How to choose an IT company in the Coastal Bend

What “wrong” actually costs

For a business of 10–25 people, IT isn’t a line item you can pause. It’s the schedule, the records, the billing, and the bank account. A provider who guesses at your setup, assumes the backups work, and keeps your passwords in their head doesn’t just underperform — they create risk you can’t see until the week it surfaces.

The good news: the difference between a strong provider and a weak one shows up in the answers to eight plain questions. None of them takes technical knowledge to ask. All of them have answers you can check. Here they are — with ours stated as plainly as we’d want them stated to us.

1. “Do you publish your pricing?”

Why it matters: if you can’t see a real number before a sales call, you’re negotiating blind — and you can’t compare two providers who both refuse to show you one. A published price is a provider putting their number where you can hold them to it.

Our answer: yes. Our managed IT plans run $150–$300 per seat, per month, published on this website with worked examples, the all-in math, and a calculator so you can run your own number before you ever call us. Your exact per-seat price is then confirmed in writing before you commit to anything.

2. “Is the first step a fixed price, in writing?”

Why it matters: a vague first step produces a vague proposal. A fixed-price first step means defined work, a defined deliverable, and findings in writing — something you can evaluate, compare, and keep, whichever provider you end up choosing.

Our answer: the first step with us is the $495 Network & Risk Assessment — a fixed fee for a fixed scope: your network, email security, backups, and who has access to what. You get a written findings report with a prioritized fix list. The report is yours either way. And if you sign a managed agreement within 30 days, the full $495 is credited toward your onboarding.

3. “Is security included — or sold as an add-on?”

Why it matters: if cybersecurity is an upsell, the base plan is unfinished, and the scariest conversation of the relationship happens after you’re already exposed. Ask what’s in the monthly number, item by item.

Our answer: security is in every plan we sell — endpoint protection, email security, and multi-factor authentication — never sold as an add-on. Where you land in the $150–$300 range is mostly about how much security layering your business needs, and the assessment is how we tell you honestly where that is.

4. “Are your backups tested — and when was the last restore?”

Why it matters: a backup that has never been test-restored is a hope, not a backup. Backups fail quietly for months. The only answer worth anything is a date: when someone last restored real data and proved it worked.

Our answer: backups under our management are isolated from your network and tested — restored on a schedule, not assumed. And before anything changes, the $495 assessment checks your current backups first, including when a restore was last tested, so you know exactly where you stand today.

5. “Do you document our network — and do we own the documentation?”

Why it matters: your network documentation — how everything is configured, where the admin passwords live, how it all fits together — is the map of your business’s systems. If your provider has the only copy, changing providers means starting from zero. They know that, even if you don’t.

Our answer: we document your network as part of the service: configurations, admin credentials, how everything is set up. That documentation is yours, from day one — which is exactly how it should be, because they’re your systems.

6. “What happens to access when someone leaves our company?”

Why it matters: the most common small-business security failure isn’t exotic. It’s a former employee whose login still works — to email, to files, sometimes to everything. Ask how accounts are opened, and more importantly, how fast they’re closed.

Our answer: individual accounts for every person on your team — never shared logins — with MFA on email and remote access, and same-day access removal when someone leaves. The assessment includes an access review, including accounts belonging to people who’ve already left.

7. “If it doesn’t work out, how do we leave?”

Why it matters: ask this before you sign, not after. The answer tells you what the provider thinks keeps clients: the contract, or the work. You want the one whose answer is a process, not a penalty.

Our answer:

8. “Who actually shows up when something breaks?”

Why it matters: at 4 p.m. on your busiest day, you find out what you actually bought. Ask who answers the phone, who knows your setup, and where they’re based — because “support” that starts with a stranger in a queue re-learning your business is support in name only.

Our answer: we’re based in Portland, Texas, and we serve the Coastal Bend — Corpus Christi, Portland, Rockport, Ingleside, Aransas Pass, Sinton, and Gregory. We’re owner-led: the people accountable for your setup are the people you’ll talk to. Most issues are handled remotely the same day; when hands are needed, we’re here.

Use the questions on us first

That’s the whole guide. Eight questions, asked of every provider you’re considering, with the answers checked against what they’ll put in writing. We’ve published ours — the pricing, the fixed-price first step, the exit promise — so you can check us before you ever pick up the phone.

When you’re ready to see where your business stands, the first step is the one from question two.

Frequently asked questions