By Rick Boyles, President, Computer Networks, Inc. |
You might not be able to afford a full-time IT staff, and luckily, in many cases you don’t need one. That’s what Managed IT Services providers are all about. However, just because they are more affordable than an IT staff doesn’t mean you hurriedly pick a Managed IT Services company and go with them. Choosing one with which you can maintain a long-term relationship is essential to running your business smoothly, so making that decision should take some time. Here are a few things you should consider when looking for Managed IT Services in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, or Suffolk.
Find an MSP With Transparent Policies
The last thing you need is hidden fees, weird contract clauses, and half-truths coming from someone who is going to know your computer systems intimately. Our IT company prides itself on a Guarantee policy that has served our clients well since 2004 in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Suffolk.
For instance, sometimes your chosen Managed IT Services provider may decide that working on a problem remotely is a good thing to do, and that involves taking down firewalls you usually keep up to keep any security breaches from happening, so knowing exactly what the company is going to do while they’re there is important. The Managed IT Services company should be able to provide documentation that is understandable by any normal human being about what they are doing that day, even if it is a little technical. Any documentation should clearly state the problem, what’s being done about it, and how long it should take. This allows everyone to be on the same page at the same time, which is valuable to your company.
Productivity Over Money
While it’s true that you shouldn’t be looking for a company that does everything “on the cheap,” and you shouldn’t focus on the hourly cost as much as some people do, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of it. Simply put, your Managed IT Services provider shouldn’t be around all of the time. Sometimes they will be around for a few days in a row, and then they should be gone. Their goal should not be to rack up billable hours, and even if you shouldn’t worry so much about how many hours are being billed, you should ensure they aren’t robbing you. A good Managed IT Services company doesn’t constantly put out fires; it prevents fires before they become a problem so they don’t have to bill you for an issue they could have solved. If they’re doing that and being productive, then that’s an IT company you want to work with – even if they do have a higher hourly rate than the IT company next to them.
Value
Some Managed IT Services companies are all about the value, and those are the ones you should hire. While they are around, they should be telling you about and then enacting backup systems. In many cases of hardware failure and other technical issues, there can be an “automatic response” to that issue, even if it’s just a ticket being sent to the Managed IT Services provider so you don’t have to call. These types of responses should be almost invisible to the public and should include a variety of response plans and recovery strategies. Those results should also be measurable, either in productivity or operational costs, both of which translate into more profit for your business.
When you can’t rely on in-house IT, your computer network services company is going to have to be a transparent, valuable resource that you should be able to trust with every aspect with your business. Choosing wisely will benefit you much more in the long run.
About our Managed IT Services
in Virginia Beach
Our Managed IT Services in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk helps businesses and medical practices with a full range of IT needs. Founded in 2004 by Rick Boyles, our typical customer has 10 to 150 workstations, is a business or medical practice, and relies heavily on e-mail, the Internet, and their computer network for running their offices. Clients hire our IT experts to provide managed IT services to stop cyberattacks and medical data breaches, and to provide computer network services. They do not want to incur the overhead and cost of a full-time IT staff, and they do not want to risk their IT to a self-taught employee who knows “a few things” about computers.
