Back-up for your IT person, anywhere in the UK
Octopus 365 provides co-managed IT support, remotely and UK-wide, to businesses with a small internal IT team. Your IT person stays in charge. We cover the holidays, the out-of-hours, the security tooling and the specialist work one person can't do alone.
- Remote, UK-wide
- On site across South Wales
- Cyber Essentials certified
- Trading since 2011
The one-person IT department problem
Plenty of businesses with 20 to 150 staff have exactly one IT person. Sometimes two. They're usually very good, and they're almost always stretched.
Nobody covers them
When they're on holiday, off sick or simply asleep, the business has no IT. Problems wait, or someone who isn't technical has a go.
The urgent eats the important
Password resets and printer jams fill the day, so patching, backup testing and security work slide. Nobody notices until something goes wrong.
Nobody knows everything
Firewalls, Microsoft 365 security, backup architecture, virtualisation, telephony. One person can't be an expert in all of it, and shouldn't have to pretend to be.
Everything lives in one head
If your IT person left tomorrow, how much would leave with them? Undocumented systems are a business risk, whoever looks after them.
How the split works
Before we start, we sit down with your IT person and agree who owns what. They keep the things they want to keep. We take the rest. It's written down, so nothing falls between two chairs.
| Typical area | Your IT person | Octopus 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Day-to-day users and the business's own systems | Leads | Covers holidays, sickness and overflow |
| Monitoring and patching | Sees the dashboards | Runs it, 24/7 automated monitoring |
| Security tooling | Decides policy | Deploys, watches and responds |
| Out of hours | Off | Covers, up to 8pm seven days a week |
| Specialist and project work | Owns the outcome | Provides the depth: firewalls, backup, Microsoft 365, servers |
| Documentation | Contributes | Keeps it written down and current |
That's a starting point, not a template. Some teams want us on everything but the business's own software. Others only want security and cover. Both are fine.
What your IT person gets
Co-managed IT isn't a threat to your IT person's job. Done properly, it makes the job doable.
A team behind them
Engineers they can ring for a second opinion or hand a problem to, who already know your setup because we documented it together.
Proper tooling
Monitoring, patch management, endpoint detection and response, email filtering and a business password manager, without your business buying and running each platform separately.
Security they can evidence
Monthly vulnerability scans, dark web monitoring for leaked credentials and staff security training, with reports they can take to the board or an insurer.
Time back
With the routine work handled, they can get on with the projects the business actually hired them for.
The specialist depth
We've worked in IT since 1997 and as Octopus 365 since 2011. The areas where co-managed customers lean on us most:
- WatchGuard firewalls, VPNs and network segmentation
- Microsoft 365 security, licensing and migrations
- Veeam backup, including immutable and offsite copies
- Proxmox and VMware virtualisation
- Windows Server and SQL Server
- VoIP and hosted phone systems
- Cyber Essentials preparation
- Supplier due diligence and security questionnaires
See also: cyber security, backup and disaster recovery and Microsoft 365.
Getting started
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A call with your IT person
Engineer to engineer. What they're carrying, what keeps them up at night, what they'd hand over tomorrow.
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Agree the split
We write down who owns what and give you a fixed monthly price for our part, before you commit to anything.
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Onboard remotely
We deploy our tooling, document your setup alongside your IT person and agree how escalations reach us.
Questions
What is co-managed IT support?
An arrangement where an outside IT company works alongside your own IT staff instead of replacing them. Your team keeps control and the areas they want to own. The provider adds cover, tooling and specialist skills.
Do you need to be local to us?
No. Co-managed IT works remotely, and we support businesses across the UK. If you're in South Wales we can also be on site.
Are you trying to replace our IT person?
No. If you have no IT person, our managed IT support is the better fit. Co-managed exists for businesses that value their IT person and want to back them up properly.
How much does it cost?
It depends on what your team keeps and what we take on. We agree the split first and then give you a fixed monthly price. Our standard managed support starts at £30 per user per month, which gives you a sense of scale. See pricing.
How do your engineers access our systems?
Through a remote access platform we host and control ourselves, with every session logged and multi-factor authentication on our side. Your IT person can see who connected, when and why.
Can we use you for a single project instead?
Co-managed IT is an ongoing arrangement rather than one-off project work. That's deliberate: we only take on work we can support afterwards, and projects go better when we already know your environment.
Local, and on site when it matters
We're based in Mumbles and come on site across South Wales, from Carmarthen and Llanelli to Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend. See IT support in Swansea or all the areas we cover.
Give your IT person a team
Start with a call between your IT person and one of our engineers. No sales pitch, just a straight conversation about what would help.