conversation.
Express IT Solutions, 511 East Genesee St Suite 8A, Fayetteville NY 13066. help@expresssupport.com. Serving Syracuse and all of Central New York since 2005.