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Professional services

IT health check

A clear, independent picture of your IT, what works, what is at risk and what to do first, from a team that looks after IT every day, written in plain language and explained to you in person.

Ask about a health check

Who it is for

Businesses in Teesside and the North East whose IT has grown piece by piece and has never been looked at whole: a board that asks about technology at every meeting and gets a list of tickets, a new finance director who inherited the supplier, a business that has been asked a security questionnaire it cannot answer, or one that suspects its IT provider is not telling it everything.

What you get

A written report in plain language covering hardware, software, networks and applications, the security risks and weak points, how well servers, storage and bandwidth are used, and how ready your backup and disaster recovery are, with recommendations ranked by risk and aligned to your goals, walked through with you in person. The plan is yours to act on however you choose, with us or with your own team.

The problem

Most businesses know their IT has problems but not where the real risks are or what to fix first, and nobody has looked at the whole estate in one go.

The symptoms arrive one at a time: a server that will not start, a laptop still on Windows 10 after support ended in October 2025, a firewall nobody has touched since it was fitted, a backup that has never been restored from, a Microsoft 365 tenant still on its defaults. Each is dealt with as a ticket. What the board wants to know is different: where are the real risks, what should we fix first, and what is coming, so we can plan for it rather than react to it.

A health check answers that in one piece of work. It reviews the whole estate, ranks what it finds by risk, and says what to do first, in plain language, with the reasoning explained in person rather than left in a PDF. It is the right first step when a customer or insurer sends a security questionnaire, when end-of-life equipment needs a replacement plan, when the board wants a technology plan, or when you are choosing a new IT provider and want to know what you are handing over.

The plan is yours. Many businesses act on it with their own team or their existing supplier. Some ask us to deliver it, and the other professional services on this site are the services that do.

A health check finds the gaps across the whole estate. If the question is only Cyber Essentials, you can find most of those gaps yourself first. The Cyber Essentials check shows where you stand on all five controls, with no name or email needed.

What Odyssey provides

  • A review of hardware, software, networks and applications, on site and remotely
  • Security risks and weak points identified, from sign-in and access to patching, firewalls and devices
  • A check of how well servers, storage and bandwidth are used, and what is over- or under-provisioned
  • Disaster recovery and backup readiness assessed, including whether a restore has ever been tested
  • A written report in plain language with recommendations ranked by risk and aligned to your goals
  • The results explained to you in person, with the plan yours to act on however you choose

What is included

IncludedDetail
DiscoveryAn on-site and remote review of your IT estate, including what is in the comms cupboard and what is on the laptops at home
InventoryHardware, software, licences, networks and applications listed, with support status and end-of-life dates
Security reviewVulnerabilities, access and identity (multi-factor authentication, leavers' accounts, admin rights), patching, firewalls and data handling checked
Resilience reviewBackup coverage, retention, whether restores have been tested, and what the business could lose and for how long
Performance reviewHow servers, storage, bandwidth and Microsoft 365 licences are used, and where money is wasted or capacity short
ReportFindings in plain language with a plan ranked by risk, cost and effort, aligned to the goals you tell us
Walk-throughThe results explained to you, or your board, in person, with questions answered

Not included, or sold separately

The fixes
The health check tells you what to do; the professional services, managed IT and security services deliver it if you want us to, each priced separately
Penetration testing
A hands-on attempt to break in is a different exercise; a health check is not a penetration test, and does not include one
Cyber Essentials assessment
The health check finds the gaps; the certification route is the Cyber Essentials consultancy
Application audits
We review how your line-of-business applications are hosted, supported and backed up, not their internal configuration, which is their vendor's
An ongoing service
The health check is a point-in-time review; an annual repeat is a sensible habit and is priced the same way

How it is delivered

  1. Agree the scope and the goals

    What the business is trying to do over the next year or two, what worries you, and what the review should cover: every site, every device, the cloud, the phones if you want them included.

  2. Discover

    Our engineers review the estate on site and remotely: the comms cupboard, the servers, the devices, the Microsoft 365 tenant, the firewall and the backups, and they talk to the people who use and run it.

  3. Analyse and rank

    Findings grouped and ranked by risk, cost and effort against your goals, so the first page says what to fix first and why, and the detail sits behind it.

  4. Walk through the results

    The report explained in person to you, and to your board if you want, with the reasoning and the trade-offs, so the decisions are made with understanding rather than from a PDF.

  5. Hand over the plan

    The report and the plan are yours. Act on it with your own team, your existing supplier or us; if you choose us, the plan becomes the scope for the work.

Why trust Odyssey with this

  • ISO

    ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified by NQA

  • 1987

    Supporting North East businesses since 1987

  • In-house

    All work completed by Odyssey employees, never subcontracted

  • Calls answered within three rings, and a director is always reachable

Questions people ask

What do we get at the end?

A written report in plain language, with the risks we found and a plan ranked by what matters most, explained to you in person. The plan is yours to keep and act on however you choose.

Do we have to use Odyssey to fix what you find?

No. The plan is yours to act on however you choose, with us or with your own team or supplier. The fee is fixed before we start, so the review has no reason to find work.

What does the health check look at?

Your hardware, software, networks and applications, the security risks and weak points, how well servers, storage, bandwidth and licences are used, and how ready your backup and disaster recovery are, including whether a restore has ever been tested.

We are not sure where to start with our IT. Is this the right first step?

Usually, yes. A health check gives you a clear picture of your systems and a plan, which our other professional services can then deliver if you want them to, or which your own team can work from.

Can it help us answer a security questionnaire?

Yes. The security review covers the questions insurers and larger customers ask (multi-factor authentication, endpoint detection, tested backups, patching), and the report says which you can answer yes to today and what it would take to answer the rest.

Will it tell us what to replace?

Yes. The inventory lists support status and end-of-life dates for hardware and software, and the plan ranks replacements so they are budgeted and scheduled rather than forced by a failure.

Who carries out the health check?

Odyssey's own team, the same people who look after IT for businesses every day. The work is never subcontracted, and we are certified to ISO 27001 and ISO 9001.

How long does it take?

It depends on the size of the estate and the number of sites, which also sets the fee. We agree the scope and the timetable before we start and the walk-through date is fixed at the outset.

Challenges this helps with

Ask about IT health check

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Rather talk? Call 01642 661888. Already a customer with a fault? Call the service desk on 01642 661800.

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01642 661888

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