Managed IT Services for Canadian Businesses
One Canadian managed service provider for help desk, security, backups, and IT strategy. Fully managed IT for 10-to-150-user businesses, with CISSP-led oversight, 93% first-contact resolution, and a 1-hour critical response SLA.
first-contact resolution
critical response
security leadership
Canadian-owned
2024 & 2025
Book a free 30-minute consultation
A 30-minute call with a senior Canadian engineer, not a sales rep. We’ll look at your IT and security and show where you’re most exposed. If there’s a fit, we’ll scope a complimentary full IT assessment.
- ✓ An honest look at your IT support and systems
- ✓ Your biggest security and backup risks, ranked
- ✓ A sized monthly number, no email required to see it
Our managed IT and security stack
All tools are included in your monthly engagement. No per-license markup, no extra procurement work for your team.
What are managed IT services?
Managed IT services are an outsourced subscription model. A Canadian managed service provider (MSP) runs your day-to-day technology under one per-user, per-month contract, so you skip both an in-house IT department and the break-fix invoices that pile up when something breaks.
For a 10-to-150-user Canadian business, Fusion Computing replaces the help desk, the sysadmin, and the IT-strategy roles most SMBs cannot staff alone. A complete managed IT contract covers six functions:
- 24/7 help desk: named senior engineers, no offshore tier-1, with a 1-hour response SLA on critical tickets.
- Proactive monitoring and patching: NinjaOne RMM agents watch every endpoint, server, and firewall; OS and app patches run automatically.
- Baseline security: CIS Controls v8.1 alignment, MFA enforcement, Huntress EDR and SentinelOne XDR, immutable backups, CISSP-led oversight.
- Microsoft 365 and vendor management: tenant admin, license right-sizing, plus ISP, telecom, and IT hardware procurement under one point of accountability.
- Strategic IT planning (vCIO): quarterly reviews, a three-year roadmap, budget forecast, and board reporting.
- Compliance and reporting: PIPEDA and Ontario PHIPA evidence packs that hold up to insurance and regulator audits.
Canadian MSPs price this work by user, per month. Fusion Computing runs $130–$180 co-managed (your IT lead keeps ownership), $160–$200 fully managed (we become your IT department), and $210–$250 for the CIS-Aligned MSSP tier, which includes the full security stack and Microsoft 365 Business Premium. The number is set by team size, your regulatory framework, and whether a CISSP-led vCIO retainer is included.
CompTIA’s 2025 IT Industry Outlook found 62% of small and mid-size businesses raised IT budgets in 2025, the highest net increase since 2021. They spend more because technology drives revenue now, not just operations. Two traits define managed IT: it is proactive, so the provider is paid to prevent incidents rather than bill for them, and it is bundled, so you get one contract, one invoice, and one number to call. Bill per ticket, or hand security to a separate vendor, and you are closer to break-fix.
Want the deeper version? See managed IT services cost in Canada for a full pricing breakdown, or compare IT support vs managed IT to see where help desk ends and a managed contract begins. If day-to-day help desk is all you need, our business IT services and support page covers that model.
What’s included in Fusion Computing’s managed IT
A complete Canadian managed IT contract covers six operational functions. Tiers vary; the functions do not. If a quote omits one, the gap surfaces later as a surprise invoice or an unmonitored exposure. Here is exactly what we run, and what each piece protects.
| Function | What we run | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 help desk | Tier 1 to Tier 3 support, password resets, app issues, named senior engineers on file, ConnectWise PSA ticketing. | Most productivity loss happens in the first 30 minutes of a problem. We resolve 93% of tickets on first contact. |
| Proactive monitoring | NinjaOne RMM agents on every endpoint and server, firewall and switch monitoring, 24/7 alert routing. | A monitored environment catches most outages before users notice. An unmonitored one turns every incident into an emergency. |
| Baseline security | Huntress EDR and SentinelOne XDR, Microsoft Entra ID conditional access, MFA, Keeper password vault, Fortinet firewall management, CIS Controls v8.1 alignment. | Security is baked into every plan, not a premium add-on. The 2025 IBM Cost of a Data Breach put the Canadian average at CA$6.98 million. |
| Microsoft 365 admin | Tenant configuration, license right-sizing, Exchange and Teams policy, Intune device management, Copilot governance. | Microsoft 365 is the operational core of most Canadian SMBs. Misconfigured tenants are the most common entry point for identity attacks. |
| Backup and DR | Immutable cloud backups, a ransomware-isolated recovery vault, quarterly restore tests, documented RTO and RPO targets. | A backup you have never restored is not a backup. Tested DR is the difference between a four-hour outage and a four-week rebuild. |
| vCIO and strategy | Quarterly business reviews with leadership, a three-year roadmap, risk register, budget alignment, vendor consolidation. | Without a vCIO, IT stays reactive forever. The strategic layer turns managed IT from a cost line into a planning function. |
Four things a real contract puts in writing
- An SLA with measurable targets. Response time by priority (a 1-hour critical response, faster acknowledgement on lower tiers), resolution targets, and escalation paths to named senior engineers. “Best effort” does not qualify.
