Information technology plays a vital role in your business. It enables you and your staff to work from anywhere, scale operations, and be more productive. However, like most things that are frequently used, your infrastructure needs to be maintained. To keep your IT environment running smoothly, you need the help of an IT department.
While some organizations have no problem hiring an internal team of IT professionals, this isn’t realistic for other businesses. The cost can be a little too steep for some companies to justify paying for. To work around this issue, a company can instead outsource their IT support to a managed service provider (MSP). The only problem is, how do you choose an IT provider that fits the needs of your business?
How To Choose a Managed Service Provider
Before we go any further, let’s start by discussing what MSP services are. An MSP is a third-party vendor that remotely manages your IT infrastructure. Management of your network is usually done proactively and the company may offer other services like cyber security, cloud migration, and more.
When you’re shopping for an MSP, you’re picking a company to entrust the backbone of your operations to. So finding the right vendor for your business is no small decision. The first mistake most organizations make when looking for a good MSP is focusing on the price. Yes, some vendors are cheaper than others, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if that’s all you care about.
If you want to find an MSP that can not only support your business, but also help improve it, you should perform a service provider evaluation. Here are a few things you should consider during your evaluation.
Do They Offer More Than Break-Fix Solutions?
At some point, you’re going to run into problems with your technology. When that time comes, you’re going to need an IT specialist who can fix your issue. Although MSPs can perform break-fix services, that should not be the only experience they have. You want a well-rounded MSP that has experience that extends past simple troubleshooting.
To learn about the capabilities of the MSP you’re considering, you should ask them questions. In addition to certifications, you should ask about their services, staff skill sets, and availability. The best MSPs are able to serve all of your IT needs present and future.
Do They Offer 24/7 Monitoring and Support?
Remote monitoring is when IT specialists monitor and manage your network remotely. Using network monitoring tools, administrators are alerted to abnormalities in your system. If a threat is detected, your provider can step in and solve the problem before it can have an effect on your business.
Since cyber attacks and network failures can happen at any time, it’s important to have an MSP that offers 24/7 monitoring solutions. The service essentially acts as your first line of defense if something goes awry. So you’re going to want to ask the MSP if they offer this service.
Response Time
It may sound cliche, but time is money in the business world. No organization can afford prolonged downtime that prevents their staff from doing their job. That’s why the MSP you partner with should be available and ready to provide assistance as soon as you need them. To find out the response time for an MSP, you could ask them directly. However, you may want to also do some research and look into what their clients are saying about their service.
Customer Service
While you’re reading customer reviews, you should be able to get a sense of what the vendor’s customer service is like. As with any good business relationship, your MSP should see itself as your partner. This means they are interested in your business and they want to help you enhance it. If there are any signs that they can be flaky or that they aren’t constantly looking to improve their solutions, you’re going to want to go down a different path.
Take Your IT to the Next Level With Knoxville’s Favorite MSP
The Net3 IT team has been helping businesses in the Knoxville, TN, area with their IT needs since 2012. When you choose us, our experts work hard to make sure your IT is optimized to support your organizational goals. We are committed to delivering the kind of service that helps your company grow.
Contact us today to learn more about what Net3 IT offers.
