Quick answer: Most tax and accounting firms run three to five separate IT vendors: a cloud host, an antivirus or security vendor, a local IT contractor, a backup service, and sometimes a compliance consultant. They can be replaced by one team doing three jobs: cloud hosting, cybersecurity, and IT. That is what VeritComplete is built to be: your hosting team and your IT team become the same team. It works best for firms in the 5 to 150 seat range that are tired of triaging issues between companies that do not talk to each other. The guide below shows what one team replaces, what it should cover, and which firms get the most from the move.
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Why do accounting firms end up with three to five separate IT vendors?
No firm sets out to build a tangled IT stack. It accumulates one decision at a time.
You sign up for cloud hosting so the team can reach the tax software from anywhere. Later, a cyber-insurance renewal asks about endpoint protection, so you add a security vendor. A local IT person already handles your laptops and printers, so they stay. A breach headline pushes you to bolt on a backup service. Then an IRS Publication 4557 question sends you to a compliance consultant for a Written Information Security Plan.
Five years in, you are the one person who can see the whole picture, and you are not in IT. When the server slows down during filing season, the hosting company says it is the security software, the security vendor says it is the network, and the local contractor cannot get into the cloud environment to check. You spend the weekend translating between people who will not call each other.
That pattern is the subject of a companion piece, how one firm dropped four IT vendors and got their nights back, which follows a single firm through the move. This guide is the buyer’s version: what one team actually replaces, what it should cover, what it costs, and which firms it fits best.
What does moving to one team actually replace?
The point is not fewer logins. The point is that hosting and IT are fixed by the same people, so there is no bouncing between vendors when something breaks, and no “that’s not us, that’s them.” When both live with VeritComplete, one team owns the whole picture.
Here is the before-and-after for a typical firm.
| Vendors a firm usually juggles | What VeritComplete covers with one team |
|---|---|
| Cloud hosting (often a shared environment) | Dedicated private server cloud hosting (VeritSpace), each firm on its own server |
| Antivirus / endpoint security vendor | Antivirus plus EDR, endpoint security (VeritGuard) |
| Local IT contractor or break-fix shop | 24/7 managed IT and help desk, sub-60-second response |
| Backup and disaster-recovery service | Nightly backups and disaster recovery, standard on every plan |
| Compliance consultant / WISP author | IRS Pub 4557 and FTC Safeguards alignment, plus VeritShield WISP |
| Tax-software support escalations | Engineers fluent in Drake, Lacerte, UltraTax, ProSeries, and CCH |
The firms that feel the change most are the ones that were quietly paying for the same thing twice, antivirus through the host and again through a security vendor, or backups they had never once tested a restore from.
Chad H., owner of Modern CPAs, Inc., put the software-fluency piece this way on G2:
“I appreciate Verito for the prompt and knowledgeable customer support, which has been instrumental in efficiently hosting all our Thomson Reuters programs. Their knowledge of the software saves us money on support, eliminating the need to contact Thomson Reuters directly.”
— Chad H., Modern CPAs, Inc. (G2)
That is the part a generalist MSP rarely covers. Verito is built for tax and accounting, not generic IT, so the same team that keeps the server up also knows what your tax application is doing when it stalls.
What should one team cover for a tax or accounting firm?
If you are evaluating any provider to run all of it, hold it to all six of these. A real IT department covers every one.
- Hosting on a dedicated private server, not a shared box. The dedicated private server standard means every firm runs on its own server, with no noisy neighbors competing for the same memory when everyone logs in at 9 a.m. on April 14. VeritSpace starts at $69 per user per month.
- Reliability you can plan a tax season around. Look for a real track record, not a marketing number. Verito has held 100% uptime since 2016 and zero ransomware since 2016. That is a zero-downtime tax season, and it is the number that matters when a Friday outage can cost you a weekend.
- Security and compliance on by default. IRS Publication 4557, the FTC Safeguards Rule, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 256-bit encryption, and MFA should be standard on every tier, not an upsell. For the plan document itself, VeritShield WISP delivers a custom Written Information Security Plan in five business days for $999, with an annual review included.
- Support that picks up fast and fixes it the first time. A real person should answer in under 60 seconds, with no phone tree and no triage queue. Verito resolves 92% of tickets on the first touch, and the engineers are fluent in tax software rather than reading from a generic script.
- Backups and recovery that are actually tested. Nightly backups and disaster recovery should be part of the price, not a separate service you forget to verify. The freezing-app problem has a named fix too: Verito AppManager is a desktop icon that closes a frozen application session in seconds, no ticket required.