- A quarterly vCIO cadence. A standing leadership meeting, a roadmap, a risk register, and a budget. Without it, IT stays tactical.
- An exit clause and data return. A 60-to-90-day exit for cause, records handover, and a clear process for returning credentials, agent licenses, and backup vaults. Anyone who resists should not be signed.
- Security-stack disclosure. The exact tooling, named: EDR, MDR, MFA platform, password vault, firewall, backup engine. Named tools map directly to your insurance and compliance attestations.
Security is the layer most SMBs underestimate. Managed IT includes a baseline; for a dedicated, CISSP-led detection-and-response program, see our managed cybersecurity services.
How managed IT works, day to day
Signing with an MSP isn’t like hiring an employee. Here is what the first year actually looks like, in three stages.
Discovery and onboarding (weeks 1–4)
We audit what you have today: servers, laptops, cloud accounts, security gaps, backups, and network gear. We document it and build a plan to fix anything that needs work before we can support it well.
Stabilization (months 1–3)
We deploy monitoring agents, security tools, and backups, then fix the issues found during discovery. Ticket volume usually peaks here as buried problems come to light and your team learns the new process.
Steady state (ongoing)
Upkeep runs in the background. Your staff sends tickets by phone, email, or portal, and most close on first contact. Quarterly reviews keep your IT roadmap lined up with where the company is headed.
Field note from Mike
A 65-seat professional services firm in the GTA called us mid-renewal with their incumbent MSP. The annual fee had climbed 18%, the help desk had churned twice, and a phishing incident three weeks earlier had exposed that nobody owned the EDR alerts. We ran a 10-day baseline. It found 11 unmonitored endpoints and a backup chain untested in 14 months. We rebuilt the program around a CISSP-led security baseline and quarterly vCIO reviews. Ticket dwell time fell from 8 hours to under 90 minutes, and the cyber-insurance audit closed without findings.
Mike Pearlstein, CISSP, CEO of Fusion Computing. About Mike
How much do managed IT services cost?
Canalys sizes the 2026 Canadian managed-services market at over CA$11 billion in annual revenue, growing 11% year over year, with SMB workloads driving most of that growth. The question is no longer whether to invest in managed IT. It is whether your spend is bundled and predictable, or scattered across vendors and surprise invoices.
Pricing is per user, per month, set by team size, setup complexity, and your compliance needs.
Co-Managed
$130–$180
per user / month. You keep an internal IT lead; we add depth, tooling, after-hours coverage, and the CISSP layer.
Fully Managed
$160–$200
per user / month. We run the whole program end to end, no in-house IT staff needed.
Break-fix
$150–$250
per hour, for comparison only. No 24/7 cover, no documentation, no predictable budget.
Managed IT vs break-fix vs in-house IT (annual, fully loaded)
Break-fix looks cheaper in a quiet year and far more expensive in a bad one. In-house IT becomes cost-competitive only near 100 users, and even then one admin carries no overnight coverage.
| Firm size | Managed IT | Break-fix (typical) | In-house IT (fully loaded) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 users | $72K to $90K, all-in | $36K to $80K (highly variable) | $95K to $130K (one admin, no coverage) |
| 50 users | $120K to $150K, all-in | $60K to $130K | $140K to $180K (one senior admin) |
| 100 users | $240K to $300K, all-in | $110K to $260K | $280K to $380K (two staff plus tooling) |
Microsoft 365 licenses, EDR licenses, backup storage, and project work are pass-through. Want your own numbers? Try the IT cost calculator.
Free 30-minute scoping call, no sales pressure. Or call: (416) 566-2845
Managed, co-managed, break-fix, or in-house
Four delivery models cover the same work in different shapes. The right choice depends on size, risk tolerance, and whether IT is a cost line or a planning function. Co-managed keeps your internal IT lead in place and adds outside depth, tooling, and 24/7 coverage; the contract splits ownership in writing so it does not drift back to break-fix. See co-managed IT services for the full breakdown.
| Fusion managed IT | Co-managed | Break-fix MSP | In-house IT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response / SLA | 1-hour critical, written SLA | Shared SLA, after-hours covered by us | Best-effort, ticket queue | Fast if at the desk |
| Pricing model | Fixed per user, $160–$200 | Fixed per user, $130–$180 | $150–$250 / hour, spikes | Salary plus benefits |
| Coverage hours | 24/7/365 | 24/7 via the MSP layer | Business hours | 9-to-5, one person |
| Baseline security | Included, CISSP-led | Included, you keep the keys | Reactive only | Limited by one skill set |
| Compliance evidence | Audit-ready, monthly | Shared, audit-ready | By request, billable | Spreadsheets, manual |
| Replacement risk | Zero, team continuity | Low, backed by our team | Find a new provider | 3-to-6-month gap if they quit |
| Best for | 10-to-150-user SMBs with no IT staff | 50-to-250 users with one IT lead | Small, low-risk firms | Enterprise (500+ users) |
Who managed IT is for
Most firms cross at least two of three triggers before they move. Those who wait for the third end up paying under emergency conditions.
