Who is the best IT support company in Lichfield?
It depends on your business. We’ve written an honest comparison above on this page, naming the other Lichfield-area providers worth knowing about (Tech Care Ltd, Total IT Services, MT Services in Tamworth, Brokenstones in Birmingham) and where each tends to be the right fit. Initial IT is built for small businesses up to 100 person professional services and family-owned firms across Lichfield, Staffordshire and the West Midlands. Cyber Essentials Certified, Microsoft Partner, 5.0 stars from 70 Google reviews, trading since 2004.
How much does IT support in Lichfield cost?
Most Lichfield SMEs pay between £40 and £80 per person per month for fully managed IT. Initial IT’s Elevate tier, which includes Cyber Essentials, full helpdesk, monitoring, backups and quarterly reviews, is £67 per person per month, plus a £100 monthly Microsoft 365 tenant management fee per company. Projects are scoped separately so the monthly cost stays predictable.
What’s the difference between IT support and managed IT?
Traditional IT support is “break-fix”, you call when something breaks and pay per hour. Managed IT is a fixed monthly fee that includes monitoring that catches problems early, patching, security, helpdesk and strategic planning, so most issues are caught and fixed before you notice. Managed IT is now the standard for businesses with 10+ staff in Lichfield because it’s cheaper over a year than break-fix and much more predictable.
Do you provide Microsoft 365 support in Lichfield?
Yes. Microsoft 365 is core to almost every Lichfield client we support. We handle licensing, migration, security hardening, SharePoint structure, Teams Phone setup and ongoing Copilot rollouts. Our Stowe Court team can be on-site at your Lichfield office the same day if needed.
Can you help our Lichfield law firm get Cyber Essentials?
Yes. Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus are increasingly required by SRA, Lexcel auditors, PI insurers and client tenders. We run the full process: gap assessment, remediation, IASME questionnaire and the on-site audit for Cyber Essentials Plus. Most Lichfield law firms we work with achieve certification in 4 to 6 weeks.
How fast can you respond to IT issues for businesses in Lichfield?
Our average helpdesk response during business hours is under 15 minutes, and 92% of issues are resolved the same working day. Engineers can be on-site at Lichfield offices the same day if the issue can’t be resolved remotely.
Do you support hybrid and remote working?
Yes. We design Microsoft 365, Intune-managed devices, Conditional Access and Teams Phone so your team can work securely from a Lichfield office, home, customer site or anywhere in between, with the same controls applied everywhere.
Are you Cyber Essentials Plus accredited yourselves?
Initial IT is Cyber Essentials Certified. We deliver Cyber Essentials Plus certification as a service to clients in regulated sectors who need it for SRA, PI insurance or tender requirements.
Is there a minimum contract with Initial IT?
12-month initial term, then rolling yearly. If you leave, your Microsoft 365 tenant, domain and admin credentials are yours. They always were. No exit fees, no holding data hostage. We’ll provide a clean handover pack and a knowledge-transfer call with your next provider.
What’s included in the monthly fee, and what costs extra?
Included on every plan: unlimited helpdesk, monitoring and patching, anti-virus, MFA enforcement, and a named account team. Pro and Strategic add quarterly business reviews, conditional-access policy, awareness training, and on-call out-of-hours. Microsoft 365 tenant management is charged separately at £100 per month per Microsoft tenant. Microsoft licences themselves are not included in our tiers. You can buy them direct from Microsoft, or have Initial IT supply and bill them, whichever you prefer. Other things that cost extra: project work (cloud migrations, office moves, new sites), hardware (cost-priced with no markup), and Cyber Essentials Plus assessment fees paid to IASME directly. All contracts run on a 12-month minimum term. We never bill you for picking up the phone.
How does Initial IT compare to a bigger national MSP?
Bigger national MSPs win on scale, on follow-the-sun 24/7 cover, and on volume pricing. We win on speed of decision-making, a real relationship with the business owner, and no being passed through tier 1, tier 2, tier 3. If you have 500+ staff across multiple countries, a national MSP probably suits you better. If you have small businesses up to 100 staff in Lichfield, Staffordshire or the West Midlands and you want IT that doesn’t feel like a queue ticket, that’s us.
When are you NOT the right fit for a Lichfield business?
Three situations where we say so honestly. One: you have fewer than 10 staff and want pay-per-incident, no monthly fee. We don’t do break-fix because the economics for both sides don’t work. Two: you need follow-the-sun 24/7 support across multiple continents. That’s an enterprise MSP job. Three: you’re shopping purely on lowest price. There will always be someone cheaper. We’re in the middle of the UK MSP market on price, paying for senior engineers and a UK helpdesk, not the bottom.
How do you transition a Lichfield business from its existing IT provider without downtime?
Standard onboarding takes 2 to 4 weeks. Week 1 is discovery: we audit your tenant, document the environment, agree the cutover plan with you and your current provider. Week 2 we migrate admin access, deploy our RMM agent, and standardise MFA and the security baseline. Cutover day is usually a Friday evening so anything wobbly has the weekend to settle. You stay on your existing provider until handover is signed off. There’s never a gap.
Can I talk to an existing Initial IT client before signing?
Yes. Our case studies page has the public ones. For sector-specific references in Lichfield or the wider Midlands (legal, accountancy, surveying, family-owned trade firms), we’ll connect you with two or three clients in your industry after the IT review. Most of them have been with us for 10 or more years, which is the best test of whether we’re worth staying with.
