Introduction
Like so many other companies, you have made a significant investment in what you have made the life of your business. From workstations to laptops and servers, and from software applications to printers and internet connection, you can not afford to be When you are lucky, when they are lucky, when they leave they have fixed more than they have damaged, costing you even more money in the end. You are someone that understands your needs, and knows how to address them.
I have a problem, it takes days to have a problem, it takes days to receive a response and another few days before someone actual shows up to address the problem . I am reminded of the old cartoons when the severely nearsighted Mr. Magoo would leave a trail of accidents in his rear view mirror as he drove down the road, I am sure we & # 39; ve all felt this way with various vendors we & # 39; ve left on wondering how they ever got so big?
In the interest of sparing you the pain of hiring a Mr. Magoo, I offered this article with some helpful information for finding and hiring a trustworthy, competent and affordable IT support company
The Value of Referrals
I & # 39; d never eat at a C, would you?
"I can not be afraid to try something new," she admonished. I just smoked and nodded as I thought Likewise, when in need of a new dentist or mechanic I always poll friends, family or collections who they use Ask other business owners in your professional circle if they are happy with their IT support company. If you have any any local Trust me; the company they will recommend greatly appreciate the referral.
In the late 1990s a Los Angeles local news program ran a hidden camera expose on the filthy conditions of some area restaurant kitchens. Grainy video showed the most extreme violations common kitchen hygiene practices, let alone public health code. The public outcry lead the tournament to the requirement That sell food post the letter grade of their most recent city inspection Virtually overnight, small white placards with big a blue A, B or, heaven forbid, C became prominently displayed in eatery windows and even gas station mini-marts all over town. It is rare to see anything Personally I need th Though lower than an A and, one one, is one eat there? Probably not. Personally I need th at little blue A, that referral from the Department of Public Health, in the window as a reassurance that I will not spending the night in the bathroom.
I do not recommend trusting in online reviews from places like Yelp or Yahoo Local where it is is Another reason I do not trust them iseless trust them is that short not after advertisements offering to pay people to write products reviews there seemed to be an uptick in customer product evaluations at various Coincidence, maybe, but I can not imagine going online to Macys.com to write about the underwear I bought last week when they were comfy or not.
There are some reliable, such as AngiesList.com, where consumers pay an annual fee for the privilege of posting and reading vendor reviews. Ideally, this lessens the opportunity for self-promotion and abuse, but I am not sure it is worth a monthly fee.
So, unless there is a particular vendor endorsement web site you like, I would stick with referrals from more traditional sources you know and trust.
Vetting the Candidates
If you have the first person someone recommended to you and it worked out, you can a list of possible vendors that is good, too, but it is time to carefully narrow your selection to the kind of organizations that can meet your needs without draining your wallet.
If you boast of a thousand employees, huge customers and a big shiny office building, I've got to overcharge that overhead.
You are likely to have a more satisfying clientele. You are likely to have a more personal experience as well as an as opportunity to negotiate fees, terms, etc. Interview them just as you Check their references and, if an IT vendor has posted You may learn that you have changed and they are not happy since they have been testimonial was given, or that while the support is good, their business and computer systems It is more likely to have a pleasant and will recommend you a PC guru. as to investigate to ensure their competency:
Are They Competent to Handle What You Have?
Ask them to demonstrate that they are competent in the software and hardware your business uses.
I really like my mechanic, Mike. He does a great job on my family I experience a mid-life crisis and go nuts with a German sports car. Hopefully Mike can service it, but if I do not have an idea of someone that can. Imagine if you finally settled on a company you like, but when the tech shows up, he stares blankly at your PC and says, "I & # 39; m It's the interview of the mind, before you start calling around to see which company gives you the warm and fuzzies, make a list of the software and equipment you expect them to support and go over it . Their response should have an idea of their level of competence with your computer, server, email, financial or accounting platforms.
Familiarity with Your Industry
If you have highly specialized systems, look for companies company cater to your niche.
The accounting staffing company is probably running what the insurance guy has down the hall: HP or Dell hardware running Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, etc. with a T1, DSL or cable modem to the Internet. The staffing company will be running a recruiter-specific software application, such as ProSearch while the Insurance guy 's primary production application is Goldmine, or a web-based solution like SalesForce Anything else is guaranteed to have a quick reading at these, do a little reading and have enough information to keep them running reliably. Businesses such as retailers or legal offices may have custom or legacy (old and out of warranty) It can break in so many different ways that can be with that particular product with that particular product or its foundations can render a fast, effective fix With a proper budget and knowledge, the best techs will have it configured with redundancy and failover mechanisms so that when it breaks, it is transparent to the end users and there is no loss of productivity.
