Virdual IT provides the financial IT services Chicago accounting firms, tax preparers, bookkeepers, and other small financial services firms rely on, across the city and the west suburbs. A dedicated team of Chicago-based engineers who live and work in the area runs your computer support and services, protects client tax and financial data, and bills one flat monthly rate. Virdual IT works only with small businesses, so you are never an afterthought behind a big enterprise account. No call centers, no outsourcing, no rotating strangers.
2019
150+
99.9%
<1hr
WHAT WE OFFER
From the front desk scanner to the server holding years of client returns, one Virdual IT team covers your computers, security, cloud, network, and cameras for one flat monthly cost.
Virdual IT runs managed IT for Chicago CPA firms and tax practices under one flat monthly cost: round-the-clock RMM monitoring, patch management, device management, remote support, and a roadmap that gets upgrades done before busy season, not during it.
Explore Managed ITLocked accounts, a scanner that stops sending to the right folder, a second monitor that goes dark in March: Virdual IT's Chicago-based IT technicians fix most of it remotely and come on-site when the hardware needs hands.
Explore Tech SupportClient returns, Social Security numbers, and bank details make a tax office a target. Virdual IT puts multi-factor authentication, encryption, managed EDR, email filtering, and login monitoring in place, the technical safeguards the Safeguards Rule calls for.
Explore CybersecurityVirdual IT sets up secure file sharing and encrypted email, so client documents stop traveling as plain attachments, and runs tested backups so a ransomware attack in April does not wipe out a season of work.
Explore Cloud ServicesVirdual IT builds documented office networks with firewalls, separate guest Wi-Fi for clients in the waiting room, Cat6 copper cabling, and secure VPN access for staff who prepare returns from home.
Explore NetworkingVirdual IT installs cameras and fob access for file rooms, server closets, and after-hours entry, so only the right people reach paper records and the equipment that stores client data.
Explore Camera SystemsClient Data
IT services for financial services firms matter because few small offices hold more sensitive data per client than a tax or accounting practice. Every return carries names, Social Security numbers, income, and bank account details, which is exactly what identity thieves and fraudsters want. The pressure also lands at the worst time: when a server, a login, or the tax software stops working between January and April, deadlines do not move, and every hour of downtime turns into overtime or an extension.
The rules and the threats have both tightened. This is what accounting and financial offices across Chicagoland are dealing with now:
Virdual IT is not your attorney, your compliance officer, or your insurance broker, and it does not promise compliance. The job is the technical side: multi-factor authentication, encryption, monitoring, tested backups, and written documentation of your network, devices, and accounts that your firm's WISP can point to.
ACCOUNTING IT
Every Virdual IT plan for a Chicago tax or accounting practice comes with these protections.
MFA, encryption, and login monitoring on every account.
Your network, devices, and accounts written down for your security plan.
Encrypted laptops, secure file sharing, and encrypted email when a client needs it.
Local and offsite copies, with restores tested on a schedule.
Saturday hours, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, plus after-hours help when critical systems go down.
A local team that knows your office, with no call centers.
Managed IT
Virdual IT provides managed IT services for Chicago accounting firms, tax practices, bookkeepers, and financial services firms that want one IT team and one flat monthly cost. In most small practices, a partner or the office manager ends up as the IT person, troubleshooting printers and password resets in between client meetings. During busy season, that time comes straight out of billable work.
Managed services from Virdual IT cover round-the-clock RMM monitoring, automated patch management, management of every computer, remote support, and a technology roadmap. Hardware lifecycle planning means servers and workstations get replaced on a schedule, and Virdual IT handles procurement from manufacturers like Dell EMC and Lenovo, workstation setup, server deployment, and software licensing. The same Virdual IT engineers learn your office, your staff, and the software your practice depends on. More on managed IT services.
Proactive monitoring is how Virdual IT helps reduce downtime when it hurts most. A failing drive in the file server or a firewall that drops overnight gets flagged right away, so the fix often starts before the first client walks in, and big changes get scheduled for the slower months after the filing deadlines.
Tech Support
Virdual IT technical support gives accounting and financial offices across Chicagoland a support team of Chicago-based IT technicians who already know your setup. When a preparer gets locked out of email or a scanner stops filing documents to the right folder the week before a deadline, nobody waits in a queue behind strangers. Virdual IT sets up and manages your computers, dual monitors, scanners, printers, and the logins your tax, accounting, and document software depend on. Whatever tax prep, accounting, or client portal software your practice runs, Virdual IT's IT experts work to that software's requirements, from installs and updates to user access and backups.
