Managed IT Services in Traverse City & Northern Michigan
Advanced Computer Solutions is headquartered on Union Street in downtown Traverse City. I was born here, raised my kids here, and I know what it takes to keep a business running in the North. When you hire an out-of-state or downstate IT company, the first thing that breaks is the help desk: they don’t know the area, they don’t know the weather, and they can’t tell you how long an on-site visit really takes with six inches of snow on the ground. Our engineers live here. We don’t build our day around the weather, because if you did that in Traverse City you’d never get anything done.
One flat-rate agreement covers monitoring, security, help desk, cloud and strategy for businesses from downtown Traverse City to Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and across Northern Michigan, with a 15-minute response guarantee.
Watch this video on its own page, with chapters and a transcript: Managed IT Services in Traverse City: What It Costs, How Fast We Respond, and Why Local Matters
Traverse City businesses that trust ACS
We’re the IT team behind organizations across the Grand Traverse region, including:
- Traverse City Products — custom roll-formed and stamped metal manufacturer, Traverse City
- Northern Title Agency — title and escrow services, downtown Traverse City
- The Counting House — accounting and bookkeeping firm
- Single MOMM — Traverse City nonprofit
Google rates ACS 4.8 out of 5 across 49 reviews. Read our case studies.
Why Traverse City businesses choose ACS
We know before you call
Nobody calls us at 9 a.m. with a down server, because by 9:02 we already know. Our monitoring sees it, our automation works out whether it’s the server, the internet, or a reporting glitch, and that detail is in the ticket before an engineer opens it. For anything that affects the whole business you’re talking to the right engineer within 15 minutes, not a level-one who hands you to a level-two. Our average on a critical failure is under five minutes to the first set of eyes.
We show up
Most problems are fixed remotely. When one isn’t, two of us are on-site technicians based in Traverse City. Downtown, we can be there in minutes. Across the Grand Traverse region, under an hour. Frankfort or Petoskey, within two hours, snow or not. We keep spare servers for the day one dies.
Twenty-five years in the Grand Traverse community
We started here in 2001 and still support clients from that era. Today roughly sixty Northern Michigan businesses are under contract with us, from one-person shops to firms with sixty devices: manufacturers, retailers, law firms, healthcare, nonprofits and title companies, each with different security needs and the same expectation that things just work.
Not seasonal, but we understand seasonal
Our own workload is the same all year, because our client base is as diverse as the region demands. Yours may not be. Summer staff who leave in September, a second site in Petoskey or Frankfort, people working remotely from downstate or out of state: we support all of it, and we’ve been doing it for businesses with locations from here to Chicago and Florida.
What our managed IT services in Traverse City include
One local partner, one agreement, every layer of your technology covered.
Managed IT
Complete, flat-rate management of your technology — monitoring, maintenance, and support.
Managed Security
EDR, monitoring, and security management that keeps threats out of your business.
Co-Managed IT
Senior engineers and enterprise tooling that extend your internal IT team.
Help Desk & Support
Real engineers answering fast — with a 15-minute response guarantee.
Network & Infrastructure
Firewalls, Wi-Fi, switching, and VPN designed and managed end to end.
Cloud & Microsoft 365
Migrations, hardening, licensing, and day-to-day Microsoft 365 administration.
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Tested restores and ransomware-resilient copies of everything that matters.
vCIO & IT Strategy
Executive-level technology planning, budgeting, and roadmaps.
Our Traverse City office
Our Traverse City headquarters serves businesses throughout the region, including Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska, and Antrim counties. Remote issues are resolved in minutes; when a project or problem needs hands on hardware, we’re up the road — not on a plane.
We support the industries that drive Northern Michigan: manufacturing, construction, healthcare, accounting, and professional services.
Traverse City office
402 S Union Street Suite B
Traverse City, MI 49684
Sales: 231-267-TECH (8324)
Support: 231-933-6333
Meet the Traverse City team
Albert Steed, President. Born and raised in Traverse City, fifty years here. For local clients I run the strategic meetings and technology business reviews, come on-site when equipment needs fixing or replacing, and check in to make sure the IT is doing what you expect it to.
