Are you researching IT Managed Service Providers in northern Colorado?
If you've been assigned the important task of choosing the best company possible to manage your Information Technology (IT), use our list of tips to guide you.
Tips for Choosing It Managed Service Providers
#1: Define what is important to your company…not just from an IT perspective, but from a business perspective too. Spend some time to outline the priorities in your business. What drives your business forward and how is technology tied to that? Additionally, what attributes are you looking for in an IT partner? You should evaluate things like size, depth, expertise, certifications, value proposition, application knowledge, vertical knowledge, delivery model, geographic location, etc. If you don’t know, we can help you understand the pros & cons in each area.
#2: After you've completed that first critically important task, then you need to take a look at the culture of your business. Will an outsourced company be a good fit to step in and work with your team? While a great MSP is set up to provide great service and support, there will certainly be a shift in how much you see an IT person onsite. An MSP should be able to resolve 90% or more of all issues remotely without needing to roll a truck to come onsite. While this is a more efficient and effective means of providing support, some companies are so used to shoulder tapping a physical person when they need help that it can be difficult to make the jump to a model where speaking to remote resources is the primary means of getting support. But remember…remote support is faster and more efficient for BOTH parties.
#3: Are there any needs or demands from your industry that carry specific IT requirements or compliance? When selecting an MSP, make sure that the company has experience with other companies in your industry. They should have an understanding of how certain requirements and compliance regulations impact how you do business and how your business processes tie into technology.
#4: Consider some of the attributes that you would value in an IT partner? You should evaluate things like size, depth of skillset, certifications they carry, application knowledge, vertical market experience, delivery model, geographic location, go-to-market strategy, etc. All of these items will start to paint the full picture of how the MSP will be able to serve your needs.
#5: Understand the costs tied into your current IT strategy. Prior to sitting down and meeting with IT companies, you should know what it costs to deliver IT to your company today. What are you spending on network/end user support? Network maintenance? Data protection? Security? Software support? Computer/Server replacement? Warranties? Licenses? You should also try to consider your cost of downtime…do you have any specific risks involved with single points of failure? Many IT companies will try to win your business by simply proposing a lower monthly cost of support, but a true MSP who can truly lower your overall cost of delivering your IT initiative will propose a higher monthly price to better manage all aspects of your IT initiative and provide true business consulting.
#6: Do you have an idea of your long-term IT strategy and how it will impact your business? Providing IT support and responding to end user issues is just a sliver of the overall IT needs of a business. Probably the more important questions to ask are:
“Where is my business going and how does technology tie into that?”
“What is my strategy for better leveraging the cloud?”
“How do I make sure that I spend my IT dollars right the first time?”
“What should I really be spending on IT?”
“Where do I have risk exposure in my business and how should I place priority on those items and properly budget to address those needs over time?”
These are all questions that require proper consulting and strategizing. When evaluating a new IT company, make sure that there are resources dedicated to your company that help you create a business plan for your technology to help you better plan, prepare and budget for success in this area.
In northern Colorado, southern Wyoming and all along the front range of Colorado, there are many companies that call themselves IT Managed Service Providers but when you use our list of tips, you'll find that only a very few have the qualities and relatively large number of talented employees who can truly take care of your company's most important assets. Our company is one of the top IT Managed Service Providers you’ll come across. If you’re along the Front Range of Colorado and Southern Wyoming, with 10-250 employees who need end-to-end IT support and consulting, please give us a call to schedule a consultation.
