IT support & consultancy Chorley, Lancashire
IT support where you know exactly who's picking up.
Most growing firms get IT support that treats them like a ticket number, and nobody who owns the plan. With Initiate IT you deal with the same senior engineer every time: someone who knows your setup, picks up the phone, and can be your Head of IT for the days a month it needs.
Something broken right now, or just want to talk it through? Call 0333 358 0114. Or see how engagements and pricing work.
Ryan Melling
Your direct line
When we faced a cyber attack, Initiate provided swift and expert support, helping us secure our systems and restore operations with minimal disruption.
Alan, Auxilium Recruitment
Recruitment · cyber attack recovery
Microsoft Partner Companies House 14330082 Chorley, Lancashire
- Avg first response
- <1 hr
- Avg client tenure
- 7+ yrs
- Founded
- 2018
Fractional Head of IT
The Head of IT your firm doesn't need full-time. Roadmap, budget, security and suppliers, owned by one senior person.
For firms of 10 to 150 people with no IT lead. From £650 a month, published. Start with a free IT review.
Trusted by businesses across the UK
- Salzgitter Mannesmann UK
- EMC
- RMG
- Raistricks
- AI Law
- Auxilium
- Gosling Consulting
- ICS, UK Industrial Control Systems
- FairVend
- HH
- Thirstlink
- 2020 Projects
The shape of the problem
Most growing firms have an IT supplier, but nobody who owns IT.
The supplier fixes what breaks. Nobody plans what comes next, owns the budget, answers the cyber insurance questionnaire with confidence, or notices the licences drifting. Ticket queues, a different person every call, and a roadmap that lives in someone's head.
The fix isn't a bigger supplier, it's someone senior who knows your business, picks up the phone, and takes ownership of where the IT is going as well as whether it works today. That's where IT stops being a recurring headache and starts being something the business leans on.
Why this shape works for you
Three things you get from Initiate IT that a typical MSP won't give you.
- 01
You call the same person every time.
No queues. No 'let me find someone who can help'. No re-explaining your setup on every call. Whoever picks up already knows your tenant, your network, the printer that always misbehaves on Tuesdays, and what you were working on last month.
- 02
You get IT that moves with the business.
Quarterly strategic reviews, a 12-month roadmap, and an honest read on what you actually need next. Technology that gets ahead of growth instead of catching up to it, because the person planning it has been in your business long enough to see where it is heading.
- 03
You get an honest scope, not a sales pitch.
No upsells, no padded retainers. The recommendation is what your business actually needs, sized to it. If you need a full IT department, I'll say so on the first call and help you plan for it.
Continuity, documented
Your IT is documented and owned by you, so it never depends on one memory.
Working with the same engineer every time only works if nothing important lives solely in that engineer's head. So it doesn't. Every client's setup, vendors, credentials and the reasoning behind each decision are written down on a portal you can open whenever you like.
Holiday cover, a specialist brought in for a project, or a successor years from now: whoever picks up next starts from the record, not from scratch.
-
A documentation portal, per client
Every client has a written record of their setup, vendors, credentials (vaulted), recovery plans, and the decisions behind them. Not in anyone's head. On a system you can log into.
-
Meeting notes, accessible to you
Every strategy review and significant change is written down, dated, and shared. The relationship has a paper trail, not a personality.
-
Your tools stay in your name
Microsoft 365 admin, remote monitoring, backups and vendor portals live in your tenants and your accounts. Whoever supports you next inherits access, not a permission request.
With a bigger MSP you depend on a team. With Initiate IT you depend on a system.
Your client portal
See everything I do for you.
Most IT support runs on email and a spreadsheet you never get to see. Every Initiate client gets a live portal instead, complete visibility of what's happening, and your data stays yours.
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Your IT in one place
Devices, patch status, tickets, invoices and documentation, live, in one dashboard.
-
Know what you're paying for
Hours used against your retainer and the work logged, every month. No black box.
-
Never locked in
Your documentation and credentials are yours. Export everything and leave whenever you like.
Three ways in
One senior person. Three ways to work with me.