Size triggers. Above 15 users, one admin cannot cover help desk, security, infrastructure, and strategy at once. Above 30 users, the one-person IT department stops working. Above 75, the question shifts from managed-vs-internal to managed-vs-co-managed.
Regulatory triggers. You handle PHIPA health data, PIPEDA personal data, or a contract requires SOC 2 or CIS Controls v8.1 attestation. Building that baseline in-house takes 12 to 18 months plus a senior security hire.
Incident triggers. A near-miss phishing email. The IT person left and nobody knows the passwords. A backup that failed to restore. Break-fix bills that spike every time something goes wrong. If any of those sound familiar, managed IT is worth evaluating.
✓ Good fit
- Canadian businesses with 10–150 employees
- Firms without a full internal IT department
- Regulated fields (legal, finance, healthcare, municipal) that need compliance reporting
- Growing teams that need IT to scale with them
✗ Not a fit
- Large firms with 500+ staff and a full internal IT team already in place
- Companies that only need a one-time project (migration, setup) with no ongoing support
- Teams that just want a single security audit, not a managed relationship
Why Canadian businesses choose Fusion Computing as their managed IT provider
As a Canadian managed IT services company, Fusion Computing has delivered managed IT services across the country since 2012. Our help desk holds a 93% first-contact resolution rate, against an industry average closer to 70 to 80%, because it is staffed by senior techs, not tier-one script readers. We run a 4:1 technician-to-client ratio, where the industry norm sits near 12:1. That is why your tickets actually get answered.
“The pattern I see in most inbound managed IT inquiries is the same: an internal IT person left, the owner is patching it themselves on weekends, and someone just got phished. The mistake is treating that as a hiring problem. It’s a structural problem, and a managed services agreement with a written SLA and a CISSP-led security baseline stabilizes it in 90 days.”
Proof, not adjectives
Named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies two years running (2024 and 2025). 4.9/5 on Google. 93% first-contact resolution on support tickets.
CISSP leadership
Every account inherits a CIS Controls v8.1 baseline set by a CISSP who knows what auditors, insurers, and regulators expect. Security is built in, not bolted on.
Canadian-owned since 2012
Three regional offices in Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver, with on-site dispatch and PIPEDA-aligned data handling. Recognized by Clutch and Expertise.com.
A named account lead
Every client gets a named lead, a hands-on onboarding project, and quarterly reviews. The 7% of tickets that need escalation get an engineer, not a queue.
Recent engagements
- Scaling a Design Studio: 35 to 205 users
Zero unplanned downtime through a four-month phased deployment. - Co-Managed IT for a GTA Construction Firm
60% ticket-backlog cut and 97% patch compliance in 90 days. - Ransomware Recovery: Back Online by Monday
100% data recovered from air-gapped backups; $0 ransom paid.
“We came to Fusion after our previous MSP was acquired and the help-desk relationship fell apart. What we got back was something the prior contract never delivered: a named account lead who attends every quarterly review, a written SLA the team actually meets, and a security program our cyber insurer signed off on without conditions.”
Operations Director, 80-seat professional-services firm, Toronto GTA. Quote shared with permission.
Their staff is very professional, reliable and trustworthy, able to handle absolutely all your IT needs and keeping all your data safe and secure. A must have for any business looking for IT solutions.
Truly a blessing to have them by your side and watching your back while you take care of day to day tasks.
Managed IT by industry and region
The same managed IT engagement runs differently inside a law firm than a medical clinic or a wealth practice. Each regulated vertical inherits the same operational standard described on this page, with industry-specific regulator mapping and audit prep. We dispatch from three regional offices in Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver, with remote coverage nationwide.
Law firms
Healthcare
Accounting and finance
Accounting IT hub · Managed IT for financial services · Financial services IT
Wealth and more
Wealth management IT · Managed IT for manufacturing · All industries served
Financial District base. Help desk, security, and vCIO across the GTA, with 4-hour on-site dispatch, including managed IT services in Markham, Etobicoke, and Vaughan.
Local presence in Dundas. Managed IT across Hamilton, Burlington, and the Kitchener-Waterloo corridor.
Downtown office. Managed IT and on-site support across Metro Vancouver.