Most issues get fixed remotely, with an average response time under one hour. When hardware needs hands, a Virdual IT technician comes to your office across Chicago and the west suburbs, and on-site visits for managed clients are billed at a discounted hourly rate. Support runs Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and Virdual IT is reachable after hours when critical systems go down.
Many practices add seasonal preparers every winter. Virdual IT sets up their computers, email, and access before their first day, limits them to the client files their job needs, and shuts off access the day the season ends, so a former employee cannot reach client data from home. More on technical support.
Security
Virdual IT is the computer security service Chicago accounting firms use to protect client data from phishing, ransomware, and stolen passwords. Criminals go after tax and financial offices because one compromised mailbox can expose hundreds of returns or redirect a client's payment. Many attacks start the same way: a convincing email, a reused password, and no second check at login.
Every Virdual IT managed plan includes the safeguards a financial office needs:
Software alone will not stop a payment fraud. The offices that avoid it also have a rule: any change to bank details or a request to move money gets confirmed by phone, at a number already on file, never at a number in the email. Virdual IT also documents your network, devices, accounts, and licenses during the first month, which gives your WISP and your cyber insurance application real answers instead of guesses. When an incident happens, Virdual IT carries out the technical steps in your incident response plan: isolate the affected computers, shut off compromised accounts, and restore clean data. Regular account and security reviews feed your firm's risk management, so weak spots get fixed before they turn into a breach. More on cybersecurity services.
Cloud and Backup
Virdual IT plans, migrates, and manages cloud email and file storage for Chicago accounting and financial services firms, on cloud infrastructure that keeps email, Teams, and client files in one organized, secured place. Many small practices still email returns and statements as plain attachments or keep client folders on one person's desktop. Virdual IT replaces that with secure sharing in SharePoint and OneDrive, permissions by role, and encrypted email when a client needs it. For most small firms, cloud computing makes sense for email, files, and backups, while some tax and accounting software still runs on an office server.
Backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity. Virdual IT builds backup and disaster recovery so a cyberattack, a dead server, or a power outage does not shut the practice down in the middle of busy season. Local backup gives fast restores, and offsite and cloud copies mean your data survives even if the office does not. Virdual IT tests restores on a schedule, and when an incident happens, isolates the problem first and then restores clean data. More on cloud services.
Networking
Virdual IT is the computer networking service Chicago accounting offices call when the network everything runs on needs to be secure and dependable. Many small offices share one Wi-Fi network between staff computers, the copier, and clients waiting in the lobby, which puts client data one step away from a stranger's phone.
Virdual IT builds clean, documented networks with a managed firewall, Cat6 and Cat6A copper cabling, business Wi-Fi, and separate network segments for staff, printers, and guest Wi-Fi. Secure VPN access lets preparers work from home during busy season without leaving client data exposed, and site-to-site VPNs connect a second office to the main one. When you move or expand, Virdual IT can work with the contractor while the ceilings are open, so the network is ready on day one. More on network infrastructure.
Cameras and Access
Virdual IT designs security cameras and door access for Chicago accounting and financial offices around where client information actually sits. That usually means the file room, the server closet, the front entrance, and after-hours access during long busy-season nights.
Staff badge in with fobs on schedules you set, and a manager can turn off a fob in seconds when a seasonal employee leaves. Cameras feed one system you can check from your phone, with footage kept for as long as you need it.
If a door reader or time clock uses fingerprints or face scans, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) requires written consent and a retention policy, so that question belongs on the table before anything is installed. More on surveillance and access control.
Pricing
In the Chicago market, managed IT support for a small business usually runs $100 to $250 per user per month. That is a market range, not a Virdual IT rate. The real number depends on users, offices, devices, the software your practice runs, and its security needs. Virdual IT bills one flat, predictable monthly rate with no per-ticket charges, and the free IT assessment turns your actual setup into a real number.
Why Virdual IT
Virdual IT has provided computer support and services to businesses in Chicago and the west suburbs since October 2019. Virdual IT works only with small businesses and has no large enterprise contracts, so your practice never ends up at the back of the line behind a bigger client, the way small businesses often do at a large MSP.
Virdual IT is a BBB Accredited Business and a member of the Westmont Chamber of Commerce. Clients say it in their Google reviews: the Virdual IT team is knowledgeable, explains things clearly, and is easy to work with.
