Saint-Raymond
IT services in Saint-Raymond: how a managed IT quote gets built
You want a number, and that is fair. We do not give one before counting your devices and looking at their condition, and you will not find one anywhere on this site. OKTO Solutions offers its services to SMBs in Saint-Raymond from Trois-Rivières, about 95 km away. This page tells you what we will ask, what we will look at and what you can pull together beforehand.
For an SMB in Saint-Raymond, a managed IT quote from OKTO Solutions is built in six steps: first call, real inventory of the equipment, review of the state of the systems, drafting of the proposal, walkthrough meeting, then the decision. The amount comes after the inventory, never before. OKTO’s office is in Trois-Rivières, about 95 km away.
How do you get a managed IT quote in Saint-Raymond?
In Saint-Raymond, a managed IT quote is built in the same order as everywhere else: look first, price second. OKTO Solutions offers its services to SMBs in Saint-Raymond from its office in Trois-Rivières, about 95 km away, and gives no amount before the inventory is done. The first call is there to understand the situation: how many people, how many devices, servers on site or not, and where email and files live. Next comes the real survey of the equipment, then a review of its condition, meaning what is still supported by its vendor, what is at end of life, what is backed up and what is exposed on the Internet. The proposal separates recurring services from one-time projects and is walked through line by line, with a written version. If the business declines, the inventory stays with it. OKTO has no office in Saint-Raymond, and no price is published on its site.
The first call
What are you asked on the first call?
Simple things. The first conversation carries no commitment, and it is not there to recite our plans. We want to know what is going wrong today, what you have already tried, and what would happen at your place if everything went down on a Tuesday morning.
The questions do not change from one company to the next. How many people work with you? How many devices? Are there servers in your building? Where are your email and your files? Who looks after IT right now? And the last one, which says the most: why are you looking for a provider now? A company whose provider stopped calling back does not have the same need as a company that just lost data.
What we do not do on that call is throw out an amount. A figure given before the inventory is an average that teaches you nothing, or a teaser price that will climb later. Instead, we tell you on what date you will have the quote.
The scoping sheet: the questions get their answers, then the equipment is counted. The figure comes afterwards.
On your side
What can you prepare before the meeting?
Nothing is mandatory. Still, these six notes are ones you can take yourself, notebook in hand, before talking to us.
- Count the machines that are running, not the people. Someone who uses a laptop on top of a desktop is worth two units. Two co-workers on the same workstation are worth one.
- Write down the age of the workstations. The average is enough. For servers, add the date of the last restart.
- List your essential software. Accounting, production, in-house application. A small business nearly always has more of it than it thinks.
- Record your real hours. The time the first employee signs in, and the time the last one shuts down.
- Make a list of your addresses. Office, shop, branch, employees working from home.
- Dig out your insurer’s questionnaire. If you received one for cyber insurance, its questions already outline the level you are expected to meet.
On our side
What do we look at before giving a figure?
First, what exists. The inventory records workstations, servers, mobile devices, licences, email, files, backups, network equipment and business applications. We count what is there, not what you believe you have. This is often when a forgotten device resurfaces, or the still-active account of a former employee.
Then, the condition of it all. What is still supported by its vendor? What is reaching end of life? What is backed up, and what is exposed on the Internet? When two companies of the same size do not get the same proposal, the reason is found here. An environment with end-of-life systems and a backup that was never tested calls for a remediation project, priced apart from the monthly amount.
The rest comes down to your choices: the service level, the hours to cover, the number of sites, your compliance obligations. The Base plan is a safety net with no user support. Standard adds support and maintenance. Complet adds advanced cybersecurity and service guarantees. Billing is per managed workstation or server, never per user.
The factors recorded at the client’s site are entered one by one. The amount line stays without a number until the real fleet has been counted.
The sequence
In what order is the quote put together?
Six steps, and none is skipped, even for a small company. That is what lets us hold the amount we announce.
| Step | What we do | What you have in hand |
|---|---|---|
| 1. First call | We understand your situation, your size, your constraints and the real urgency. No amount. | The date on which the quote will arrive |
| 2. Inventory | We record what you really have, with read-only access. | An inventory that belongs to you, whatever you decide |
| 3. Review of the condition | We sort what is supported, at end of life, backed up or exposed. | The picture of your environment, as recorded |
| 4. Proposal | We choose the plan, add the vCIO module or not, and separate recurring services from one-time projects. | The reason for the choice, in one sentence a non-technician can read |
| 5. Walkthrough | We go through the document with you, line by line. | The written version, with what is included and what is not |
| 6. Decision | If it is a yes, we plan the takeover with you. | If it is a no, the inventory can still be used elsewhere |
The document is written to be compared with another provider’s. It also states what happens if your device count changes during the agreement. What each plan covers is detailed on the managed IT services page.
The ground
Saint-Raymond, about 95 km from Trois-Rivières
Saint-Raymond is part of the Capitale-Nationale administrative region and of the Portneuf regional county municipality, whose seat is Cap-Santé. Routes 354, 365 and 367 cross its territory.
No office on site
Our only office is in Trois-Rivières. We have neither premises nor a technician stationed in Saint-Raymond, and the service is remote first.
Visits, discussed up front
Some jobs need someone on site. That person leaves from Trois-Rivières. The need for planned visits is one of the things we look at during the quote, so that it does not turn into a surprise afterwards.
The hours covered
During the week, regular support begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. For blocking outages outside that schedule there is an emergency line: it is included in the Complet plan.
In the same region, we have a page on IT services in Quebec City. The whole territory we cover is on the service areas page. To set up a first call, go through the contact page.
Questions and answers
Your questions about a quote in Saint-Raymond
Why not give a Saint-Raymond business a price over the phone?
Does someone have to come to Saint-Raymond to do the inventory?
When do we receive the quote?
What happens to the access and the inventory if we do not sign?
Does the distance between Trois-Rivières and Saint-Raymond enter into the calculation?
A quote for your Saint-Raymond business?
We start with a conversation, with no commitment. You leave with the date on which you will have a document to compare, line by line, with another provider’s.
Reviewed by Antonio Pazzi, president of OKTO Solutions · updated