DataRoad · IT Services and Consultancy
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We have brought together here the questions that managers of businesses, hotels, clinics and organisations most frequently ask us before starting a partnership with DataRoad.
If you cannot find the answer you are looking for, we are available to chat about it.
DataRoad is a MSP (Managed Service Provider) certified, headquartered in Lisbon, with a presence throughout Portugal. We provide services of’managed services, 24/7 technical support, cybersecurity, network management and cloud to hotels, clinics, embassies, universities and international companies. This page answers the most frequent questions we receive — honestly and without hollow marketing.
DataRoad is a Portuguese company of’IT Managed Services (MSP), headquartered in Alfragide, Lisbon. We specialise in the complete management of the technological infrastructure of companies and organisations that require reliable, secure and well-managed technology — without having to build an internal IT team.
Our service model is based on three pillars:
there proactive monitoring (we detect and resolve issues before they affect your business), the agile technical support (helpdesk and on-site intervention with guaranteed response times) and the strategic management (technology consulting, infrastructure planning and vendor management).
We are certified partners of Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet, Sophos, VMware, Dell and Ubiquiti — which guarantees us privileged access to manufacturer technical support, preferential commercial terms and continuous training on the platforms we manage.
1 – Who DataRoad is and what we do
DataRoad is a Portuguese company of’IT Managed Services (MSP), headquartered in Alfragide, Lisbon. We specialise in the complete management of the technological infrastructure of companies and organisations that require reliable, secure and well-managed technology — without having to build an internal IT team.
Our service model rests on three pillars: proactive monitoring (we detect and resolve issues before they affect your business), the agile technical support (helpdesk and on-site intervention with guaranteed response times) and the strategic management (technology consulting, infrastructure planning and vendor management).
We are certified partners of Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet, Sophos, VMware, Dell and Ubiquiti — which guarantees us privileged access to manufacturer technical support, preferential commercial terms and continuous training on the platforms we manage.
MSP stands for Managed Service Provider — meaning a provider that proactively manages your company's technology infrastructure under a service contract with a defined SLA.
Unlike the traditional reactive support model (calling when something breaks and paying by the hour), an MSP continuously supervises, maintains and optimises your infrastructure. The result: less downtime, better security and predictable costs.
Compared to in-house IT, DataRoad offers:
- Access to a multi-specialist team (networks, security, cloud, servers) for the cost of one or two internal technicians
- 24/7 coverage with no shift rotations, holidays, or sick leave
- Up-to-date knowledge and continuously renewed certifications
- Enterprise-grade management and monitoring tools that an SME could hardly justify purchasing on its own
- Instant scalability — our capacity grows with your business
Our clients are predominantly organisations with above-average availability and security requirements — businesses where technology is critical for daily operations and where an IT failure has immediate consequences for the business or its reputation.
We regularly serve:
- Hotel industry — boutique hotels, hotel groups and luxury tourism units
- Cheers — clinics, medical practices and diagnostic centres
- Education — universities, international schools and training centres
- Diplomacy - embassies, consulates and international organisations
- Corporate - offices of multinational companies and Portuguese corporate groups
The common denominator is high standards: our clients do not accept technology that breaks down, slow responses or improvised solutions.
DataRoad holds partner certifications from the following market-leading manufacturers:
- Microsoft — cloud, Microsoft 365, Azure and enterprise licences
- Cisco — enterprise networks, switching and collaboration
- Fortinet — cybersecurity, firewall and secure networks
- Sophos — endpoint protection and managed security
- VMware - server virtualisation and infrastructure
- Dell Technologies — servers, storage and enterprise hardware
- Ubiquiti — high-density wireless and LAN networks
These certifications translate into privileged access to tier 2 and tier 3 technical support from the manufacturers, which directly benefits our clients in critical incident situations.
