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10 Questions To Ask When Selecting A New IT Services Provider

Most small and mid-size companies need outside tech help in order to be successful. Maintaining your own full-service IT staff is expense and often not practical. Still, in today’s business world, no company can function without professional, cutting-edge IT services. That means you must find the right IT services provider to keep your company competitive. You need to be cautious and well-informed before you sign on with a new company. Before entering into a contract, ask their representative the following essential questions.

1. Can I visit your facility?

The answer to this question should be an enthusiastic “Yes!” A professional, up-to-date IT service provider will be happy to introduce you to their staff and show you their facilities. You should view the servers and other tech hardware for yourself. While you may not understand how everything works, you will be able to judge how well the facility is maintained and how helpful the employees and management are. You will also gain insight into their work culture. You’ll want to join forces with a happy workplace.

2. Do you work with any other companies in my vertical?

When you work in a vertical market like banking, insurance, or educational software, you need an IT services company that knows your business. An IT company with no experience in your industry will be less effective in recommending the right software and in helping you comply with federal and state regulations.

3. What is the first thing you’ll do after taking over our account?

An IT company shouldn’t offer solutions until they understand your company’s needs and problems. In fact, they should offer you a free assessment before you even sign up with their company so that they can present you with an informed strategy. Once your sign on, the staff should address whichever issues you both agree is the most pressing.

4. Do you have any examples of how you document a network?

While all IT service providers will provide network documentation, some do it better than others. You should ask to see how they map the network, keep records of past problems, and maintain software information, etc. Without proper documentation, your IT provider will stumble when trying to address any network issues.

5. Who will I work with if we sign up with you?

Although you should be happy with the entire IT services team, you will need a solid connection with a specific point person who makes your business a priority and who works well with your staff. Don’t sign the agreement until you know who your representative will be and you’ve had a chance to interview them.

6. How will you report to me on our account?

Your IT company should employ a variety of communication methods, including video calls, IMs, formal reports, and in-person meetings when necessary. The best companies will modify their methods to suit your needs. Tell them how you wish to receive information and see if they are willing to adapt.

7. What does your response time and service level agreement (SLA) look like?

You should ask to see an example of their SLA so you will know what level of service you can expect. A detailed SLA explains how service will be measured and how violations of the SLA will be addressed. If it doesn’t look good on paper, the actual service will be lacking.
The SLA will spell out response time, which should be measured in minutes. No business can afford to wait long for service. Even a short period of downtime can cost companies millions of dollars every year. If the IT company won’t provide reasonable guarantees, their response time may hurt your company.

8. How long have you been around?

Startup companies can be excellent service providers, but their record of success is inevitably short. A company with years of experience should have a proven and lengthy track record and clients willing to offer good reviews. Don’t bet your company’s success on a company with little experience.

9. What are your core values?

IT providers should have and demonstrate core values just as any other business should. They must be proactive and make the customer’s needs their own. If an IT services company can’t quickly articulate their core values, look elsewhere.

10. What do you understand about my business?

An IT company should specialize in research, so they should be able to expertly discuss both your industry and your specific business. Before you sign an agreement, the company should do an assessment of your needs and explain how they will address them. If the IT company does not demonstrate this knowledge, they are not the team for you.

Finding the right IT services provider takes a little time and digging. Don’t hesitate to sit down with their team and go over these ten questions and more if you need additional answers. You need to understand their strategy, their services, and their values before you enter into a contract. In business today, nothing is more important to your success than expert tech help, so give your search the time and attention that it needs.
Education, Featured

5 Things Your IT Company Should Be Doing for You … But Probably Isn’t

It’s not uncommon for small businesses to employ IT companies to manage their IT-related issues and functions to maintain operational efficiency. But not all IT companies are created alike. In fact, some may not even be doing what they are supposed to be doing to address the business’s needs. Here are five aspects small business owners should consider.