Ian Bouschor, Technician. Born and raised in Traverse City, in the local area his whole life. Ian supports and maintains client IT systems, everything from desktops and laptops to networks, email, business software, servers and file shares, and he is on-site for network upgrades, new laptop and desktop setups, printers, scanners, firewall and security changes, and just about everything in between.
Serving Traverse City and Northern Michigan
From our office on Union Street in downtown Traverse City, we support businesses across the Grand Traverse region and the surrounding counties, with remote-first support and onsite visits when the situation calls for it. Communities we serve include:
Traverse City · Acme · Williamsburg · Elk Rapids · Kingsley · Interlochen · Suttons Bay · Leland · Northport · Frankfort · Kalkaska · Cadillac · Petoskey · Charlevoix · Gaylord · and businesses throughout Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and Antrim counties.
Not sure if you’re in our service area? Ask us. If you’re in Central Florida or Chicagoland, see our Central Florida and Chicagoland pages.
Frequently asked questions about IT support in Traverse City
Do you have a local office in Traverse City?
Yes. Our headquarters is at 402 S Union Street Suite B in downtown Traverse City, and our engineers and technicians live and work in the Grand Traverse region. Call (231) 933-6333.
How fast do you respond when a server goes down?
Usually before you call. Our monitoring flags it, our automation pre-diagnoses it into the ticket, and for anything that affects the whole business you’re talking to the right engineer within 15 minutes. If it needs hands on the hardware, we’re on-site within minutes downtown, under an hour across the region, and within about two hours for Frankfort or Petoskey.
How much does managed IT cost in Traverse City?
In Northern Michigan you’ll find anywhere from about $50 to $150 per device per month. At the low end you get support, basic monitoring and maintenance, antivirus and endpoint detection, and roughly a two-hour response, often alongside someone in-house who bridges the gaps. At the high end you add email security, user security training, impossible-login alerting, a 15-minute response, and a real account manager who helps you plan rather than just react. Projects are quoted separately on almost every agreement. For the full breakdown read our guide to what managed IT costs.
Is this cheaper than hiring one IT person in-house?
For most Traverse City businesses, yes, and you get more. One in-house person costs $60,000 to $150,000 a year, can’t cover security, maintenance and the help desk at once, and takes vacations. The same budget buys a whole team, all the security tooling, documentation you can see, and faster response. The math in detail is in managed IT vs. hiring in-house.
Can you take over from our current IT provider without downtime?
Yes. The first rule of every transition is no downtime. We collect what documentation the old provider will give, document the gaps ourselves on-site, then move the monitoring and security tools and rotate administrative passwords after hours so your team never notices. We’ve never failed to onboard a client into a better position than they started in.
Can you work alongside our in-house IT person?
Absolutely, and we enjoy it. Co-managed IT is for companies that already have a capable person or team and want to hand off the pieces they’d rather not own: help desk volume, security, or strategic planning. Your person knows your systems; we bring a team, a help desk, and visibility across hundreds of machines and dozens of sites. It makes their life easier and makes them look good.
What does the agreement look like, and is there an onboarding fee?
Agreements start at one year, and you can lock your rate for up to three. There is an onboarding fee, because onboarding is the biggest project we’ll ever do together and skipping it shows up later as poor documentation and an unstandardized network. Support cuts over to us within the first week or two; the full onboarding, including standardization and your first technology business review with a budget and roadmap, runs about 90 days.
Do you support seasonal staffing and multiple locations?
Yes. Summer swings, a second site in Petoskey, Frankfort or Alpena, remote staff downstate or out of state: we support all of it, and we already do for clients with locations from Northern Michigan to Chicago and Florida.
Talk to a Traverse City IT partner
Tell us what’s not working — we’ll show you what reliable IT looks like.
Want to know what managed IT should cost before you call? Read what managed IT costs for a small business and managed IT vs. hiring in-house.
Exploring AI? ACS also runs Managed Intelligence, a managed AI program for Northern Michigan businesses, from the same team.
ACS also serves: Central Florida · Chicagoland