2 – Services and Geographical Coverage
DataRoad's service portfolio covers all critical IT areas of a modern organisation:
- Helpdesk and user support - by telephone, email, remote access and on-site presence
- 24/7 infrastructure monitoring and management — servers, network, security and devices
- Network management and maintenance — LAN, Wi-Fi, VLAN, switching and routing
- Managed cybersecurity - firewall, endpoint, email, MFA and user training
- Cloud and Microsoft 365 management — licences, configuration, migration and support
- Server management and virtualisation — installation, maintenance and optimisation
- Backup and disaster recovery — solution, supervision and periodic testing
- Supplier and telecoms management - dialogue with ISPs and other service providers
- IT projects - infrastructure renewal, migrations, new installations
Yes. DataRoad has a physical presence and local teams in Lisbon (headquarters), Porto, Faro, Funchal and Évora, covering mainland Portugal and Madeira. The hybrid support model — remote for the vast majority of situations, on-site for interventions that warrant it — allows us efficiently to meet clients' needs across the country.
For multinational organisations with operations in Portugal, we provide local IT support integrated with group policies and systems, functioning as the ’IT Portugal« for these companies. We have already coordinated IT projects with teams in several European and American countries.
As for on-site interventions outside the national territory, we assess them on a case-by-case basis — particularly for clients with units in the Portuguese-speaking or European space.
DataRoad focuses exclusively on the segment businesses and institutions. We do not provide support to private individuals. Our service model is designed for organisations — with helpdesks, SLAs, reporting, asset management and liaison with IT managers or management.
The minimum client size we usually work with is 5 to 10 users, although we can evaluate specific situations. There is no maximum limit — we serve both small hotel properties and corporate groups with hundreds of users spread across multiple sites.
Those who asked these questions — and chose DataRoad
Companies that compared, decided and stayed with us
DataRoad support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year — including weekends, bank holidays and the Christmas period. This availability is not marketing: it is a real need for the sectors we serve.
A hotel doesn't close at 18:00. A clinic cannot wait until Monday for its appointment systems to be restored. An embassy has zero tolerance for network downtime during official events. That is why our monitoring and response capability are truly continuous.
24/7 support includes critical incident response, active supervision of the entire managed infrastructure, and automated alerts with escalation to on-call technicians outside of working hours.
Our contracts define clear SLAs by incident severity level:
- Critique (service completely out of service) — initial response within 1 hour, immediate escalation
- High priority (significant business impact) — response within 4 hours
- Normal priority (limited impact, workaround available) — response within 1 business day
- Low priority (optimisation questions, requests for information) — reply within 2 working days
These deadlines relate to the initial response — the moment a technician takes charge of the incident and starts the diagnosis. Resolution time varies depending on the technical complexity, but we keep the customer informed of progress at all times.
The proactive monitoring that we carry out allows us, in many cases, to detect and resolve issues before the customer even notices them — which means in practice that many potentially critical incidents never affect the business.
DataRoad clients have access to several channels to reach our support team:
- Helpdesk portal — opening and tracking of tickets online, with a complete incident history
- Dedicated phone line — for urgent situations and critical incidents, with a human point of contact
- Email — for non-urgent requests, with automatic ticket creation and confirmation of receipt
- WhatsApp — with incident response via ticket
- Immediate remote access - with the user's permission, our technicians can access the device for diagnosis and resolution
Every customer has a dedicated account manager who knows the organisation’s infrastructure, team and specific needs.
You don't start every call from scratch by explaining the context.
DataRoad uses tools of RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) enterprise-grade that install a lightweight agent on managed devices — servers, workstations, switches, firewalls and other network equipment.
This agent continuously collects performance and status metrics: CPU, memory and storage utilisation, temperature, service status, security logs, backup status and much more. When a value falls outside normal parameters, an alert is automatically generated, sorted and dealt with by our team — even at 3 a.m.
