Managed Solutions
Managed solutions is a recurring engagement covering systems already in production: monitoring, incident response, dependency and security updates, and a scheduled improvement cycle. It is priced as a monthly or quarterly retainer from a system complexity score. It is a fit for any live system a team would rather not babysit, whether MagicPill Labs built it or inherited it.
Ongoing operations for systems in production: monitoring, incident response, dependency and security updates, and a scheduled improvement cycle instead of a queue nobody owns.
Pricing Recurring monthly or quarterly retainer, priced from a system complexity score and re-scored periodically. See full pricing →
Why this service exists
Software that ships and then rots is not a delivery. It is a liability transfer.
The month after launch is when most systems start their decline. A dependency goes stale, an API changes shape, a prompt drifts, an alert fires into a channel nobody reads. None of it is dramatic, and all of it compounds until someone proposes a rewrite.
Managed Solutions is the standing answer. We watch the system, respond when it breaks, keep dependencies and security patches current, and run a scheduled improvement cycle so small things get handled before they become the reason to start over. This works on systems we built and on systems we inherit.
What’s Included
- ⟳ Continuous monitoring and scheduled health checks
- ⟳ Incident response and triage with a defined escalation path
- ⟳ Dependency, runtime, and security updates
- ⟳ Scheduled improvement cycles instead of an ad-hoc request queue
- ⟳ A quarterly system review and a refreshed roadmap
- ⟳ Optional capacity for light feature evolution
Continuous · not on request
The Managed Solutions operating cycle
- 01
Monitor
Health checks and alerts that reach a human who is actually on.
- 02
Triage
Something broke. We classify it, contain it, and tell you what happened.
- 03
Patch
Dependencies, runtimes, and security updates, before they are urgent.
- 04
Improve
A scheduled cycle for the small work, instead of a queue nobody owns.
- 05
Re-score
Quarterly: what the system has become, and what it should cost to run.
Nothing here waits for a ticket. The alternative is a system that degrades quietly for eleven months and then needs a rewrite.
Common Engagements
How this work usually shows up
Example scopes that turn this service into something tangible inside the business.
Post-Launch Care
Engagement · 01
Pick up the system we just shipped and keep it healthy while your team's attention moves elsewhere.
Managed Solutions
Inherited Systems
Engagement · 02
Take over something built by a departed contractor or a team that has since moved on.
Managed Solutions
Improvement Retainer
Engagement · 03
Batch the small fixes and enhancements into a regular cycle instead of chasing them one at a time.
Managed Solutions
FAQ
Managed Solutions questions
The questions that come up most on intro calls, answered before you have to ask.
What is covered under managed operations?
MagicPill Labs Managed Solutions covers continuous monitoring and scheduled health checks, incident response and triage with a defined escalation path, dependency, runtime, and security updates, a scheduled improvement cycle instead of an ad-hoc request queue, a quarterly system review with a refreshed roadmap, and optional capacity for light feature evolution.
What does managed operations cost relative to the build?
Managed Solutions is a recurring monthly or quarterly retainer priced from a system complexity score, so it scales with how much system there is to look after rather than with a percentage of the original build. It is meaningfully cheaper than the build phase it follows, and the complexity score is re-scored periodically so the price stays aligned with the system as it actually is, not as it was at launch.
What is your response time on issues?
Response targets are agreed in the managed agreement and set against a defined escalation path, with production-down incidents taking priority over scheduled improvement work. Monitoring is continuous, so most issues are detected and triaged by MagicPill Labs before anyone on the client side files a ticket.
Can you take over a system somebody else built?
Yes. Inherited systems are a standard Managed Solutions engagement, typically for software left behind by a departed contractor or a team that has moved on. Onboarding starts with a review of the live system and its architecture, after which monitoring, updates, and incident response run the same way they would on a system MagicPill Labs built.
Can we exit a managed agreement and take the system in-house?
Yes. Managed Solutions is not a lock-in mechanism, and exit means a full handoff with documentation, runbooks, and training so your team can operate the system without MagicPill Labs. Because the system is deployed into infrastructure the client owns, there is no migration to perform on exit.