Every managed IT provider in North Central Florida tells you the same thing: responsive, secure, local, reliable. The eight criteria below are how to find out which ones actually deliver — and the side-by-side below shows how Simply IT compares to the industry default.
Use this list whether you're evaluating Simply IT or any other provider. The right answers separate operators from order-takers.
If your business handles protected health information (medical, dental, veterinary) or operates under FTC Safeguards / ABA cybersecurity rules, your IT provider needs to sign a BAA. Many MSPs cannot — they aren't structured to take on the responsibility. If your provider has never offered one, they're not equipped to serve regulated industries.
Ask for the documented target, not a marketing claim. Mid-market MSPs typically target 15-minute remote response and same-business-day on-site for critical issues. Anything past 4 hours during business hours is a red flag for a business that depends on technology to operate.
Quote-only pricing isn't automatically bad — but it's the easiest place for surprise invoices to live. Look for an MSP that publishes tier rates, list per-user costs, and shows you exactly what's included before you sign anything. That same transparency carries into the monthly invoice.
Multi-year contracts with steep penalties exist to lock you in. A confident MSP doesn't need a contract to keep your business — they let their service do that. 90-day notice for cancellation is reasonable; anything longer should raise a question.
When something is on fire, you want to talk to someone who's worked on your network before, not a Tier-1 tech four states away reading from a script. Local doesn't mean small; it means accountable. Ask who specifically will answer your ticket on a Wednesday afternoon.
HIPAA technical safeguards, FTC Safeguards Rule documentation, ABA Rule 1.6(c) reasonable efforts — these aren't bonus skills, they're the baseline for serving regulated practices. If their answer to "what does HIPAA require of an IT environment" is vague, they don't have the depth.
Authorized partner status (Microsoft CSP, WatchGuard, Intermedia, Pax8, etc.) means factory-direct support escalation paths and licensing pricing you can't get elsewhere. Resellers who buy at retail and mark up their margin can't match either.
Ask before you sign: "When we leave, what's the data-handover package?" The answer should be a documented offboarding process that returns admin credentials, asset inventory, license documentation, and configuration. If they can't answer or describe a proprietary lock-in, walk away.
What the local default looks like versus how we operate. Print this table and walk it into your next vendor meeting.
| Category | Industry-Standard MSP | Simply IT |
|---|---|---|
| Business Associate Agreement | Rarely offered — most MSPs decline | Signed with every regulated-industry client |
| Cancellation policy | 1-3 year contracts with steep early-termination fees | 90-day written notice. No penalties. |
| Response time target | 4-24 hour ticket SLA — sometimes longer | 15-minute remote / same-day on-site |
| Pricing transparency | Quote-only — surprise invoices common | Published per-user tiers — what you see is what you pay |
| Local presence | National help desk, scripted tier-1 triage | Ocala-based local team — same techs every time |
| Compliance depth | Generic security — HIPAA / FTC / ABA optional | HIPAA-aligned, FTC-Safeguards-aware, ABA-aware by default |
| Vendor partnerships | Resold from distributors at retail | Authorized partner — Microsoft CSP, WatchGuard, Intermedia, Pax8 |
| Service breadth | IT only — separate marketing/communications vendors | Managed IT + cybersecurity + cloud + phones + marketing — one team |
| Offboarding | Proprietary configs, undocumented credentials | Documented data + access handover within 14 days |
| Ownership accountability | Sales rep → account manager → tech tier | Steve Condit personally signs every BAA and answers escalations |
// Industry-Standard column reflects what we typically see when evaluating prospective clients' existing MSP relationships across North Central Florida. Your mileage may vary.
Three recent Simply IT engagements. Client identities kept confidential per the disclosure on our case studies page — every outcome below is from real work.
A 3-physician primary care practice in Ocala was hit by ransomware that encrypted patient scheduling and billing systems. Simply IT restored operations and built a HIPAA-aligned security foundation that has held for 18 months.
Read Case Study →
A 6-attorney civil litigation firm in Gainesville wanted the productivity of AI drafting without the ethics-rule risk of pasting privileged client communications into consumer ChatGPT. Simply IT deployed a multi-vendor AI hub with attorney-specific permissions and reasonable-efforts documentation.
Read Case Study →
A 6-person accounting firm experienced server failures two years in a row during their busiest season. Simply IT replaced aging infrastructure and implemented proactive monitoring. Zero downtime in the following two tax seasons.
Read Case Study →Free assessment. No long-term contracts. Veteran-owned local team based in Ocala.