YouGrowIT
Managed computers
Computers that look after themselves, because somebody set them up to
Most small-business computers are managed by whoever is sitting in front of them. That works until there are twelve of them, one is three years behind on updates, and the person who left in April still has access to the file share.
Included from Managed up. Not an extra.
What managed actually means
Updates get applied, not offered
Windows, macOS, browsers and the software people actually use, pushed on a schedule and reported on. Not a notification somebody has been dismissing since March.
Encryption switched on and the key kept safe
A laptop left in a taxi becomes an inconvenience rather than a data breach — and, increasingly, an insurer's question you can answer yes to.
A new starter takes an hour, not a day
Machine set up, account created, access granted to the right things and nothing else. Consistently, so the fifth person gets the same setup as the first.
A leaver is actually gone
Access removed the same day, the mailbox handled the way you want it handled, and the machine wiped and reissued. Departed-employee accounts left switched on are one of the most common ways in.
You know what you own
Every machine, its age, its warranty, who's using it and what's on it. It's the list you need at budget time and the list you can't produce in a hurry.
A lost or stolen machine can be locked remotely
Wiped if it has to be. It's a small thing until it's the only thing.
The two questions people ask
Are you going to be watching my staff?
No, and it's worth being precise about it. Device management controls the configuration of a machine — updates, encryption, which apps are allowed, whether it can be wiped if it's stolen. It isn't screen recording, keystroke logging or reading anyone's browsing history, and we wouldn't set that up if asked.
On a personally-owned phone or laptop we go further: nothing is managed unless the owner opts in, and what's protected is the work side only. Work email and files can be removed remotely; personal photos, messages and files stay separate, private and theirs. That's in our terms, not just our manner.
One of our machines can't be updated. The vendor won't allow it.
Common, and more common than the industry admits — a PC driving a machine, a piece of design or diagnostic software, a system whose vendor certified one operating system in 2019 and stopped. Telling you to replace it isn't advice, it's an invoice.
What actually works is to fence it: restrict what it can reach on the network, take off everything it doesn't need, keep it off email and the web, make sure whatever it produces is backed up elsewhere, and write it down as a known risk with a date to look at it again. It stops being the quiet hole in your network and becomes a thing on a list.
Where it sits in the packages
Essentials covers the people — accounts, MFA, email protection, starters and leavers. The machines themselves are yours to manage.
Managed and Complete add the computers: enrolled, patched, encrypted, monitored, and held to a security baseline that doesn't drift.
Bringing a fleet under control for the first time is usually a one-off project rather than a switch we flick — it's priced per computer and quoted before it starts.