There are hundreds of IT Support companies out there, so picking one should be straightforward, right? Well, not exactly. Choosing the right kind of support to suit your business can be tricky because there’s a lot to consider.
Some offer specialist IT support services, while others provide general support. Some will be suited to your industry or company size, while others won’t. You must also consider where you are as an organisation and how you plan to scale – and that comes before you factor in budgets, costs, and contracts.
For that reason, it can be a bit of a minefield. So how do you know what type of support is right for your business?
Here are three things we recommend you look for:
What services do they offer?
You might ask why you need more than the basics, and it’s a fair question. Do you need more than IT Support? In our opinion, yes. When you outsource anything, you do so to leverage experience and expertise. IT is no different. Your provider should act like your own IT Department and look to improve your IT infrastructure through a clearly defined strategy. Moreover, they should be able to demonstrate how they can support that growth, keep you secure by mitigating your risk and provide an outline of how they plan to do so.
Do their Service Level Agreements meet your needs?
All IT support companies should have Service Level Agreements (SLAs). These dictate how quickly they respond to issues a how quickly they resolve them. Ideally, these SLAs should match your business requirements. If, for example, you have a piece of business-critical software that you cannot be without for more than two hours, your IT support company should be able to fix an issue with it in that time frame. If they can’t, then that will mean disruptions to your business if something goes wrong.
What experience do they have in your sector?
When you choose an IT company, check they have experience in your industry. Why does this matter? For a start, the company will be familiar software and applications you use. They’ll also have experience dealing with problems that are common to the industry and will understand the pressure you are under (this ties into the advice on SLAs). The bottom line is, if the IT support company knows your pain points, they’ll be able to deliver a better, quicker service to you.
The bottom line is, if you are outsourcing your IT support for the first time, or changing providers make sure they are right for you. A quality IT support partner will act as an extension of your business, create value, and help you to improve performance. If you are you looking for IT Support in London, get in touch on (email or tel?) to see how we can help.