Practical examples of what we proactively detect:
- A server disc reaching 90 % of its capacity — we take action before it fails
- A silent backup failure — we identify and fix it before data recovery is needed
- Suspicious network access attempts – we are blocking them ahead of a potential security breach
- A critical security update is pending — we are applying it in a controlled and documented manner
4 – Enterprise Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of DataRoad's core areas. Our portfolio includes:
- Managed firewall (Fortinet FortiGate) — perimeter protection, access rules, VPN and traffic inspection
- Endpoint protection (Sophos Intercept X) — behavioural detection, anti-ransomware and incident response
- DNS and web filtering - blocking of malicious domains and inappropriate content categories
- Email protection - anti-phishing, anti-spam and sandboxing of suspicious attachments
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) - implementation and management of MFA on all critical services
- Patch and vulnerability management - controlled update of operating systems and applications
- User training — phishing awareness, social engineering and good security practices
- Monthly safety reports — visibility of detected threats, incidents and the overall state of your security posture
That is one of the questions we hear most often — and the answer is always the same: Yes, and probably more than you think.
Cyberattacks do not discriminate based on company size. In fact, SMEs are increasingly frequent targets precisely because attackers know they have fewer dedicated security resources. A ransomware attack can cost a small business between €20,000 and €500,000 in lost data, downtime, recovery and reputational damage — sums that often threaten business continuity itself.
What has changed in recent years is that the effective cybersecurity is no longer reserved for large enterprises. The solutions DataRoad implements are affordable, managed externally by us (without complexity for the client) and sized to fit your organisation. The cost of protection is a fraction of the cost of an incident.
Yes, the technical component of compliance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is an area that we deal with directly in our service contracts.
From an IT perspective, this includes:
- Data encryption at rest and in transit
- Access control and the principle of least privilege
- Audit trails and data access logs
- Retention policies and secure data deletion
- Security incident notification and response procedures
- Technology vendor risk assessment
Important: DataRoad does not provide legal advice on the GDPR. For the legal and documentary part, we recommend working with a DPO or a specialist lawyer. Our responsibility is to ensure that the technological infrastructure technically meets data protection requirements.
5 – Networks & IT Infrastructure
Yes — this is one of our greatest areas of specialisation. DataRoad designs and deploys wireless network infrastructures for high-density environments such as hotels, event spaces, university facilities and multi-storey office buildings.
We mainly use the ecosystem Ubiquiti UniFi, supplemented by Cisco solutions when the project justifies it. Our process includes:
- A radio frequency (RF) survey of the space to guarantee ideal coverage and performance
- A network design with VLAN segmentation (clients, staff, management, IoT)
- Setting up seamless roaming between access points without session interruption
- A captive portal for customers with custom branding
- Centralised supervision of all access points
- Continuous management and periodic performance optimisation
A well-deployed Wi-Fi network is one that users don't remember — simply because it works, always, everywhere in the space.
One firewall is the equipment (hardware or software) that controls network traffic between the internet and your company's internal infrastructure—deciding what gets through, what gets blocked and what needs to be inspected more closely.
The modern firewalls that DataRoad deploys (Fortinet FortiGate) go far beyond the basic concept: they include deep packet inspection (DPI), content filtering, intrusion prevention (IPS), network antivirus, application control and VPN management for secure remote access.
Every company with an internet connection and sensitive data needs a well-configured firewall. A home router — which many SMEs still use — does not offer adequate protection for a business environment. DataRoad configures, manages and continuously monitors its clients' firewalls, including security signature updates and periodic reviews of access rules.
Yes. DataRoad manages the server infrastructure using several models:
- Physical servers - installation, configuration, maintenance and monitoring of Dell and other brand servers
- Virtualised environments — VMware vSphere infrastructure management, including the creation, migration and optimisation of virtual machines
- Cloud servers — VM management on Azure, AWS or other cloud providers
- Hybrid environments — where part of the infrastructure is on-premise and part in the cloud, with integration between the two
Our VMware certification ensures that virtualised environments are implemented according to best practices for redundancy, performance and recovery. For physical hardware, our Dell partnership enables us to recommend and procure the equipment best suited to each workload with a support warranty.
6 – Cloud & Microsoft 365 and G Suite
Yes — Microsoft 365 is one of the platforms we manage most frequently for our clients. Our service in this area covers three phases:
- Licences — assessing actual requirements and recommending the right plan (Business Basic, Standard, Premium or Enterprise), whilst avoiding over-licensing or under-licensing
- Migration — transfer of emails, calendars, contacts and files (from on-premises Exchange servers, Google Workspace or other platforms) with zero or minimal downtime
- Continuous management — user administration, groups, security policies, MFA, SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive; end-user support and tool training
As Microsoft partners, we benefit from direct technical support for complex situations and access to training and certification resources that keep us up to date with the constant developments of the platform.