1. Providing Agile Customer Support

When problems arise, it’s vital for small businesses to have adequate support to resolve the issue as soon as possible. To do this, small businesses should have insanely fast customer support. Without adequate support, small businesses run the risk of significant downtime, which costs businesses $1.5 million each year.

Outages alone resulted in an annual loss of 545 work hours for businesses, and resolving these and other IT-related issues can take an average of 200 minutes per incident. Thus, it’s critical for small businesses to employ IT companies that can provide agile customer support.

This support can be provided by managed service providers or MSPs, thanks to their ability to leverage global resources and staff that work across different time zones to provide round-the-clock support on any day of the year. Small business owners should also consider MSPs that have clearly defined service-level agreements (SLAs) and responsiveness to requests. This helps clarify expectations when IT issues arise.

2. Providing a “Runbook”

If an IT company isn’t providing a “runbook,” it’s a red flag. This detailed documentation provides insight on the company’s entire network, and it’s crucial information for businesses that are considering hiring an IT company. A runbook should be part of the disaster recovery plan and should highlight critical servers, applications, networks and databases so that the business can know how to recreate its systems should a major disruption or disaster take place. Moreover, the runbook should be provided within a few months of taking over.

3. Collaborating

Studies show that collaboration is correlated to high performance within a work environment. But IT departments often don’t promote collaboration. A lack of collaborating with stakeholders can result in delays to resolving IT issues. Thus, it’s important for small businesses to take advantage of IT companies that collaborate and provide company goals. Additionally, they should establish budgets to drive resolution for IT issues.

4. Providing a vCIO

It’s vital to have a virtual chief information officer, or vCIO, who is dedicated to creating and executing the IT strategy. This person should not be the same person as the IT technician. That’s because this position provides high-level consulting. The vCIO will need to be able to direct a team that will be assigned to help the company grow. Small businesses can take advantage of vCIOs to proactively track, assess and maintain the IT security and health of the business when using a reputable MSP. VCIOs also provide specialized IT expertise that small businesses can leverage for establishing their short- and long-term IT goals and strategies.

5. Articulating the Disaster Recovery Plan

Putting off disaster recovery is a big risk thanks to data loss. Disasters give the opportunity for a significant amount of data to be lost — one of the primary reasons business failure happens within a year for 90 percent of small businesses that experience a huge data loss. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, can interrupt service, damage critical infrastructure and even destroy on-premise servers. Without understanding clearly how things should be run in the event of a disaster, it is hard for a company to efficiently operate. That’s why it’s crucial for companies to employ IT companies that clearly articulate their disaster recovery plan.

Beyond natural disasters, small business owners should take into account major disruptions that threaten to completely halt their business operations. This is especially crucial given that cyberattacks and ransomware incidents are increasingly becoming a huge issue for small businesses. Ransomware costs don’t just stop at the ransom, which can typically cost small businesses between $500 and $2,000 per request. It extends to costs associated with lost production time, data loss and, ultimately, revenue loss.

This can cost small businesses as much as 15 percent of revenue, according to a 2017 Osterman Research report. The report also revealed that the average downtime-related expense was $100,000 for each ransomware incident a small company experienced. What’s even more alarming is that small and medium-sized businesses paid $301 million in 2016 to ransomware hackers alone just to decrypt important files, according to a 2017 Datto State of the Channel Ransomware report.

These types of incidents are part of what caused the immediate demise of 22 percent of organizations with less than 1,000 employees between June 2016 and June 2017. Yet, a 2016 State of Disaster recovery report revealed that only 60 percent of small businesses organizations surveyed actually had a disaster recovery plan, and of those businesses, 40 percent tested this plan every year. So, it’s not only important to have a plan, but it must be articulated and tested frequently as well.

Final Thoughts

Hiring the right IT service provider requires considering important factors that can impact the operation and well-being of the company, such as the need to provide support to stakeholders quickly and being able to articulate the disaster recovery plan. But without assessing an IT company for these aspects, small businesses can easily fall short of getting the solid service they need to maintain operational efficiency. Many of these issues can be resolved with the help of a managed service provider or MSP.