You're planning to pick the organization's best outsourced IT company, and very enthusiastic about the future benefits. But you're not completely sure how to pick the right company for managed IT services... Or you may have narrowed things down, but you're caught in a tie between two IT consulting companies.
For over 30 years, Encompass IT Solutions has been helping corporations build their best IT approach. A question that often comes up is, "How do I pick the best IT support firm?" “What conditions do I assess?”
We've assembled a list to help narrow down the quest for the best IT support company.
10 Tip to Help You Pick the Perfect IT Company for Your Business (Part 1 out of 2)
1. Select an IT company close to your headquarters for help.
When choosing an outsourced IT company, onsite assistance is a major advantage and a vital aspect to consider. Choosing a nearby IT consulting provider means that if an onsite problem occurs, you can get better and quicker service.
For example: If a firewall fails, it needs to be replaced quickly. A remote IT company can only find you a different third-party provider to assist if the IT support business is not physically close to you. That, depending on their availability, may take days.
When the IT consultants are physically nearby, dispatch is faster when it’s just easier to make an IT technician solve the problem(s).
2. Will the organization that provides your IT support have experience in your particular industry?
Technology differs by industry and field. A vendor that knows the ins and outs of the technologies of your specific business is very important.
Here are a few questions to ask: Do any other businesses in your sector recommend them? Have they been ranked or received awards in your field? Are they accredited within the technology industry?
3. Will the servers and/or workstations be supported by the IT company?
Do your workstations or servers run on anything other than Windows? If so, do they have the capability to support the operating systems? Think: Linux or Mac OS. Finding an IT organization that will help your systems is really necessary, because they may choose to move your networks around.
Although the bulk of "tech" terms and abilities are universal, knowledge-levels do vary across IT companies. You won't get the support you need if the IT company you're leaning towards can't afford your specific, outdated infrastructure.
4. Does this IT company have experience supporting your industry-specific programs?
Which software(s) or application(s) are most important to your company? Is there knowledge on the part of the IT supplier for any or all of them?
Two points to bear in mind:
1) A business with custom applications should not presume on the IT company to know how to use these apps. Yet, the outsourced IT company should be able to analyze and fix some problems.
2 ) Two separate areas are software development or programming and actual IT. You cannot ask your programming creator to run your IT, and it should not be expected that your IT staff can build or change your program.
5. How quickly do you expect service when it's needed?
Each business has distinct processes to serve its customers. Response times differ greatly. Ask for their Service Level Agreement (SLA) or measurements of response time, which include items like:
How fast are they responding to problems?
How fast do things get resolved?
When you need onsite help, how long will it take?
The proof lies in the figures. Anybody may proclaim that they are "fast," but can they prove that? With evidence and real-time figures, your new IT company should be able to back up their claims.
These are the first 5 out of 10 tips to help you pick the perfect IT company for your business. Please stay tuned for next month’s post to find out about the other five tips.
Selecting the right IT support organization at the end of the day is about doing your homework. Using this list will narrow down the hunt in a rush, but before signing the deal, make sure you know exactly who you're going into business with.
If you’re in need of a new IT company or would just like a second opinion on your business IT configuration, feel free to reach out to us at Encompass IT Solutions. We’re an IT company that helps small businesses with everything from their cybersecurity to daily IT support. Please call us at (860) 785-6233 or email us at info@encompassit.com.