If you are running shrink-wrapped software like Windows, Office and QuickBooks, it will not matter as much as if new IT support vendor is not immediately familiar with your marketing business as long as it has experience with the software you run it on. I should get an interest to understand your business, if you have a securities broker with an SDLC card for your DTCC solution, it would be helpful to hire someone with a client base similar to your line of work. The for going down the last thing you want is your IT guy scratching his head and searching Google for error codes.
Understanding of Your Needs
Getting immediate problem fixed is important, so too is understanding what is essential to you and making continued improvements in your network to benefit your business.
He should ask questions like "It made entertain different different companies company better to understand what what is important to you and what you need need return to your investment you" "," How do you feel things could be be more efficient? "And" How is your current IT support vendor falling short?
Does she she listen and repeat back what you said to demonstrate it understanding of your situation, or just go on and on pushing her own product? Once you finally settle on hiring someone, over time the consultant should get a feel for your work flow and begin Security vulnerabilities should be discovered and resolved and eventually you will notice your network running more smoothly than ever. A couple of years ago I walked into the office of a new client and The "server" was the office manager "This was a multi-million dollar retail operation with over 100 employees in the field and 10 people in the corporate office on a peer-to-peer network. s desktop hosting all of the company 's documents including HR files, marketing, billing, invoices, resumes, etc. It was also hosting a huge QuickBooks file (over 500 MB!) Which the other desktop computers What caught my eye was a stack of black accounting ledger books, one for The following morning, a clerk would play as as many as 90 voicemails and transcribe The numbers into the black books for the owner to peruse later in the day. Talk about inefficient.
Within a month we have an online form available to the salons via Microsoft SharePoint. At the end of the shift, they simply added the number into the form for the owner 's immediate review in Excel. The new procedure saved the company 15 hours per week in labor costs!
You have a new one. You have a new one. You have a new one.
Ensuring Business Continuity
How long can you afford to be down while you struggle to get back up?
How they done done - tape, external hard drives, online? Who is responsible for them? Are they tested? Once How long do you have a discussion about business continuity. How long do you have a discussion about business continuity. is being recovered? in the event of a fire, flood or theft of your computers, how will you get that backed up data onto computers and get your business back up and running?
Make sure that your new IT consultant understands the answers to these questions and answers to these emergency to properly respond to an emergency to either keep running, or get you back up and running according to their service level agreement.
Scalability
If you expect to grow, your IT provider should have the knowledge and resources to build a computer infrastructure that grows right along with you.
Are you planning to downsize, stay as you are, or become the 800 pound gorilla in your market? Of course, a new IT consultant will not be as excited to help you downsize as it entails But if you plan to stay as you are or grow, your service provider should be able to assist as well as as keep up.
In the economic downturn of late 2000 / early 2001, or "dot-bomb" era, I was laid off as business took a dive and my employer went into survival mode. Seemingly overnight this successful organization went from about 75 employees to about 5 I was not informed and moved to a more austere office I was not informed and certain critical things were left out of planning the relocation, like the Internet connection. As a staffing organization the Internet was a key And even if they had, there are people, to send and receive candidates, and posters to the job board, on even internally hosted web site and more. They were dead in the water. They were dead in the water.
Today you can get Internet connection in a couple of days, but this incident was back when the DSL providers had over sold their services through very creative TV advertising campaigns (who remembers SBC 's "Web Hog" commercials?) And new installations were 6 weeks out. So, in a major pinch, they called me and I was able to help them get a temporary and very slow dial-up connection to the Internet to at least get email streaming again.
Many IT departments become the de facto Facilities Department of their organizations, If they are improperly set up as well, they must be determined so far. I am a new server required or will a site-to-site VPN connection be adequate? These are all issues a good IT service provider should be conscience of and develop solutions for.
Respected in the IT Community
In some cases the resumes themselves were so error laden, I could not let the IT vendors can develop so they are are respected that they are never out of the job because they have been strongly related to reputations as they are technically proficient as well as just around IT vendors can develop Similar reputations through the good work of the people that staff. you are able to be able to recover from those companies you are hiring, as well as copies of the technicians assigned to care for your computers.
There are those who have some people. There are those who have an awesome memory and can remember every detail of configurations of esoteric Hopefully someone has experienced with the same problem I have and has taken the time to post the resolution online. Likewise, when I get over a hump others are still struggling to conquer, I try and let everyone know the solution that worked for me.
A simple Google or Bing searching for the name of the company you may also discover that they have belong contribution they have made to their community in the way of technical articles or blog posts. to industry affiliations for improving the level of service they provide their customers, awards, or other honors.
Howdy Pard & # 39; ner
As a technician, I know that, if I get Whether 2 in the afternoon or 2 Whether 2 in the afternoon or 2 Whether 2 in the afternoon or 2 in my morning, if my customer & # 39; s email server is down and I have exhausted all other problems to resolve the problem, I know I can call Microsoft and a team of engineers will work with me 24 hours a day until it is fixed . They are one of the few companies that will not be part of the company. Small Business Specialist. This is not a design that easy easy - a prospective partner must pass a series of tests and satisfy other stringent requireme The more requirements met, the higher the partnership level and associated benefits.
