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Thinking of switching your IT support company? Your IT services provider is probably the organisation you interact with most frequently, as they are responsible for handling all your technology-related issues.
The right IT support company is one that understands your business requirements, proactively identifies potential risks, and offers proactive solutions rather than reactive fixes. Therefore, when searching for an IT support company, you need to be aware of the key questions before choosing an IT support company.
What is your current tech landscape?
The first thing you need to assess is your current tech landscape. What are the important elements in your technology stack? How are they connected? What are their current configurations? What is the status of the service level agreements (SLAs) for the existing systems? What are the SLAs for potential future systems? How does this impact your business continuity and security?
You also need to understand your internal capabilities. What are your internal IT capabilities? How many on-site engineers do you have? What are their skill sets? You will also need to assess your off-site/remote capabilities and related costs. What type of remote/off-site support do you currently have? How much does each service cost? What is the expected cost for the new services?
Whilst this may seem like a daunting and impossible task, we will carry out this assessment for you to see if a switch to AIS Technology as your IT support company is a viable option.
What are your current & future IT requirements?
You need to clearly understand your current and future IT requirements. What are your current business requirements? How do they impact the technology landscape? What are your future business requirements? How do they impact the technology landscape?
You need to assess your current and future requirements in the following aspects: -
Technology - What are your technology requirements? What are your future technology goals? Do you need to replace the existing systems? What are the expected technology changes or upgrades?
Upgrade cycles - What are the upgrade cycles for the existing systems? What are the anticipated upgrade cycles for the new systems?
Service levels - What are your current service level agreements (SLAs)? What are your future SLAs? What are the most important SLAs?
Security - What are your current security requirements? What are your future security requirements? How do they impact your technology landscape?
If your organisation has bespoke applications, it can be difficult to find an IT support company that will cover you for these, so choosing an IT support company like AIS Technology with experience in handling an array of industry-specific applications can be important.
Voice your concerns at the start.
You need to be honest with yourself and any potential IT support company partner by identifying the issues or challenges that you are particularly concerned about. Is there a particular technology that is causing you concern? Are there any security threats that are particularly concerning? Is there any aspect in the current or future technology landscape of your company that you find particularly challenging?
If so, you need to ask yourself what you will do about it. How do you plan to resolve the issues? What does the new IT support company have to do about it? - even ask for their advice at the very beginning.
Perhaps you have concerns with your current IT support company that you have tried to resolve, but to make sure you don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire - you need to voice these problems with any new potential partner and ask how they will do things differently.
Whilst any new relationship will have its bumps in the road, making us aware of your previous "bumps" will allow AIS Technology to pay special attention to those areas - ensuring we don't uncover old wounds.
How well does the provider understand my business?
You need to understand how much the provider understands your business. What does the provider know about your business? What is the provider’s level of business understanding? How well does the IT support company understand your business goals? What are the general business-related questions that the provider can answer? What are the technical business-related questions that the provider can answer?
Of course, you also need to assess how well the provider understands your IT requirements. but any decent IT support company should be able to pass this element of questioning.
Take a look at our ABOUT page, which details the array of environments and business types our director, Chris, has worked with. Including bespoke application environments and strict compliance needs.
What does your IT support company do?
You need to understand what the provider does. What are the general services that the provider offers? What is the provider’s key strength? What are the specialities of the service provider? What are the specializations of the service provider? What are the core competencies of the provider? What are the general support functions that the provider provides? What is the level of support provided by the service provider?
AIS Technology is focused on not just addressing your urgent IT support needs but also proactively protecting your data and company from malicious attacks. Our other valued services include laptop rental, business broadband and secure VoIP implementation, to name a few. Our full-service offering has you covered for every technology need.
Quality & Service Level Agreement?
You need to assess the quality of the service provided by the current service provider and what your expectations are of the new service provider.
When we talk about "quality of service" in the context of IT support companies it's all about how quickly your issues are resolved. Whilst it's great to have a personal relationship with the business owner does this mean your issues are resolved any quicker? Or that your data is more secure? Possibly the opposite as the company becomes complacent and relies on your goodwill instead of providing the best service.
AIS is committed to resolving your IT problems swiftly, without the need for follow-up phone calls or repeted e-mails and is the only IT support company that offers an SLA where our monthly billing is completely contingent on your IT problems being solved quickly - talk to us about the details of this.
Are there any hidden fees?
You need to understand what the contract terms are. What are the standard terms that the provider will impose on you? What are the hidden fees or charges that the provider will charge you?
Of course there will be additional fees with the majority of great value IT support service companies which is why it's important to voice your concerns at the beginning. Make sure your new IT support company is fully aware of your current and future needs so that all costs can be explained upfront. But, read the contract - make sure you're aware of what is and isn't included.
for the new services? In this article, we have discussed the 5 vital questions to ask yourself before choosing an IT support company. The above information will help you in assessing the potential IT services providers.