If you’re a small or medium sized business, outsourcing your IT can provide you with a whole host of valuable benefits including saving time and money, and having all your sensitive data and information handled by security experts.
However, how do you know how to choose the right IT outsourcer to support your business’s needs?
Whether you already have a support contract in place and want to check you’re with the right people, or you are looking to outsource for the first time, following these tips should make sure you’re heading in the right direction…
The cheapest deal isn’t always the best deal –
Sometimes it is and that’s great, however isn’t it better to spend a little more to actually get the best value for money? Look for quality and someone who is trusted both by their existing clients and by you. Always read testimonials or Case Studies on a company’s website if they are available.
Make sure whoever you choose can deliver on their promises –
Don’t be afraid to dig a little deeper before being confident your provider can deliver on the promises they make. Its also important to ask questions like ‘What do you really mean when you say you provide 24/7 support?’ Because some companies just mean that they provide continual system monitoring, and often companies outsource their helpdesk to third parties outside of office hours (just in case you were wondering, we don’t do this! We provide our own engineers who know your systems and are on hand to help at any hour of the day or night).
How quickly can your support team have your critical systems back up and running following a disaster?
In today’s world, security breaches, loss of data and prolonged periods of time offline are not acceptable to your business, or to your clients, investors and industry regulators. Business Continuity provisioning is essential for all organisations to ensure there is a proactive plan in place to avoid and mitigate risks.
There are many back-up and recovery solutions and your support company should be researching & implementing the best systems for your business needs. One such platform is Datto, who provide total data protection for your business. They even have a ‘Recovery and Downtime Calculator’ tool which helps you evaluate your recovery time and recovery point objectives.
Are they tailoring solutions to your business’s requirements?
It can be easier and cheaper for some support companies to use a one size fits all approach to supporting their clients. However, it doesn’t take a genius to work out why this would be a bad idea. For example, cloud solutions are a hot topic at the moment but your prospective IT Support provider should choose a solution which best suits the needs of your business. It may be that a cloud based solution isn’t the best fit or you may feel the need to have a private cloud solution for your business.
At the end of the day…
Choose a provider who will work alongside your team and your systems, and spend as long as it takes with you to understand your individual needs. That way, tailored solutions which increase efficiency, decrease outgoings, minimise system downtime and boost your performance can be delivered.
