The IT Services provider you choose to support your business is more important than many vendors you choose for your company. Good IT support allows for the uninterrupted forward trajectory of your enterprise. When IT fails, work stoppages are the usual results. Miss a few deadlines and you face the danger of losing customers.
If this happens more than once, a reasonably intelligent CEO will replace the IT services company that failed them. Remember – they chose the IT that let them down. Without a change in their focus when hiring a new IT vendor, they could easily end up in the same boat on the same creek.
Technology is an unregulated industry. Anybody can call themselves an IT Consulting Services expert (when in fact they are far from it). Here at ITFirm.com, we have come to the rescue of companies that hired these slapdash ‘IT guys’ all too often. Generally, what we find when we perform a Network and Cybersecurity Assessment is a mess – a system patched up with Band-Aid fixes, outdated security, no viable data backups, and vulnerabilities big enough to drive a tractor-semi through.
It is staggering that so many ‘IT Guys’ of this ‘quality’ apply for work with us. It takes almost zero time to discover that they know next to nothing. We wouldn’t even hire them to answer our phones.
So how can you tell the good from the bad?
How Can You Identify a Top-Notch MSP?
Watch them and listen.
The best MSPs (Managed Services Providers) will also listen to you. If the IT representative shows up with a canned spiel and tries to shoehorn you into their A, B or C plan (or Gold/Silver/Bronze) the hairs on the back of your neck should stand up. If the focus is to fit you into one of their pre-packaged programs. that just shows you that the vendor interview is all about them, and not about you and your specific needs. It is not your best interests they have in mind.
What a GOOD MSP will do:
They Will Ask Smart Questions and Listen to You
They want to know about your business, about how work and information flow through the workplace. This understanding helps the MSP keep costs low – both theirs and yours. They set up their monitoring, maintenance, and repair procedures to reflect how you do things, not on how they like to do things.
In any business, computers just need to work – period. Take two different enterprises – a physician’s practice and a manufacturing company. Probably 90% of any MSP’s procedures will take care of both types of companies. It’s the 10% difference that matters.
Some questions a top-notch MSP will ask might seem unusual – but that’s only if you are used to talking with IT posers. Questions like:
What is your process for creating and handling increased production?
In terms of your products or services, what new ground are you planning to break?
How would you like to see customer service improved?
Where do your ‘logjams’ typically appear in your system and disrupt your workflow?
What happens when you have network downtime?
Depending on your responses, they will follow up with questions that better define your needs, and they are listening. This is how the top MSPs create a custom plan based on what they’ve learned about your inner workings and company goals.
They Perform Proactively
‘Proactive’ is too often just a buzzword IT people use without knowing what it really means. Let’s say that you are interviewing a new IT Consulting Services vendor. Ask them if they are Proactive. As often as not you will get an answer like: “Of course! When it breaks down, we proactively fix it!”
Dictionary.com defines ‘proactivity’ as: “The act, characteristic, or habit of thinking and acting so as to prepare for, intervene in, or control expected events, especially negative or challenging ones.” The best MSPs, like ITFirm.com, know your system inside and out. They forecast issues that are looming on the horizon and enact solutions before problems can occur. One common example is monitoring workstations and servers that are reaching their maximum storage capacity – when maxed-out, problems happen.
Exhibiting the appropriate skills, experience, and certifications is basic: that is simply the price of admission. Have them explain their Proactive versus Reactive methods of support. Ask about the availability and response times of both Help Desk remote staff and onsite technicians.
Ask about their internal Policies and Procedures (P&P) and their company mandate as to ‘Best Practices’.
A bad IT guy will mumble around without answering the question succinctly – falling back on basic ‘talking points’, like “We promise a one-hour turnaround time!” The best MSPs can produce their P&P and Best Practices in writing and will be happy to share them with you in short order
An MSP that will be a true value to you will want to be your technology partner rather than just another vendor. They want to share the vision you have for your company and do everything in their power to enable it. Every day, they implement forward-looking practices that will keep you up and running, that solve any issue the first time, that prevent foreseeable issues within your network, and thus keep their hours on your network to a minimum. The MSP saves money, and you save money.
