IT outsourcing basics for SMBs: models, SLAs, and onboarding
Understand managed services, projects, and staff augmentation. Learn how to set SLAs and onboard your provider for a smooth start.
Key takeaways
- Pick the model based on outcomes and ownership
- Define incident response and uptime expectations
- Provide a concise asset inventory and access strategy
Common models
Managed services add ongoing monitoring and incident response; projects deliver to a spec; staff augmentation extends your team under your management. Choose based on outcomes and internal capacity.
SLAs that matter
Define uptime, RTO/RPO, and a priority matrix with response/resolve targets. Align these to business hours and critical windows. Example: P1 (prod down) response 15 min, resolve 2h; P2 response 1h, resolve 8h. Document ownership and paging paths.
Onboarding your provider
- Asset inventory and ownership
- Access strategy (SSO, MFA, break‑glass)
- Escalation tree and comms channels
- Change management and documentation
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RFP quick template
State business outcomes, constraints, stack, security requirements, and SLA targets. Ask for staffing model, timezone coverage, and sample runbooks. Keep to 2–3 pages to encourage clear responses.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Vague scope → scope creep
- No change log → fragile systems
- Over‑promising SLAs without staffing
Next step
If you need a pragmatic start, <a href="/how-it-works" class="text-blue-700 underline">see how our process works</a> or <a href="/demo" class="text-blue-700 underline">book a consult</a> for a week‑one plan.
About the author
Team onvally
Technical Operations
We help founders adopt pragmatic IT practices that scale with the team.
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Take back control of your margins, customer data, and online reputation.
Discover how teams increase output with onvally. ~72‑hour matching, best practices, and a free replacement guarantee.