That is a legitimate and common concern, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, diplomacy and finance. The short answer is: that depends on how it is managed.
Platforms like Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 offer levels of physical and logical security that the vast majority of companies could never replicate in-house — geo-redundancy, security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2, etc.), end-to-end encryption and dedicated security teams.
The real risk in the cloud is not the platform itself but the inadequate configuration overly permissive access, the absence of MFA, poorly defined sharing policies, or a lack of access monitoring. This is precisely where DataRoad adds value — by ensuring that our clients' cloud implementations follow best security practices and are continuously monitored.
7 – Backup & Business Continuity
Yes — and for us, backup monitoring is just as important as implementation.
An untested backup is merely an illusion of security.
Our backup service includes:
- The design of a backup strategy tailored to data criticality (3-2-1 policy or variants)
- The implementation of a local, cloud or hybrid backup solution
- Daily monitoring of the status of all backup tasks
- Immediate alerts in the event of failure — we do not discover the problem at the moment we need to recover the data
- Periodic restore tests to ensure data is genuinely recoverable
- A monthly report showing the status and history of backups
The question we always ask new clients is: «When did you last test restoring a backup?» The answer is almost always revealing.
Ransomware is today one of the most serious threats to businesses of all sizes. A successful attack can encrypt all of an organisation's data and systems, rendering them inaccessible until a ransom is paid — with no guarantee of recovery after payment.
DataRoad's approach is a multilayer prevention - firewall with traffic inspection, endpoint protection with behavioural anti-ransomware detection, email filtering and user training. This approach drastically reduces the probability of a successful attack.
Yet if, despite everything, an attack occurs, our incident response protocol is triggered immediately: isolation of affected systems to contain the spread, forensic analysis to determine the entry vector, cleanup of compromised systems, and data recovery from a clean, verified backup. A robust backup strategy is the ultimate safety net against ransomware — that is why continuous backup monitoring is non-negotiable in our contracts.
8 – Specific Sectors
The hotel sector is one of our preferred segments, with several hotels and hospitality units in our client portfolio. The accumulated experience allows us to understand the IT specificities that this sector demands:
- Integration with Property Management Systems (PMS) such as Opera, Protel or similar
- High-density Wi-Fi networks for customers, with a captive portal and traffic separation
- Absolutely critical availability — a network outage at 2 a.m. in an operational hotel is a serious incident
- Network segmentation between management systems, customer network and access control systems
- Support for TV systems, IP telephony and other integrated systems
- Compliance with customer data protection requirements (GDPR)
Our experience in the hotel industry means that we do not need to learn our client's trade — we arrive with knowledge of the sector and its technical specificities.
Yes. The healthcare sector is one of the most demanding when it comes to IT — and one of those that most requires a partner with real experience in this context. DataRoad serves clinics and medical centres, fully aware of the particularities that this environment imposes:
- Rigorous health data protection (GDPR applied to the clinical context)
- Integration with clinical management systems and electronic health records
- High availability of appointment booking, billing and clinical records systems
- Enhanced security for the protection of sensitive patient data
- Management of medical equipment with IT components (imaging, etc.)
- Compliance with specific legal requirements of the healthcare sector
Yes. Diplomatic representations are a segment we are proud to serve, precisely because of the exigence and sensitivity they require. An embassy's IT needs differ from those of a commercial business in several important aspects:
- Above-average physical and logical security requirements
- Integration with the IT systems and policies of the head office (often outside Portugal)
- The management of a secure VPN for communication with the capital and other missions
- The need for discretion and confidentiality in all interactions
- Compliance with the specific requirements of the represented country
- Availability and rapid response regardless of diplomatic hours or events
Our team is used to working in this context with the professionalism and confidentiality it requires.
9 – Contracts, Pricing & Service Model
DataRoad contracts are based on a model of fixed monthly payment per user or per device, with a clearly defined set of services — no surprises at the end of the month. This model allows businesses to plan their IT budget with total predictability.
