Service Levels and What’s Included
Response-time targets, support hours, backup and what every CIO Landing managed IT plan covers, in plain English.
- Response-time targets by priority: 1 business hour for a full outage (Priority 1), 2 business hours for major degradation, 4 business hours for limited degradation and 1 business day for a single-user issue.
- Help desk hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm Central, with 24/7 monitoring of servers, networks and backups. After hours, urgent issues get a best-effort response from our on-call technician.
- Every ticket gets a reference number, an email summary when it closes and a satisfaction survey.
- Daily backups, off-site copies kept for 90 days in U.S. data centers, and your data always remains yours.
- All terms are published: see our legal documents.
Response-time targets by priority
When you report a problem, we assign a priority based on how many people are affected and how urgent it is. We then start working on it within these target times, measured in business hours from the moment you notify us. Business hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm Central. Outside those hours, urgent issues reach our answering service and on-call technician, who respond on a best-effort basis, and after-hours work is billed at the rates in your agreement.
| Priority | What is happening | Response target |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – Critical | Service not available: all users and functions are down. | Within 1 business hour |
| 2 – High | Significant degradation: a large number of users or business-critical functions are affected. | Within 2 business hours |
| 3 – Medium | Limited degradation: a limited number of users or functions are affected and the business can continue. | Within 4 business hours |
| 4 – Low | Small degradation: one user is affected and the business can continue. | Within 1 business day |
Response times are service goals, not guarantees. Resolving an issue can depend on information from you or from third parties such as your other IT vendors. Full wording: Service Level Objectives.
How we decide the priority
| Impact \ Urgency | Whole company affected | A department or large group affected | One user or a small group affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| High impact – major business processes stopped | Priority 1 | Priority 1 | Priority 2 |
| Medium impact – business degraded, but there is a workaround | Priority 2 | Priority 2 | Priority 3 |
| Low impact – an irritation rather than a stoppage | Priority 3 | Priority 3 | Priority 4 |
How to reach the support desk
- Phone: 847-868-9208. For anything urgent, calling is fastest.
- Email or client portal: requests are logged automatically with a priority and a reference number.
- CIO icon in your system tray: open a ticket in a few clicks from any managed computer.
What happens after you report an issue
- You receive a reference number and the ticket gets a priority.
- We start work within the target time, remotely in most cases.
- If needed, the ticket is escalated to the next level of support or a technician comes on-site.
- When it is fixed, you get an email summary and a short satisfaction survey. Any rating below "good" is followed up by our team.
Visit the Support Center for all the ways to reach us.
What is included in a managed IT plan
Our managed IT plan bundles day-to-day support, security and backup for every user and device:
Support and user management
- Help desk support for all of your users
- Account setup, changes and removals for joiners and leavers
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace management and license tracking
- Support for common business apps such as Microsoft 365, Adobe, QuickBooks, Clio and Zoom
Security
- Next-generation AI antivirus and managed detection and response (MDR)
- Security updates and patching for workstations and servers
- Disk encryption and privileged access management
- Anti-spam, anti-phishing and DMARC email domain monitoring
- Online security awareness training for your staff
Monitoring and maintenance
- 24/7 monitoring of Windows servers, VMware, network devices and internet connectivity
- Performance and capacity monitoring, firmware and driver updates
- Management of printers, scanners, UPS, NAS and mobile devices (iOS and Android)
- Cloud management for Microsoft Azure resources
Strategy and people
- A Client Success Manager (CSM) as your relationship advocate
- A Technology Alignment Manager (TAM) who checks your environment against best practices
- Technology Business Reviews covering tickets, performance, risks, projects and IT strategy
- Management of your other IT vendors on your behalf
Optional add-ons
Password manager, vulnerability assessments, email encryption and archiving, DNS filtering, and SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) secure remote access for distributed teams.
Backup and disaster recovery
- Daily backups of servers, mailboxes, cloud storage, collaboration platforms and workstations.
- Off-site copies kept for 90 days in redundant U.S. data centers with 24/7 physical security, generators and fire suppression.
- Encrypted in transit and at rest, using SSL/TLS.
- Restores: we aim to retrieve backups within 24 hours of the first request, and can restore a full server to new hardware.
- Your data stays yours. If you ever leave, we help you take a copy with you.
For background on business continuity planning, see the NIST SP 800-34 contingency planning guide and CISA StopRansomware.
New hires and departing employees
- New employees: send requests at least 7 business days before the start date. Setup of accounts and the workstation takes at least 5 business days, longer if new hardware has to be ordered.
- Departing employees: all accounts are disabled immediately when a manager asks, and deleted within 5 business days unless you tell us otherwise.
What is billed separately
- Projects. Work that needs three or more people, more than three tasks or more than three hours is quoted as a project (why we quote projects instead of offering "unlimited").
- Hardware, software licenses and third-party fees, such as vendor support or internet provider charges.
- Onboarding. A one-time onboarding fee equal to one month of service covers deploying and configuring our tools.
- Fair use. Plans assume about 0.5 help desk tickets per user per month. Consistently higher usage is reviewed with you.
Buying hardware through us means we handle the vendor and any warranty returns for you. Internet uptime and speed are set by your internet provider's own service agreement.
Contract basics
Your agreement is made up of the Master Services Agreement, the Managed IT Service Attachment, the Schedule of Services and the Service Level Objectives. The term is the one stated on your order (36 months if none is stated). It renews for the same length unless either side gives written notice at least 60 days before it ends. All documents are public on our legal documents page, including our Data Processing Agreement.
Quick recap
- Full outage: response within 1 business hour. Single-user issue: within 1 business day.
- Help desk Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm Central; 24/7 monitoring.
- Daily backups with 90-day off-site retention in U.S. data centers.
- Call 847-868-9208 for anything urgent.
Frequently asked questions
What is CIO Landing's response time for a critical IT issue?
For a Priority 1 issue, when all users and functions are down, our target is to respond within 1 business hour of being notified. In practice, critical calls are usually answered in under 15 minutes.
What are CIO Landing's support hours?
The help desk is staffed Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm Central. Servers, networks and backups are monitored 24/7.
Is help desk support included in the monthly plan?
Help desk support for your users is included in the monthly plan, subject to a fair-use level of about 0.5 tickets per user per month. Projects, hardware and third-party fees are quoted separately.
How long are backups kept?
Off-site backups are kept for 90 days in U.S. data centers, and we can keep them longer if you need. Local backups are kept for at least 7 days.
How much notice do you need to set up a new employee?
Please send the request at least 7 business days before the start date. Accounts and the workstation take at least 5 business days to set up.
Where can I read the full contract terms?
All of our agreements, including the Service Level Objectives and Data Processing Agreement, are published on our legal documents page.
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