IT support for estate agents, Cheshire
IT Support for Estate Agents in Cheshire
For the Cheshire agency working the prime belt, where clients expect discretion as much as service and the data you hold on them is the reason why. That is what IT support for estate agents in Cheshire has to be built around. A person picks up when you ring, the email is protected, and the price is on the page: £55 a person a month.
IT support for estate and lettings agents from a Microsoft partner, independent. Reapit, Alto, Jupix, Dezrez and Street supported, with the Rightmove and Zoopla feeds. Twenty years securing systems in regulated sectors. Run to Cyber Essentials standards. Remote first, visits scheduled.
What makes IT support for a Cheshire estate agency different
The prime Cheshire market brings a client base that cares about privacy in a way the wider market does not. Names, addresses, what a house sold for and who is moving where are commercially sensitive and personally sensitive at once. An agency that leaks that, even by accident, loses something harder to replace than money.
In practice that means the unglamorous controls matter more here, not less: who in the office can see the whole client list, what happens to a departing negotiator's access, whether documents go out as email attachments or as proper links that expire. Most agencies have never been asked those questions and most would not like their own answers.
The geography adds a second thing. Cheshire agencies cover a lot of ground from a small number of offices, so people work remotely by necessity rather than by policy, and the IT has to assume that rather than resent it.
What IT support for estate agents covers
In the prime belt, who can see what comes first, because discretion is the thing clients are actually buying. Sales, lettings, property management or all three.
Who can see the whole client list
Most agencies have never decided this and would not like their own answer. Access set so people see the records their job needs, and documents shared as links that expire rather than attachments that live in six inboxes forever.
Email that stops the deposit redirection
Filtering that catches emails impersonating your negotiators, the solicitor or the landlord, and sign-in security so a stolen password cannot send one. The single most valuable control an agency can buy.
Laptops that can be lost safely
Encryption on every machine that leaves the office, sign-in tied to the person, and files kept in Microsoft 365 rather than only on the laptop. A laptop gone from a boot becomes an insurance claim rather than a reportable data breach.
Records that come back
Applicant data, tenancy files, AML records and the mailboxes backed up daily and tested by restoring something. A dead PC in the branch is an afternoon, not lost due diligence.
Somebody who knows agency software
Reapit, Alto, Jupix, Dezrez, Street. When the CRM will not push to Rightmove or Zoopla, or the branch phone line drops, you ring and a person picks up. Most fixes happen on your screen in minutes, and if it is the vendor's problem we ring the vendor.
Evidence for the AML supervisor
A written record of the controls, run to Cyber Essentials standards, that answers HMRC's supervision visit and the insurer's questionnaire without a scramble.
The rules an agency is judged against
Estate and lettings agents are supervised for anti-money-laundering by HMRC, so client due diligence has to be kept and produced on request, and most of those records live in the CRM and the inbox. That makes the IT question and the compliance question the same question, with UK GDPR over the top of it.
It needs no compliance department: sign-in security on, backups tested, access that ends when people leave, and somebody able to write down what is in place when the supervisor asks. The longer version, including Propertymark and what insurers ask at renewal, is on the IT support for estate agents page.
Covering Cheshire
Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Knutsford, Macclesfield and Congleton, Northwich and Winsford, and the offices serving the villages between them.
Cheshire agencies cover the villages from a small number of offices, so remote working is a necessity rather than a policy anyone chose. The IT has to assume people are scattered on any given day, and be built that way rather than resent it.
Nearly every fix is faster from a desk than from a van. When a job genuinely needs a person in the room, the visit is scheduled and it is in the quote. Estate agents, lettings agents and property managers, from a single branch to a dozen, and co-managed alongside your existing provider if you have one you want to keep.
What IT support for estate agents costs
No onboarding fee. No surprise on the invoice.
IT support for estate agents in Cheshire: the questions people ask first
Can you stop the whole office seeing every client record?
Yes, and it is usually a morning's work. Most CRMs and Microsoft 365 will do it properly; it just needs somebody to decide who should see what and then set it, which is the part that never happens on its own.
How do we send documents to clients without emailing attachments around?
A link from Microsoft 365 that expires and is tied to the person you sent it to. It looks the same to the client, it stops the document living in six inboxes forever, and it is included in the licence you almost certainly already pay for.
Some clients do not want their sale visible to the whole office. Possible?
Yes, and most CRMs will do it properly once somebody decides the rules. The harder part is usually the Microsoft 365 behind it, where the shared drive has grown open over years. Setting it so a record is visible to the people working it and not to everyone is a morning's work, and it is the thing discretion actually rests on.
People work between viewings from home and the car. Is that a risk?
Only if it happens by accident. Done properly the laptop is encrypted, sign-in is tied to the person and the device, and the files are in Microsoft 365 rather than a folder on the desktop. Done by accident it is documents emailed to personal addresses because the proper route was too slow, which is the version that causes trouble.
A client has asked what data we hold on them. How do we answer?
That is a subject access request under UK GDPR and you have a month. The difficulty is never the law, it is finding everything: the CRM record, the email threads, the documents, the notes. Agencies that keep records in structured places answer it in an afternoon. Agencies that keep them in inboxes take a fortnight and still miss some.
How much does IT support for an estate agency in Cheshire cost?
£55 a person a month, covering every machine that person uses. A branch of six is £330. A phone system or network kit is priced per box on top, only if it needs looking after, and you would know the whole number before agreeing to anything.
Do you ever come out to us?
Nearly everything is fixed remotely, usually the same day, because that is faster for you than waiting for a van. When a job genuinely needs somebody in the room, the visit is scheduled in advance and it is in the quote. There is no on-site response clock, and we would rather say so than sell you one we cannot keep.
Have a chat with Eric
Fifteen minutes with Eric. Bring the thing that annoyed you most this month.
That didn’t send. Ring 0151 452 3060 and you’ll get me directly, or email [email protected].
IT support for estate agents across the North West
This is the page for Cheshire. For the service in general, see IT support for estate agents. Or pick the area closest to you:
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IT support for estate agents in Cheshire
Fixed price IT support for estate and lettings agents: a person who picks up, and the email controls that stop a deposit going to the wrong account. Ring and find out whether it is worth it; there is no obligation either way.