Onboarding
Switching to Virdual IT follows four steps, and most of the work happens in the background, so your staff keeps working while it is done.
Big changes get scheduled outside the January to April crunch whenever possible, and anything that has to happen during busy season is done after hours. If your old provider is slow to hand over passwords and admin access, Virdual IT handles that conversation for you. More on how onboarding works.
TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
We partner with the best technology vendors so the hardware, security, and cloud platforms behind your business are enterprise-grade and fully supported.
Trusted By
From surrounding suburb contractors to Chicago professional services firms, local businesses trust Virdual IT to keep their operations running.
SERVICE COVERAGE
On-site technicians dispatched across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. No storefront we come directly to your business or home.
SERVICE AREAS
Virdual IT supports accounting practices and Chicago financial firms across the city and the west and southwest suburbs, from offices in the Loop to the office parks along the I-88 corridor in Oak Brook, Downers Grove, and Westmont. Plenty of practices run a main office plus a second location or staff who work from home in tax season, and every one of those connections has to be secure. Virdual IT ties them together with one network, one security setup, and one support team.
A five-person tax practice holds the same kind of data as a large firm, without a large firm's IT department behind it.
Chicago Brookfield Burr Ridge Countryside Darien Downers Grove Hinsdale Indian Head Park Justice La Grange La Grange Park Lyons McCook Oak Brook Stickney Westchester Western Springs Westmont Willow Springs Willowbrook + All of Chicagoland
In most cases, yes, because the rule treats tax preparers, CPAs, and bookkeepers as financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It calls for a written information security program, multi-factor authentication, and encryption of customer information. Your attorney makes the legal call, and Virdual IT puts the technical safeguards in place at your Chicago office.
Virdual IT handles the technical side your WISP describes, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, backups, and access controls. During onboarding, the team documents your network, devices, accounts, and licenses, which gives the plan accurate answers. The IRS template in Publication 5708 is a good starting point for the written plan itself.
Start with a rule that any change to bank details or a request to move money gets confirmed by phone, at a number already on file. Then lock down the mailboxes criminals try to break into with multi-factor authentication, email filtering, and login monitoring. Virdual IT sets up those protections for Chicago accounting firms and watches for the suspicious sign-ins that usually come before a fraud attempt.
Plain email attachments are one of the easiest ways for client data to end up in the wrong hands. Virdual IT sets up secure file sharing in SharePoint and OneDrive and encrypted email for messages that carry sensitive details. Your staff gets a simple routine to follow, so nobody has to guess which method to use.
Virdual IT isolates the infected computers, shuts off compromised accounts, and restores clean data from tested backups. Getting returns and client files back comes first, then finding out how the attacker got in. Your team gets plain-English updates the whole way, so you can make decisions about clients and any notification duties with your advisors.
Yes, Virdual IT sets up computers, email, and access for seasonal preparers before their first day. Each person only reaches the client files their job needs. When the season ends, Virdual IT shuts off their access the same day, so no former staff can reach client data from home.
Virdual IT support runs Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Saturday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Round-the-clock monitoring flags a failed server or firewall as it happens, so many problems get caught before your staff notices. Virdual IT is also reachable after hours when critical systems at your Chicago office go down.
In the Chicago market, managed IT support usually runs $100 to $250 per user per month, and that is a market range, not a Virdual IT rate. The real price depends on users, offices, devices, software, and security needs. Virdual IT bills one flat monthly rate with no per-ticket fees.
Yes, Virdual IT sets up secure VPN access with multi-factor authentication, so remote staff reach client files without exposing them. Company laptops get encryption, monitoring, and the same protections as the office computers. Many Chicagoland practices work this way during busy season.
Yes, every Virdual IT engineer lives and works in Chicagoland and is part of the Virdual IT team, with no overseas call centers. Most issues are fixed remotely, which is faster when a deadline is close. When hardware needs hands, a Virdual IT technician comes on-site across Chicago and the west suburbs.
FREE IT ASSESSMENT
Virdual IT gives Chicago accounting firms and financial offices a dedicated computer support and services team of Chicago-based IT experts, for a fraction of the cost of an in-house hire. Multi-factor authentication, encryption, tested backups, on-site help when the job needs it, and flat billing come standard. Request a free IT assessment, and Virdual IT will show you where your practice's IT stands, with no obligation and no sales pressure.
