IT Services for Architects and Design Firms

Generic office IT tends to miss what design software demands, so a provider who knows your tools makes a real difference. Revit and AutoCAD lean hard on storage speed and RAM, and a provider who treats your studio like any other office will usually under-spec workstations and file storage. We support AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp and Blm, and we plan around how your projects actually move through the office.

Slow file opens usually point to storage that wasn’t built for several people working on the same large project at once. We look at your file server, NAS or cloud storage and your network before recommending anything. Often the fix is storage tuned for large file reads and writes, with redundancy built in, rather than a round of new laptops.

Your team can, as long as remote access is set up for CAD file sizes rather than email and spreadsheets. We use VPN or cloud desktop setups that handle large design files without the lag that makes remote work painful.

Cloud software takes some infrastructure off your plate, but it doesn’t remove the need for IT oversight. Someone still has to manage licences, user access, security, backups and the workstations your designers use every day. Backups are a good example. We set up automated daily backups with versioning, stored offsite or in the cloud, so a corrupted model or an accidental overwrite doesn’t cost you days of work. The work shifts rather than disappears.

Full-service Managed IT typically runs $80 to $150 CAD per user per month, or $75 to $120 for remote-only support. Microsoft licensing is billed separately. Where your firm lands in that range depends on how many people, workstations and offices we’re supporting. Every Managed IT agreement also includes a 90-day exit clause, so you’re not locked in while you decide if we’re the right fit.

Expect 60 to 90 days for a typical Managed IT onboarding, done in phases. That phased approach means your designers keep working while we document your setup and bring it up to standard.

The simplest first step is our free IT Readiness Assessment. It takes 30 minutes, carries no obligation, and shows you where your file storage, security and support stand today. From there, Adam or Jeffrey can walk you through what we’d change first and why.