The standard contract IT Unlimited includes unlimited technical support for calls or remote interventions, 24/7 monitoring, preventive maintenance and the agreed basic services. Long-term on-site interventions, infrastructure projects and hardware acquisition are handled separately with a prior quote.
The contract is documented with:
- A detailed scope of included and excluded services
- An SLA table with response times by severity
- An inventory of managed devices and systems
- Incident escalation and communication procedures
- GDPR and confidentiality clauses
The price of our services is calculated on the basis of several factors: number of users and devices, infrastructure complexity, desired SLA level and specific services included. This is why we do not publish fixed price lists — each proposal is personalised after an assessment of the client's actual needs.
What we can say with confidence is that the managed service model is, for the vast majority of organisations, significantly more economical than the alternatives :
- Compared to equivalent in-house IT: the cost of a senior IT technician in Portugal (salary, social charges, training, tools) often exceeds the cost of a complete DataRoad contract offering a multidisciplinary team
- Compared to paid hourly reactive support, the proactivity of the managed model reduces the number and severity of incidents, which translates to a lower total cost and less impact on the business.
We offer a free diagnostic of the current infrastructure, after which we present a detailed and transparent proposal. No obligation, no small print.
DataRoad contracts are typically drawn up for periods of 12 months with automatic renewal, which allows for the planning and implementation of solutions over an appropriate time horizon — bringing stability to both our clients and our team.
Contrary to popular belief, we prefer a long-term relationship based on results and satisfaction rather than on forced retention through penalising exit clauses. Our aim is to be the IT partner that our clients choose to renew with — not the one they are forced to keep.
The specific conditions for entry, exit and renewal are discussed transparently during the contract negotiation phase.
9 – How to Start Working with DataRoad
The DataRoad new client onboarding process is structured and frictionless:
- 1. Initial contact — by phone, email or via the website contact form. We respond the same day.
- 2. Discovery meeting - a conversation (in person or via video call) to understand your current infrastructure, your needs and your expectations
- 3. Diagnostic — technical audit of the existing infrastructure to identify the current state, risks and opportunities for improvement
- 4. Personalised proposition — presentation of a detailed proposal including scope, SLAs and a fixed monthly price
- 5. Signature and onboarding — contract formalisation and start of the technical onboarding process (installation of monitoring agents, infrastructure documentation, creation of access rights)
- 6. Normal operation — right from the end of the onboarding process, your infrastructure is monitored and supported by DataRoad
The complete process, from initial contact to the start of operations, generally takes 1 to 3 weeks depending on the complexity of the infrastructure.
The diagnosis is a technical audit of your organisation's IT infrastructure, carried out by our team at no cost or obligation. The objective is to give you an honest and objective view of the current state of your technology — by identifying vulnerabilities, risks, inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.
The diagnosis typically covers:
- The network status and configuration (switches, access points, firewalls)
- A basic security assessment (service exposure, password policies, MFA)
- The state of the backup systems and the recovery capacity
- The analysis of software licences (Microsoft 365 and others)
- The equipment inventory and the identification of end-of-life devices
- The state of operating system and application updates
In the end, you receive a report with the main conclusions and recommendations — it is a service of real value.
Changing your IT service provider is a legitimate concern, but in practice it is much less disruptive than most clients fear.
DataRoad has a structured onboarding process designed precisely to minimise the operational impact of the change.
Our process includes a comprehensive survey of the existing infrastructure (with or without the cooperation of the previous provider), the documentation of all systems, credentials and configurations, and a parallel transition phase where both entities coexist temporarily if necessary.
From the users' perspective, the transition is usually imperceptible — the next day, they call a different number and the support experience improves. The underlying inventory, documentation and migration work is carried out by our team in an organised manner, without putting any pressure on the end users.
Our suggestion is always to start with the diagnosis — which gives us the knowledge of the infrastructure needed to plan a safe transition.
Some of the companies that trust us with their IT to operate securely, efficiently and with business continuity
Those who demand reliability choose DataRoad. References that speak for themselves
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