Your Virtual CIO
Your MSP is your virtual Chief Information Officer. Proactiveness doesn’t stop with monitoring the storage capacity in your server or the dates when hardware and software will become obsolete or unsupported by the vendor, it’s about recognizing, evaluating, testing, and implementing new technologies which can help every aspect of your company, not just areas dealing with IT. Your MSP should be almost an employee.
If you hear about a new technology that looks like it could help your company, you have an easy conduit to toss the idea around with your virtual CIO.
For the best MSPs, there is no such thing as going ‘above and beyond’ – they are above and beyond every day.
The Desired MSP Will Offer These Services (At a Bare Minimum):
For a Fixed Price per month, the MSP needs to provide:
- Unlimited IT HelpDesk services
- Unlimited onsite technical assistance
- Network & Server Optimization
- IT Budgeting & Road Map
- Cybersecurity Strategy
- Vendor Management
- Proactive monitoring and repair
- Reporting
These need to be detailed in writing in the Master Service Agreement (MSA).
What is ‘Vendor Management’ (#6)?
Simply put, we manage all the vendors that have a hand in your electronic communications: providers for Internet, VoIP phone systems, printers, or any specific software programs your company uses. These all fall under the Big Tent of Electronic Communications, and the MSP is the Ringmaster.
We manage all your vendors when necessary to keep the network humming along. The internet’s out? WE make the calls and keep you informed. No more staff members caught in the middle, juggling phones, not knowing what to do next. We speak the same language as your vendors and cannot be baffled by ‘Geek Speak’. We will sort out any issues much faster.
It is very important to ask prospective MSPs if they are truly ‘vendor-neutral’. MSPs typically have many relationships with various technology and hardware vendors like Microsoft and Dell but will bring you only the technologies that provide the best results for your business.
Technology Partners
When choosing the right MSP, you must be able to trust them, and have faith in their abilities, work practices, and advice. Full trust does not happen in a day – it takes time. As the oft-misquoted old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Do not close the deal with any MSP that you have even a single reservation about. This part of your due diligence.
Your MSP must be honest and upfront about every aspect of their Policies, Procedures, and ‘Best Practices’. They can provide the greatest benefit if they know where you are taking your company and determining how best they may serve as an integral component in your success.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the role of a chief information officer?
A: A CIO oversees all processes, technologies, and employees within an organization’s IT department. The Chief Information Officer’s main job is to ensure that his/her department continuously delivers outcomes that support the vision and goals of the organization.
Q: How do you find a good MSP?
A: Look for a provider that offers a full palate of services (as noted above). Ask for references from reputable companies. Ask other companies that you trust who they use. Read reviews on Google+, Yelp, the BBB and elsewhere (don’t just go off testimonials posted on their website).
Q: How are managed services priced?
A: Look for a provider that offers a full palate of services (as noted above). Ask for references from reputable companies. Ask other companies that you trust who they use. Read reviews on Google+, Yelp, the BBB and elsewhere (don’t just go off testimonials posted on their website).
Q: What are the types of MSPs?
A: The world of MSPs contains many shades of service. The main four types are:
1) The basic Managed Services Provider (MSP).
2) Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP).
3) Co-Managed IT Services Provider (Co-MIT).
4) Managed Detection & Response (MDR).
Many Managed Services Providers, like ITFirm.com, provide the gamut of all the above. Tripwire provides a breakdown of these four designations HERE.
How secure is your network?
As a longstanding, reputable member of the IT Support Charlotte community, ITFirm.com offers a FREE, no-risk network and Cybersecurity assessment. We perform a non-intrusive scan that allows us to deliver a comprehensive report of the state of your system and its vulnerabilities that is yours to keep. There are no strings attached, and you are under no obligation to ever use our Managed IT Services.
The two best defenses are next-generation Cybersecurity to protect your data from theft, and a top-notch Managed Services Provider to ensure continued reliability and defenses against newly emerging threats.
We put our 100% Money Back Guarantee in writing, so there is no risk in trying us out. Because we do not require a ‘hard’ contract, our clients can fire us at any time with 30 days’ notice. We have to be good.
Among the Managed IT Services we provide:
IT HelpDesk Service
Onsite IT Support
Cybersecurity
Cloud migration and management
Email migration services
Backup and disaster recovery
VoIP phone systems
IT disposition and recycling
Office moves
White label services (IT to IT)
For more information, or to receive your FREE no-risk network and security assessment, just fill out the form on this page or call us at:
704-565-9705