- The right size for your firm. Verito is built for the 5 to 150 seat range: the multi-app tax and accounting firm running several preparers and concurrent filing seasons. That is the firm that gets the most from a dedicated private server, full managed IT, and accounting-trained support.
Mike W., a firm owner, summed up the day-to-day experience on G2:
“We’ve had nothing but great experiences with Verito. Their customer service is friendly, quick to respond, and easy to reach whenever we need support. Verito makes it easy for our team to work remotely, with reliable access to all the tools and files we depend on.”
— Mike W., firm owner (G2)
How much does it cost, and does it actually save money?
VeritComplete pairs hosting (VeritSpace) and managed IT (VeritGuard) under one agreement, priced per user per month with devices included. You can see the full breakdown on the hosting pricing page.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $129/user/mo | Firms moving to the cloud that want security from day one |
| Pro (most popular) | $199/user/mo | Growing firms whose compliance needs an annual audit |
| Elite | $249/user/mo | Multi-office firms needing the most hosting headroom and 24/7 security coverage |
The bundle is priced below the parts. Buying the Pro tiers separately runs $99 for hosting plus $149 for IT, which is $248 per user per month. The Pro bundle is $199, so you save roughly $49 per user per month for the same coverage. The Elite bundle includes two devices per user and saves about $99 per user per month against standalone.
It is worth being direct about value. Verito is rationally premium: priced all-in, so the cheaper quote is the one that hides the cost of downtime, a breach, or the hours you spend being your own IT manager. The real comparison is not Verito against one line item. It is Verito against the sum of the vendors you already pay, plus the overlap you are paying twice for, plus your own time.
How does Verito keep your data and apps yours?
The answer is about ownership, not contract length. With VeritComplete, your data and your applications stay yours: written export rights, fair exit terms, and the tools you already use. That is the standard to hold any provider to. You are managed, not trapped: a firm that owns its data and can leave cleanly stays because the service is good.
Which firms get the most from bringing hosting and IT together?
Bringing hosting and IT under the same team pays off most for a specific kind of firm. You are squarely in the sweet spot if:
- You run between 5 and 150 seats, with staff who all need the same tax and accounting software from anywhere.
- You run more than one application (a tax package, QuickBooks, a document manager) and want one team that knows all of them.
- You are the person currently triaging between a host, a security vendor, and a local IT contractor, and you want that off your plate.
- Compliance is on your mind, and you want IRS Pub 4557 coverage and a WISP handled as part of the service.
That is the multi-app tax and accounting firm Verito is built for: the 5 to 150 seat practice that wants hosting, security, and IT handled by the same people. A free security assessment is a low-commitment way to see where your current setup stands.
FAQ
Can one team really replace my cloud host, my antivirus, and my IT guy?
Yes, for most firms in the 5 to 150 seat range. VeritComplete covers dedicated private server hosting, endpoint security, 24/7 managed IT and help desk, nightly backups and disaster recovery, and IRS and FTC compliance alignment, all handled by the same team.
How many IT vendors does the average firm replace?
Most firms we move come from three to five: a host, a security vendor, a local IT contractor, a backup service, and often a separate compliance consultant for their WISP.
Will I lose access to my tax software’s quirks if a generalist takes over?
That is the risk with a generalist MSP, which is why Verito is built for tax and accounting rather than generic IT. The engineers are fluent in Drake, Lacerte, UltraTax, ProSeries, and CCH, and host effectively every Windows tax and accounting application except ATX.
Is the support team going to be slow or hard to reach?
A real person answers in under 60 seconds, with no phone tree, and 92% of tickets are resolved on the first touch. Support is staffed 24/7, including through filing season.
What does it cost to move?
VeritComplete starts at $129 per user per month and includes devices. The Pro bundle at $199 saves about $49 per user per month versus buying hosting and IT separately. There is a 15-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
What if I want to leave later?
Your data and applications stay yours, with written export rights and fair exit terms. You are managed, not trapped.
The verdict
If you are running two or more IT vendors right now, the test is simple: the next time something breaks, time how long it takes to get a real answer, not an acknowledgment, and ask who owns your compliance. If the answer is “nobody” or “kind of all of them,” that is the gap. For firms in the 5 to 150 seat range that are tired of being the project manager for their own IT, having the same team handle hosting, cybersecurity, and IT is the move. VeritComplete is built to be exactly that: your hosting team and your IT team, working as one.