Common questions about managed IT services
Answers from our team. Need more detail? Book a free consultation and we’ll walk through your specific situation.
What is the difference between managed IT services and IT support?
IT support is one component of managed IT. Support is the reactive help-desk side: someone fixes things when they break. Managed IT is the broader contract. It bundles support with proactive monitoring, patching, security tooling, backup, Microsoft 365 administration, and quarterly planning, all under a fixed monthly per-user fee. Put differently, support keeps the lights on; managed IT decides what lights you should have.
How much do managed IT services cost in Canada?
Fusion prices by user, per month. Co-managed runs $130 to $180 per user when you keep an internal IT lead and we add depth, tooling, and the CISSP layer. Fully managed runs $160 to $200 per user when we run the whole program. Break-fix work, for comparison, costs $150 to $250 per hour with no 24/7 cover and no documentation. Your exact figure depends on team size, setup complexity, and your compliance framework.
What is included in a managed IT services contract?
A complete Canadian managed IT contract covers six functions: a 24/7 help desk, proactive monitoring, a layered security stack (EDR, MDR, MFA, password vault, firewall), Microsoft 365 administration, backup with tested disaster recovery, and a vCIO running quarterly reviews. Omit any one, and the gap surfaces later as a surprise invoice or an unmonitored exposure. The contract should also name an SLA, an exit clause, and the exact security tools in writing.
How does managed IT differ from break-fix support?
Managed IT is proactive and bundled: a fixed monthly fee covers prevention, monitoring, security, and help desk under one contract. Break-fix is reactive and hourly, at $150 to $250 per hour, charged only when something breaks. For firms above 15 users, managed IT usually cuts annual IT spend once you count the outages it prevents. A prevented outage costs far less than emergency response.
What is the difference between managed IT and co-managed IT?
Managed IT means the MSP runs the entire technology stack end to end. Co-managed IT means the MSP supplements an existing internal IT lead with depth, tooling, and 24/7 coverage. Co-managed pricing is lower, typically $130 to $180 per user per month, because internal staff carry part of the help-desk load. It fits firms of 50 to 250 users that have outgrown one admin but cannot yet justify a full department.
What is a vCIO and why does it matter?
A vCIO, or virtual chief information officer, is a senior advisor inside the MSP. The vCIO owns the technology roadmap, budget, risk register, and vendor strategy on your behalf, runs quarterly business reviews with leadership, and aligns IT with PIPEDA and Ontario’s PHIPA. Without a vCIO, IT stays tactical. The strategic layer is what turns managed IT from a cost line into a planning function.
Can a managed IT provider help with PIPEDA and PHIPA?
Yes, and this is where managed IT earns its premium for regulated Canadian SMBs. A full-scope contract includes breach-response runbooks tied to PIPEDA timelines, PHIPA-aligned controls for Ontario health-information custodians, and the audit logging that proves due diligence for cyber-insurance and regulator reviews. We map controls to CIS Controls v8.1 and NIST CSF. Bill C-27 / AIDA is still proposed and not yet enacted, so we plan around the frameworks that apply to your sector today.
How fast do you respond to critical issues?
Critical tickets run on a 1-hour response SLA, measured from ticket creation to a live human acknowledgement, with 4-hour on-site coverage across the GTA and Metro Vancouver. We hold 93% first-contact resolution across all priorities, against an industry average closer to 70 to 80%. The 7% that need escalation get a named engineer, not a queue.
Do you handle Microsoft 365 administration?
Yes. Microsoft 365 tenant admin is included in every managed plan, and Google Workspace is supported for clients already on it. We handle identity and conditional access in Microsoft Entra ID, licensing, SharePoint and OneDrive structure, Exchange Online mail flow, Intune enrollment, Defender for Office 365, and Copilot rollout governance.
Can you support a multi-site or multi-province business?
Yes. We run physical offices in Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver, and dispatch on-site technicians coast to coast through a vetted partner network. Monitoring, ticketing, and security sit in a single tenant view, so a head office in Mississauga sees the same data as a satellite in Burnaby. Canadian-owned and operated since 2012.
Is Managed IT Right for You?
Describe your setup and biggest IT headache and a senior consultant will follow up within 1 business day. Fusion Computing works with Canadian businesses with 20 to 200 staff that need a managed IT partner, not one-time fixes.
Benchmark your per-user IT spend against current Canadian SMB rates and see where you stand. It takes about 2 minutes.
Run the IT cost calculator →Free. No booking required. Or use the form below and we reply within one business day.
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Most clients are 20 to 200 employees. Tell us about your situation.
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Co-Managed IT Services →
Keep your internal IT lead and add depth, tooling, and 24/7 coverage on top.
vCISO Services →
Virtual CISO: security strategy, board reporting, IR retainer, compliance roadmap.
IT Support vs Managed IT →
Where reactive help desk ends and a managed contract begins.
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