Start with a free IT review, a 30-minute call. Most firms then take the fixed-fee audit and choose the Head of IT retainer, day-to-day managed IT, or both. Every price is published, and both retainers run 90 days then monthly.
Both together
Most firms of 30 to 50 people end up with both: one day a month of Head of IT plus managed IT for the whole team.
Typically around £3,000 a month from one person, the whole IT function, for a fraction of an £85,000 hire.
Specialist services
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Microsoft 365 & SharePoint
Find the right document in three clicks. Even the legacy ones.
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IT Security
Sleep easier knowing the wire-transfer scam can't get through.
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Hosted Desktop & Cloud
Work the same way from any laptop, anywhere. No slow VPN.
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Hosted Telephony
Phones that work the same on your desk, on a train, or in Teams.
-
Apple & Mac Support
Macs, iPhones and iPads set up, secured and managed properly for business.
-
IT Consultancy & Projects
Independent advice and fixed-fee projects from someone who doesn't sell the kit.
Also: Web Design & Build and App Development.
Web design & app development
Oh, and I build the websites and apps, too.
Bespoke websites, web apps and iOS apps for businesses like yours, designed, built and, if you want, hosted by the same person who looks after your IT.
From local businesses to SaaS products and an iOS news app on the App Store. This site included.
Industries
Sectors with a track record.
Eight industries where Initiate IT has done enough work to understand what matters: the software, the workflows, and the bits that break.
Other sectors welcome too. These are simply the industries where the work is useful from day one.
In their words
Reliable communication is essential for our business, and Initiate delivered exactly what we needed. They set up a fast, stable broadband connection and a cloud-hosted VoIP system that allows our team to stay connected, whether in the office or on the road. Call quality is crystal clear, and the system is incredibly easy to use. Their expertise and ongoing support have made a real difference—highly recommended!
Pete, CMNW
// telephony and broadband
Migrating our legacy Shared Drive to SharePoint seemed like an impossible task. Initiate broke down every step of the way and ensured minimal downtime for the business.
Sam, NTGS
// sharepoint migration
Initiate are outstanding at what they do. I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes to have someone remotely connect to one of our machines to resolve an issue.
Initiate IT client
// critical infrastructure recovery
Being a consultancy in the middle of a pandemic it was key that we moved swiftly to adopt remote working practices and systems. Initiate initiated (ha!) the transition quickly and professionally.
Initiate IT client
// consultancy, pandemic remote working and acquisition integration
Ryan Melling // founder, est. 2018
About
The person who knows your IT today
is the person who knows it next year.
You won't be passed between technicians. You won't repeat your setup every time you ring. Even when a project pulls in specialist help, the relationship stays with me, so the context, the history, and the quiet decisions that shape your IT don't reset every six months. That's the shape of Initiate IT, and it's why I founded the firm in 2018.
Read more about how I workHow it starts
Switching is smaller than it feels.
Three steps from first call to fully supported. Most businesses are onboarded inside a fortnight, without their team noticing much beyond the phone being answered.
Or skip the form: 0333 358 0114
- 01
A free IT review: a 30-minute call
About the business, your current IT, what works and what doesn't. No prep, no slides, no pressure to decide on the call.
- 02
A written proposal, usually within two business days
A clear scope, terms, and a straight price for your business. For Head of IT enquiries the proposal is usually the two-week IT & Security Audit, credited against your first month. If Initiate IT isn't the right fit, the summary says so and points you somewhere better.
- 03
Onboarding in one to two weeks
Admin access, documentation, a written security baseline. If you're leaving another provider, the handover is managed for you and done carefully, even if that takes a little longer.
90-day minimum, 30 days' notice after that. No multi-year tie-ins, no renewal traps.
Start a conversation
Tired of IT that treats you like a ticket number?
Two ways to start. Book a free IT review, a 30-minute call with no prep and no sales pitch, or send a quick description of where your IT is at, and I'll reply within a day with a written take on whether it's something I can help with.
// or talk to me directly
0333 358 0114
hello@initiateit.co.uk