Likewise for Sun Micro Systems, Oracle, Trend Micro, etc. You will benefit greatly from their association with these companies .
It can also mean better ___ ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ 0
Non-Disclosure Agreement
When you trust someone with the kingdom, get some assurance they will not make copies to share with others.
It takes years such hard work to develop such a list And prevent to to competitor. To prevent it from becoming lost or damaged it should be backed up nightly with your other data. And to I want to falling into enemy hands, anyone like a must-have IT signer a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This goes for your employees as well; others those in a sales role who would benefit from your hard earned Rolodex if they You can easily find customizable boiler plate NDAs on-line, or send me an email and I will gladly provide one to you.
Contracts: Good and Bad
I am so thankful that cable companies, the gas and power companies do not make you sign a contract. Of course, they are pretty much monopolies so why would they? Fortunately, they do not do that, at least not the ones in my Neck of the woods, at least, not yet. There is plenty of cellular competition out there, but an implied conspiracy suggest that they are in cahoots with their obscene early termination fess in excess of $ 300. The upside to the competition I do not have free contract to up, you are a free agent to sigh with whomever you please, so they better be Johnny On the Spot when problems need correcting. I notice a significant difference between the level of service I get from the cable carrier which also offers my Internet service for The cable company (Not contract and no cable competition) and my cellular carrier (contract with competition). The service company? Not so much.
The vendor enjoys predictable cash flow and some assurance that, despite how happy you made them The more smoothly your machines run, the less downtime you have, today, they are less likely to hire someone else who is running an enticing promotion. It is a win-to-worry and the more you have to worry and the more money they make make to have to pay someone to dash out and fix them. It is a win- win for everyone involved. Indeed, contracts in this case can be good for everyone, but make sure that there is some kind of out cause so that you are not held host by a company providing you rotten service.
To establish expectations: I will perform expectations: I will perform expectations: I will perform expectation this service for you will compensate me x. cancel the contract. If you fail to pay me, I will stop service until I receive payment, etc.
As I expressed earlier, I am writing this in a period of economic decline and things are tough all over. I believe this personal touch is what is going on my business and pay me. I believe this personal touch is not economical improving. to help many companies survive this tough economy.
Even if your contract establishes 15, 30 or 90 terms, the personal relationship you develop with your vendor should allow for some wiggle room in this area as circumstances dictate.
SLA and SOWs
Establish in writing expectations for ongoing support as well as any special projects.
On the hardware side this may may be issued and signed separately or as part of the contract. (email server) on the server side and Outlook (email client) on the desktop side.
Depending upon the severity level, their response time may range from 1 hour for the most critical issues (server down) to 4 hours ( 1 of 5 printers has a paper jam).
In a nutshell, the SOW will state the problem or the need, the establishment of the work (SOW) to establish expectations on both ends. solution, timeline, deliverables, end result and costs.
An SOW might not be needed for the odd printer jam or email snag, but if you have already sold a firewall to control employee web surfing, viruses and spam, the statement of work will help both parties understand the scope of the project and agree when The last thing you want. The last thing you want is the consultant to tell you he is finished installing Internet filter but your employees are still updating Facebook on company time and you & # 39; ve got more spam in your Inbox than ever before.
Summary
With any a kind of in the end, you are in a end consciousness company with, in the end, humorous a happy tune. With any kind of sophisticated there there will always be some issues, especially as I have worked in a few companies where IT was given top priority. I fact, I can count It's a technology company with a commercial website, so naturally there was a great deal of emphasis on the quality of the network, servers, workstations, etc. and technicians looking after them. Unfortunately, either through budget constraints or The email server crashes and everyone runs around like the clichéd headless chicken clamoring for a Productivity drops as the crisis dominates the day which is consumed by meetings to find solutions, workarounds or just commiserating and no one able to do his or her job. Making things worse , excuses are having to be due to customers because "the system & # 39; s down again" and the organization looks just plain bad.
Only a computer professional with training and experience in the software and hardware you operate has the skill set required keep it all running properly.
If you have not had the time to read everything in this article, here are a few quick questions to keep in mind when considering a company or individual to care for your business computers:
1. Can you provide a list of customer references?
2. Are you certified to support my hardware and software?
3. Do you have a written Service Level Agreement?
4. Do you have any other customers in my industry? (If so, make sure they are in the list of references.)
Is your work 100% guaranteed?
6. Do you offer monthly support maintenance agreements?
7. Do you offer a discounted hour rate for customers under a maintenance agreement?
8. What is your guaranteed call back time for emergencies?
9. How do you protect my data and can you give an example of how recovered a client & # 39; s data in the past?
10. How quickly can you get my business systems up and running in the event of an emergency?
