Choosing a Managed Service Provider (MSP) is an extremely important business decision that you have to make based on the right reasons. Deciding on who your partner should be is very imperative to your overall goal as a company. Having the right partner that helps you grow instead of costing you unnecessary costs can make a major difference in the productivity of your company.
Below you will find a compilation of questions to think about when hiring a MSP. These questions come from our experience of providing and maintaining IT support for many businesses.
- Is a live person answering their calls?
A trustworthy IT provider will provide a multitude of ways to be able to get in touch with them. This includes a live person answering the phone during business hours, and a person responding with email or chat after business hours through support platforms. Be weary though for any company that puts too much emphasis on email or chat, you should be able to reach a real person if need be you absolutely need to.
- Is there onsite or after-hours support available in case of an emergency?
It is in your best interest to choose a MSP that can offer you both remote and onsite support. You may not need onsite help very often, most things can be fixed remotely, but there is value in being able to get a real person to come and help you. Knowing that a technician is available to come to you in the event of an emergency is a great feeling of security for your and your business.
- Do they monitor your network remotely and provide proactive maintenance?
An MSP is supposed to be able to monitor your IT environment while providing maintenance to keep your company running as it should. They should be able to be proactive about your company and prepared for anything that could arise. They are proactive by utilizing a monitoring system that works 24x7x365 and collects statistics such as CPU and memory usage, disk space from your servers and networking components. Using these tools, your MSP should be able to fix any issue that they see come up before it becomes a major problem. With these tools, most issues should be fixed before you even know about them, leaving you and your staff to worry free.
- Can the MSP provide you with software licenses, passwords, user information, warranties, and network documentation for all your devices?
It is important that you always have proper documentation and access to everything you own for your business. While some IT providers don’t want to give you all information they have since it gives them control, you should always have all the information at all times.
- Does the MSP offer an “all-inclusive” support plan that clearly defines all services that they provide?
A popular service option with MSPs is the option that benefits both sides of the equation. While a main goal of a MSP is to maximize billable hours, that is not beneficial to the client. You want to look for a MSP that has flat-fee arrangement so that they are motivated to perform their work quickly, accurately and as efficiently as they can. But, make sure to check what all comes with their all-inclusive plan to know what you are and aren’t paying for.
- Will you receive regular reports on the health of your IT environment?
One of the most crucial benefits that you should be getting from your MSP is being able to plan ahead and budget for any unforeseen IT emergencies that might arise. Your MSP should be giving you monthly reports that keep you up to date on the performance of all your systems, all work that they performed over the month, as well as a list of any mishaps that have occurred or could be coming up.
- Do they have any qualifications or certifications?
A trustworthy IT company should have people on staff that have a variety of certifications such as: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), or Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). They should also be vendor partners with Microsoft, Dell, Cisco or HP to be truly reputable.
Nevada IT Solutions specializes in the technology solutions that match the needs of local small organizations, including managed IT services in Reno and surrounding areas. Our goal is to help your business and be more than your typical “IT Dudes”. We want to be your partners and help you with ease through your IT needs. Get in touch with us today!
