For small businesses that need support across the US, you need a managed service provider (MSP) with national coverage. You have several to choose from: Corporate Technologies, Thrive, Ntiva, Marco Technologies, and Electric, but which one is right for your business? Thrive, Ntiva, Marco Technologies, and Electric have centralized service, which might seem appealing until you need localized support.

Corporate Technologies differs from its competitors by offering regionally staffed local support across 18 US locations and 20 US markets. This comparison guide for SMBs breaks down how service delivery, response times, pricing, and onsite support make Corporate Technologies stand out against the competition.

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Brief Comparison of MSP Services

Each one of these MSPs have advantages and disadvantages. Here is a brief overview of each MSP:

• Corporate Technologies: Focuses on local onsite support with a presence across 20 US markets. SLAs include onsite support with local engineers, account managers and a national backbone. 
• Thrive: National presence but centralized support from a SOC (security operations center). Strong cybersecurity support, but local specialization is limited.
• Ntiva: National presence with a broad catalog of support options. Strong on cybersecurity including voice and cloud, but onsite availability varies by region.
• Marco Technologies: Strong for SMBs needing support for print, voice and enterprise projects. Mostly focused on enterprise rather than SMBs and doesn’t focus on localized support.
• Electric: Remote-first support and minimal onsite service. Mostly for startups that only need remote help desk service. No regional teams available. Best for SaaS or remote-work companies.

Local Onsite Support

Remote support seems sufficient until you have an IT issue that can’t be resolved unless a technician repairs it. Corporate Technologies focuses on unlimited onsite support with its Total Advantage solution. All others in the comparison table have some form of onsite support, but it’s limited and comes at a high additional cost. MSPs charge for onsite support hourly unless you have it in your contract, so look at your contract before making a decision. Chances are that you will need it eventually, and unforeseen onsite support can spike your bill to thousands that you didn’t expect.

To get local support, you need an MSP with a local presence. All but one MSP in the comparison table has several locations in the US with high field technician availability. You should check that the MSP has a regional office in your area. Without a regional office, you can’t get onsite support. Some MSPs will send consultants to your office for an extremely high price, so it’s better to choose a local MSP.

Many of the large national MSPs offer remote support and onsite is limited. You might get onsite support at different times and at a large cost, but the MSP will only offer remote support unless onsite is absolutely necessary. Corporate Technologies will fly in contractors when you need it.

Pricing Plans

Only Corporate Technologies has an upfront pricing structure. The others have a per-user pricing plan, but most of the additional services come at a price. Additional pricing isn’t publicly available, so it could mean that your contract pricing is much higher than packaging everything into a single solution like Total Advantage.

When you decide on an MSP, read the fine print to identify the services that you get. Some services to look for are onsite support, field technician availability, help desk support, cybersecurity solutions, monitoring and proactive infrastructure maintenance, and if the MSP supports your specific industry. Each MSP offers flexibility in their contract terms, but Corporate Technologies has unlimited onsite support with a wide range of services in Total Advantage.

Corporate Technologies also reduces risks of monetary loss by offering a 60-day money-back guarantee. The money-back guarantee lets SMBs try out MSP solutions without making a commitment on long-term contracts. Try out IT management services and stick with Corporate Technologies if you’re happy with the service.

Cybersecurity Services

Most MSPs offer basic monitoring, but more advanced cyber-threats require more protection. Also, disaster recovery and backups turn a devastating data breach into a recoverable incident. If you aren’t a cybersecurity person, you don’t know the types of protection necessary to operate a business and block threats.

Corporate Technologies offers Secure Advantage so that you get all necessary cybersecurity services including proactive monitoring, incident response, backups, disaster recovery, patch management, endpoint management, DNS filtering, email protection, compliance support, and ransomware protection. Other MSPs offer several cybersecurity services, but it’s unclear if they offer it packaged in a set pricing structure so that you can budget for it. The right cybersecurity service can mean days of downtime or only a few hours, so take this into consideration when choosing an MSP.

Which MSP Model Fits Your Business?

US small businesses have several MSPs to choose from. You should choose Corporate Technologies if you want:

• Predictable onsite support
• Local field technicians
• Shorter issue resolution
• Local account management
• SMB-first solutions
• Multi-location consistency

If you have other priorities, a national MSP might be a better option.  Choose a national MSP with centralized service if you want:

• Standardized templates across states
• Large enterprise scale centralized service
• Remote-first service delivery

To find out what Corporate Technologies can do for your SMB, contact us.

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