Finding a Good IT Managed Services Provider
Research before selecting your IT managed services provider will help you make a sound decision, if only because there are so many options out there and not all are created equal.
Below are considerations you should make when coming up with your final choice:
Experience
Your IT managed services provider works as your end-to-end solutions provider, so if they don’t have enough knowledge and experience, there will be inconsistencies between service expected and service provided. If you belong to an industry that has certain requirements, your IT-MSP should understand just how important those are to your business.
Qualified Staff
A good IT managed services provider will have enough qualified staff not just to maintain your current structure, but also to keep you thinking forward. We’re all aware that an outsourced IT solutions provider, such as an IT-MSP, caters to more than a single client at a time. If they have too few people to manage your current IT needs, how can they help you grow in the future?
Payment
The three most used payment types are alerting and monitoring only, pay per device, and pay per user.
>> Alerting and Monitoring
In this scenario, the provider either conducts software updates and sends patches, or sends the alert to your IT representative who will handle it. This service structure will not solve any issues at hand, but it is a solid and cheaper solution if you have your own IT team.
>> Per Device
In this structure, the customer will be charged according to the total number of devices supported. This is the payment structure that usually gets the most expensive, and that is why it is also the least preferred.
>> Per User
This is the the most preferred pricing model these days mainly due to its flexibility. Each device of the user will be covered by the cost of the user himself. That is obviously very cost-effective.
Communication
As a client of your IT managed services provider, you have every right to know all that you want to know regarding the technology you’re using. Clients can be very different, ranging from those who simply want to have their issues fixed to those who are interested in the details of how such issues were resolved. Whether you fall in the middle or at either end of this spectrum, you have to know your communication options with the IT managed services provider you have selected.
Trust
Picking an IT-MSP must be viewed as getting into a partnership with the company or even actually hiring a person to be part of your internal team. The idea is to be able to give them your full trust. Otherwise, they can only become a liability instead of an asset, so you have to reconsider and check elsewhere.