Weighing up IT companies in Stafford? I'm the one who isn't bidding.
Every other name on this page wants your monthly contract. I don't sell IT support, so I've no reason to tell you anything but the truth.
If you're looking at IT companies in Stafford, you've either got no provider or you've lost faith in the one you have. Both are worth a proper look before you sign anything. Not another sales meeting from another provider - somebody genuinely impartial telling you what you've actually got and what you actually need.
Looking at IT companies in Stafford?
Whether you're choosing your first provider or wondering about the one you've had for years, the hard part is the same: everyone advising you is being paid by the outcome. I'm not. I charge a fixed fee, I tell you what I find, and then I'm gone.
Sometimes that means telling you your current provider is doing a decent job and you should stop worrying. That's a perfectly good result, and I'd rather deliver it than manufacture a problem.
Discreet, if it needs to be
Your IT company never needs to know I've been. Plenty of my work is exactly this - a quiet look before a renewal, so you walk into that conversation knowing more than they expect you to.
Stafford, in short
- ✓ Lichfield-based, across Staffordshire
- ✓ 32 years in IT, 27 self-employed
- ✓ Discreet - your provider needn't know
- ✓ 2-day audit £1,250, on-site debrief included
Before you pick anyone off this page
Everyone else you're looking at in Stafford wants the same thing: a signature on a monthly contract. That doesn't make them bad - it's the business. It does mean none of them is in a position to tell you that you might not need to switch at all.
You might not have a provider problem
Plenty of the pain I get called in for turns out to be a licensing mess, an unowned domain or one ancient server, none of which a new supplier magically fixes. You'd be paying switching costs to inherit the same issues.
If your current lot are salvageable, that's the cheap answer
Knowing precisely what to demand, and what you already pay for, changes that conversation completely. It's remarkable how responsive a provider becomes when the questions get specific.
And if you do need someone new
I'll help you choose: what to ask, how to compare quotes that aren't comparable, and what must be in your own name before a single file moves. I can't be the one you hire, and that's what makes the advice worth having.
What an independent IT audit actually looks at
No mystery to it. Here's the ground I cover, and why each one matters more than it sounds.
Backups - and whether they've ever been restored
I don't care that a backup runs. I care whether anyone has taken data back off it recently and checked it opened. That single question separates businesses that are protected from businesses that think they are.
What you're paying for versus what you're using
Licences for people who left, tools that duplicate something already included in your Microsoft 365 plan, support tiers you've never once called. This is usually where the money is, and it's usually not small.
Whether your setup is bigger than your business needs
The most expensive thing I find, and the hardest for an owner to spot. Kit specced well past what the work needs, licensed to match, built in a shape that suits the supplier's support desk.
You overpay on day one and then keep paying to licence and maintain it. It needs constant attention because it's complicated, which reads as an IT company working hard for you. Worth remembering that nobody regulates this trade, and nobody audited whoever wrote that spec in the first place.
Security that matches your actual risk
Not a shopping list of products - whether the basics are genuinely done. Multi-factor authentication actually enforced, admin accounts that aren't shared, old starters and leavers cleaned up, and someone accountable for patching.
The single points of failure
The one server everything leans on, the one person who knows the password, the line of business app nobody can update. Every business has some. You should at least know which ones are yours.
Whether the contract matches the service
What you're promised, what you're charged, and what's actually being delivered. These three drift apart quietly over years, and nobody notices until someone reads it properly.
At the end you get an hour on site going through it in plain English, plus a short written summary. If you want it formally documented, that's an extra £600 - but most people don't need it.
Stafford, from a Lichfield base
I'm honest about where I am: Lichfield, about half an hour from Stafford. Near enough that coming to you is normal rather than an event, which matters, because the useful part of an audit happens in the room. Watching how people actually work tells you things no remote report ever will.
I do the same thing for businesses in Lichfield and Tamworth. If it's worth the trip, I'll make the trip.
Questions people actually ask
How much is an independent IT review?
The 2-day audit is £1,250 and covers most businesses in the 20-40 staff range, including an hour on site going through what I found and a short written summary. Larger reviews running to four days or more are £550 a day. An optional detailed written report is £600. Registered charities and non-profits get a reduced rate.
How far is Stafford from you?
About half an hour - I am based in Lichfield. Near enough that visiting you is normal rather than an event, which matters, because the genuinely useful part of an audit happens in the room rather than over a remote connection.
Can you look at our IT contract before we renew?
That is one of the best times to call me. Renewal is when you have most leverage and least information. A review beforehand means you walk into that conversation knowing what you are actually getting and what it should cost.
Do you sell IT support, hardware or software?
None of it. I make nothing on kit - I will spec it, you buy it direct at trade prices, and I set it up. No commission, no reseller margin, no contract. It is why you can take what I tell you at face value.
What actually happens during the two days?
I go through your security and data protection basics, whether your backups have ever genuinely been restored, what you are paying for versus what you are using, your single points of failure, and whether the service you are getting matches the contract you signed.
Is it confidential?
Completely. Your provider never needs to know, and I do not name clients publicly - discretion is a large part of what you are paying for.
Want to know where you stand?
Tell me the situation and I'll tell you straight whether an audit would help - or whether you're fine and should save your money.