Managed IT Services
A whole IT department for one flat cost
Pod Care is our fully managed plan: monitoring, patching, help desk, security, backups, vendor wrangling and budget planning bundled into a flat monthly per-user cost. You get a named team of Arizona engineers instead of a queue. No long-term contract is required to start.
The Model
You stop buying hours and start buying outcomes
Break-fix support has a quiet conflict of interest built into it: the vendor earns more when your systems misbehave. Managed IT flips that. When we are paid a flat monthly fee, every hour of downtime comes out of our margin, so stability becomes our problem instead of your invoice.
Pod Care covers the whole environment rather than a device count. Workstations, servers, firewalls, switches, access points, Microsoft 365 tenants, backups, printers that nobody will admit to buying, all of it sits under one plan. Users can raise a ticket as many times as they need without anyone doing mental arithmetic about the bill, which matters more than it sounds. The single biggest source of hidden IT risk in small business is staff who quietly work around a problem because reporting it feels expensive.
What is included every month
Around-the-clock monitoring through Pod Watch, with alerting on disk health, backup failures, service outages, certificate expiry and unusual login behavior. Patch management for Windows, macOS and the third-party applications that actually get exploited: browsers, PDF readers, Java, remote tools. Managed endpoint detection and response, MFA enforcement and email filtering under Pod Guard.
Unlimited remote help desk plus onsite visits within the Phoenix metro. Vendor management, meaning we deal with your internet provider, your line-of-business software vendor and your copier company so your staff do not have to. Documentation kept current, and a recurring Surface Check review with your leadership covering spend, risk and what is coming due for replacement.
Onboarding: the first thirty days
Every new client starts with a free Deep Dive assessment. We inventory hardware and its warranty status, audit administrative accounts, verify that backups both run and restore, review Microsoft 365 security settings, and document the network. Almost every environment we inherit has at least one surprise: a backup that has been failing silently for months, a domain admin account belonging to someone who left in 2021, or a firewall still running firmware from three CVEs ago.
We fix the urgent items first, then work through the ranked list at an agreed pace. You see the list. Nothing gets quietly added.
Pricing is flat monthly per-user, not per-device, because a user with a laptop, a desktop and a phone is one person generating one stream of support. You own your hardware, your licenses and your data outright. There is no long-term contract requirement, no equipment lease trap and no clause that makes leaving expensive. If we are worth keeping, we should have to earn it every month.
We support businesses across Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Queen Creek and the wider Phoenix metro onsite, and companies in all 50 states remotely. More technical detail on the plan is available on our managed IT microsite, and you can compare us against your current provider on why choose Orca.
Your pod is with you.
The same small group of engineers handles your account permanently. They know your line-of-business app, your quirky legacy printer and which staff member needs a phone call rather than an email.
What Is Covered
Everything in one monthly line item
Six pillars of Pod Care, each with real scope rather than a vague promise.
24/7 monitoring and alerting
Agents on every endpoint and server watch disk health, memory pressure, service state, backup jobs and failed logins. Most tickets are opened by us.
Patching that includes third parties
Operating system updates are the easy half. We also patch browsers, PDF readers, remote access tools and runtimes, which is where real-world exploitation happens.
Unlimited help desk
Staff raise tickets by phone, email or portal with no per-incident charge, so nobody sits on a problem to save money.
Managed security stack
EDR, MFA and conditional access, DNS filtering, email security and phishing awareness training, reviewed quarterly rather than set once.
Backup with verified restores
Local and offsite copies with immutability where supported, plus scheduled test restores so you know recovery works before you need it.
Strategy and budgeting
A recurring Surface Check with your leadership covering hardware lifecycle, license spend, upcoming risk and where the next dollar does the most good.
Pod Care compared to calling someone when it breaks
| What you get | Orca IT Pod Care | Typical break-fix |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | 24/7, alerts to us first | None |
| Patching | Managed, including third-party apps | Whatever auto-update does |
| Response | Same business day, emergency after hours | Whenever they are free |
| Who shows up | Your named pod | Whoever is available |
| Cost | Flat monthly per user | Unpredictable hourly |
| Backups | Tested restores on a schedule | Assumed to be working |
| Documentation | Maintained and yours | In someone's head |
| Incentive | We profit when nothing breaks | They profit when it does |
The Pod Model
Why a small permanent team beats a big queue
Orcas work in pods because a small group that knows each other perfectly outperforms a crowd. Support works the same way.
Continuity of knowledge
Your engineers already know that the estimating software hates roaming profiles. That context is the difference between a ten-minute fix and a two-hour investigation.
Accountability with a name
There is no anonymous queue to hide behind. You know who owns your account and they know you will notice if something slips.
Escalation without restarting
When a problem needs a second brain, it moves inside the pod. You never repeat the story to someone reading your ticket for the first time.
Managed IT questions we hear from Arizona owners
How is flat monthly pricing calculated?
We price per user rather than per device, because one person with a laptop, a desktop and a phone still generates one stream of support. Servers and specialized infrastructure are counted separately. The number is fixed for the term so your IT line stops moving month to month.
Is there a minimum contract length?
No long-term contract is required to get started. We would rather keep clients because the service is good than because the paperwork traps them. Some clients do choose a longer term in exchange for locked pricing, and that option is available if you want it.
What size of business is this designed for?
Pod Care fits well from roughly five users up to a couple of hundred. Below five, hourly or project support is usually more economical and we will say so. Above that range we can still help, though we will be honest about where an internal hire starts to make sense alongside us.
Do you replace our internal IT person?
Not necessarily. A common arrangement is co-managed: your internal person handles users and applications while we take monitoring, patching, security, servers and after-hours coverage. It gives them a team to escalate to and gives you coverage when they take a vacation.
What happens outside business hours?
Monitoring and patching run around the clock, and Pod Care includes after-hours emergency response for business-stopping issues. We do not claim to staff phones 24/7, because that would not be true, and you should be suspicious of any local provider who does.
Does the plan include hardware?
Hardware is quoted separately and purchased in your name, so you own it. We are not a leasing company and we do not mark equipment up to hide margin. The plan covers the labor, monitoring, security stack and management around that hardware.
How do you handle our other vendors?
We take that off your desk. If the internet drops, we open the ticket with the carrier and chase it. If your practice management software misbehaves, we get on the call with their support so your staff are not translating between two technical teams.
What if we want to leave?
You keep your documentation, your licenses, your hardware and your backup data. We will hand over cleanly to whoever comes next. An offboarding that goes badly is the fastest way for a provider to lose every referral they ever earned.
Predictable IT starts with one free assessment
We will tell you what is wrong, what it costs to fix, and whether you actually need a managed plan.
Talk to Your Pod
See what your IT should actually cost
Send us your headcount and a rough picture of your setup. We will assess the environment for free and come back with a flat per-user number and a list of what we would fix in the first thirty days.
(602) 677-0779Family owned in Gilbert, AZ since 2015 · onsite across the Phoenix metro · remote support nationwide · never outsourced
Get your free IT consultation
A few details and your pod gets right back to you, usually the same business day.