While your business IT is running smoothly it’s easy to not even give it a second thought, but when it’s not, you’ll regret not having a professional to proactively manage those IT issues as they develop or even preventing them from becoming an issue in the first place.
Hiring someone to professionally manage your business IT means your staff can focus on their actual job and allow the IT management professionals to do theirs. Also, a large number of typical issues you’ve become accustomed to popping up, seldom occur at all. A managed IT service provider will work proactively to prevent issues rather than reactively. This does not mean they eliminate ALL IT issues, just that proper devices are put in place to alleviate unnecessary headaches and greatly reducing the frequency of IT related issues.
Not all IT-Managed Services Providers (MSP’s) are the same. Here is a list of 9 services that an IT managed services provider should offer before you consider hiring them for your business IT management. We are pleased to report that we ourselves do offer all of the services to follow along with many more but encourage our clients to dig. Research the company, call their customers for referrals and ask questions. Your businesses IT should not be left to chance.
- Location, location, location:
For much of the work, location won’t matter, but when you need on-site maintenance and support, choose an IT managed services provider that is local, you’ll be glad they’re nearby when you need them.
- Support:
You’ll want a managed IT service provider that offers employee support quickly and remotely. When IT is down, employees are at a standstill and valuable work time is wasted. Less time down equals less loss in productivity and revenues.
- Availability:
Even if your business isn’t running 24-7-365, your computer network is. To ensure this, the people who manage IT for your business need to be available at a moment’s notice. Rapid, or even, a guaranteed, response time when IT issues occur is important.
- Cloud & Backup Services:
A huge perk of hiring an IT managed service provider is peace of mind in your data’s security. Be certain that the provider you select to manage your business IT services, runs consistent and automatic backups to a remote server. Ask how often backups are running and if the integrity of those backups is tested.
- Security:
Cyber criminals and hackers pose a real threat to your business IT network. Your service provider should run regular tests, constantly monitor and perform regular updates to guard against them.
- Partnerships:
Managing the myriad of vendors who provide service and support for your business IT can be a time-consuming task. Your IT managed services provider should be a partner or at least familiar with the vendors and tools you currently use to manage IT.
- Disaster Planning:
In the worst-case scenario, is when business IT needs to be up and running more than ever. Beit a natural disaster or hacker/cyber-criminal, IT managed service providers should be able to develop a plan that allows your business IT network to be back up and running quickly.
- Consulting and Guidance:
Businesses use an IT managed service provider because they need tech expertise, not just someone to fix what’s broken. You want a provider that offers insight to build reliable solutions, not just a collection of parts. Someone who works side by side to put all the pieces together & make it work for you.
- Savings & ROI:
Clients should see the value in their investments. Consistent conversations, evaluation of systems and keeping an eye on the most up to date, cost-effective products & services, demonstrates the value of your investment. You want a partner who communicates and demonstrates not just installs and monitors.
A good IT managed service provider can lead to greater efficiency, increased security and significant cost savings within your business IT network, especially if you hire the right one, but with so many options, how do you pick? Or, if you already have one but are unsatisfied, how do you make an effective switch?
CCSI’s Motto: “Don’t just be a vendor. Be a problem identifier, a problem solver, a confidant, a consultant and a partner.”
We make ourselves indispensable, evident from our 14+ year average client tenure. We can work with your existing IT team, become your IT provider or something in-between. IT solutions customized for your business needs since 1990.