If you are tired of spending your time on things other than your core business objectives, it may be time to hire IT managed services providers.
Decreasing focus is only one of the many reasons you might be considering bringing on help for your IT needs. Even a small amount of downtime can cost big bucks which means — you can’t afford downtime.
Hiring and managing IT staff isn’t likely what you had in mind when you started your company so outsourcing to managed IT services makes sense. While outsourcing might make sense, you do need to be careful who you hire.
The safety of your company’s data and other information is in their hands. Continue reading this article to learn what you need to look for in the company you choose to hire.
Choosing the Best IT Managed Services Providers
The following qualities are a must when you are choosing an IT company to work with. Security breaches and other IT problems can cost your company so you want to have reliable professionals on your side.
1. Strong Technical Expertise
Not all companies are staffed equally. You want to make sure that you know what you’re getting when you hire a company.
How much experience does each of the staff have? Will they know how to deal with major challenges if they arise?
2. Wide Range of Skills
Your IT needs may change as your company grows. Choosing managed IT services with a wide range of services gives you access to a variety of skilled professionals that you might not need right now but may need them in the future.
As your business grows, your IT needs will grow. Knowing the company you are with has the ability to scale continue serving you will keep you from having to change companies.
3. Experience in Your Industry
Does your IT services provider know your industry? The basics of IT management can apply to all industries. But your specific IT needs are different than companies in other industries.
Having someone with experience in your industry can allow your mind to rest at ease knowing that they’ve dealt with the common challenges that arise.
4. Extended Availability
You may clock out at 5, but you don’t want your IT managed services provider to stop working. Your computer network stays online 24/7 and so should your service provider.
You never know when someone could try to hack your system or there is a fire or power outage. You need someone that is paying close attention to your systems so they can take care of any problems right as they arise.
5. Service Customization
You don’t want a one size fits all IT solution. You need to ask for customization so that you can get what you need for your company — no more and no less. You don’t want to pay for services you don’t need but you definitely don’t want to under serve your IT needs.
6. Response Time
Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you know what kind of response time you can expect from them.
Do you have a dedicated customer support professional that is going to help you if something comes up and you have questions? Or are you going to be dealing with a new customer support person each time that you call?
Understanding how long it is going to take for them to answer questions is important but you also need to ask how long it will take for them to start fixing a problem.
You don’t want to find out you have a major problem but everyone is too busy working on other things to get around to your challenge. Check the contract to see if it states the maximum amount of time they have to start working on your project.
7. IT Security and Maintenance
Keeping your servers secured and maintained is a top priority. Find out what they do to secure and maintain your systems. Even if you don’t understand all of it, you need to know what the processes are so you’re sure they are being taken care of.
8. Established Processes
Don’t choose IT companies that don’t have established processes. They should know what they are doing and how they go about doing it. Having systems in place will allow for less human error and better results for you and your company.
Ask them to walk you through some of their processes so you can get a sense of how prepared they are for day-to-day tasks as well as any technical emergencies that might take place.
9. Reliable Reputation
With customer reviews available online, it is hard to hide if your company isn’t a good one. Look at all of the popular review sites to see what people are saying about the company you’re considering.
You may also ask them to speak with one of their clients to ask how they are at servicing their needs. Companies understand if you want them to provide references and usually have a few people that are more than happy to talk to you for a few minutes to put your mind at ease.
Using the Best IT Managed Services Providers
If using the best IT managed services providers is a must for you, we can help. We provide not only basic support but we can also help with major projects like complex full deployments.
Contact us today to see how we can make your life easier while making your business better.
