Be Strategic with a Managed Service Provider2

If you are in the market for IT Consulting, be sure to choose quality IT providers. There are many businesses that provide “IT” support, but we’d like to shed some light on why a lot of managed service providers fail to meet expectations.

Outsourcing their own production

Many providers claim to offer help-desk, 24×7 support – but what a lot of providers don’t tell you is that they are purchasing those services and re-selling to your company. This can be misleading because when your employees call a help desk, they are met with over-seas support. Seems like bigger businesses utilize overseas support, right? Not in this case. Many MSP’s that are small and want to grow, utilize vendors that offer call-support. This web of communication can lead to confusion, slow production, and flat-out frustration.

Processes

Football teams don’t win games by not having a game-plan. The same is said for any successful business. What a truly managed service provider offers is a tried-and-true, tested approach to managing IT They have (and are continually) updating their approach to services that encompasses best-practices approach, along with lessons learned in their past.

Treating Symptoms vs Causes

One of the best things a Managed IT Service Provider can offer is to help alleviate the causes of problems. Many MSP’s simply remedy a “symptom” (virus, low bandwidth, etc) – but they fail to address the cause of the symptom. Make sure your managed service provider isn’t just fighting fires but is attempting to keep them from happening.

Allowing a managed service provider to handle your IT Support requires a partnership. Your IT provider should be concerned with many aspects of how your company operates and is currently built. To help you get started we have developed a “checklist” that a true IT partner will be concerned with and we hope that this helps your decision.