IT Support FAQ: Common Questions From Columbus Small Businesses

Most Columbus businesses pay between $100 and $300 per user per month for a fully managed plan. Where you land in that range depends on the size of your environment, what software you run, and how much support your team typically needs. We do not do tiered per-ticket pricing or send surprise invoices. You get a flat monthly number that covers everything in your plan.

At Bright Edge, a managed plan covers 24/7 network monitoring, helpdesk and remote support, cybersecurity tools (firewall management, endpoint protection, ransomware defense), continuous data backup, patch management, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace administration. On-site time during business hours is included in your SLA, along with quarterly IT reviews. After-hours support is billed separately, and we will always tell you before that clock starts.

What to ask a prospective MSP: Will I work with the same person each time, or a different rep every call? What is the average response time for support tickets? Do you have experience in my industry? Is pricing truly flat-rate? Can I talk to a current client? We have been doing this in Columbus since 2006 and are happy to connect you with clients who have been with us for years.

Break-fix is reactive. Something breaks, you call someone, you pay by the hour. Managed IT is proactive. Your provider monitors your systems and deals with problems before they turn into outages. For most small businesses, managed IT ends up costing less over time because you are not paying emergency rates and losing productivity every time something breaks.

It is worth knowing that plenty of firms calling themselves managed service providers are really break-fix shops with a fixed monthly fee attached. The work did not change, the billing did. At Bright Edge we add a layer of ongoing consulting and collaboration through our vCIO services. That means honing your processes, reducing complexity in your environment, and making sure your staff are supported and actually heard when something is not working for them. Proactive support is the baseline. Real management is the point.

Yes. We are based in Westerville and cover the full Columbus metro: Westerville, Dublin, Gahanna, New Albany, Hilliard, Worthington, Lewis Center, Powell, and everything in between. Most issues get resolved remotely, but when something needs a physical visit, we come to you and do not outsource that to a third party.

We provide Fully Managed clients with a service level agreement that defines and guarantees our response times based on the severity of the issue and the time of day the ticket was opened. In 2025, our average response time for Fully Managed clients was just 15 minutes. Critical problems such as systems down or an active security incident get escalated immediately, whatever the hour.

Yes. We work with healthcare practices and other regulated businesses throughout Central Ohio. We understand what HIPAA requires on the technology side: encrypted storage, secure remote access, access controls, and audit logs. We build and maintain environments that meet those standards. Learn more about our HIPAA IT services.

Absolutely. Co-managed IT is something we do regularly. Your internal person handles what they handle well and we fill in the gaps: advanced security tooling, after-hours monitoring, and projects that need extra bandwidth. We are not trying to replace anyone.

The easiest first step is a free assessment of your current setup. We take a look at what you have, identify anything that concerns us, and give you a straight answer about what we would recommend. No commitment required. Reach out here and we will set something up.