Your business can benefit from working with an IT provider. However, it would help avoid several vital mistakes when choosing your team.
Your business can benefit from working with an IT provider. However, it would help avoid several vital mistakes when choosing your team.
Time spent trying to figure out the technology you use in your business can be costly. While doing that, you can’t focus on your business needs, resulting in poor customer satisfaction.
This is where IT providers come into play.
They enable you to outsource hardware and computing-related services, such as managed IT security and cloud computing. IT providers can also provide a robust IT infrastructure so that you can direct your attention to revenue-generating activities.
While there are numerous IT providers to choose from, not all of them may accommodate your business’s specific needs. And integrating with the wrong team can raise your spending due to unrelated services, recurring security issues, data backup problems, and downtime.
Therefore, you need to be extra careful when selecting your team. We want to share these seven common mistakes when looking for the right IT provider.
MISTAKE #1 - INSISTING ON THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY
Many advertisers want to trick you into believing that the latest technology will resolve all your issues. While the newest virtualization or cloud offerings can boost operations in many enterprises, they might not suit your business.
Hence, don’t let the hype surrounding new products dazzle you.
Thoroughly consider the results your IT provider will help you achieve and determine if the investment allows you to fulfill them. Even though some upgrades are necessary due to cyber security concerns and requirements, your provider shouldn’t confuse you with state-of-the-art features.
MISTAKE #2 - FAILURE TO CONSIDER THE RESPONSE TIMES
Determining the response times of your prospective IT providers is essential. It would help if you asked them how long they usually reply to queries and resolve problems. Be sure to determine their onsite support efficiency, too.
Not asking about their availability is another mistake. Your IT team should provide round-the-clock services, including monitoring of your system.
Constant monitoring and availability can help ensure you can detect IT issues early. With this, the partner can proactively administer patches and updates to safeguard against disasters.
Furthermore, your local IT provider should offer simple access to their desk support. You should contact them via email, phone, and ticketing portal.
MISTAKE #3 - NEGLECTING SECURITY
Disregarding the security features of your IT provider might be the most severe mistake. Teams with improper defense mechanisms can’t shield your system from cyber attackers, increasing the risk of losing data and access to resources.
To avoid this, look for service providers that can protect you from malware and other threats. They also need to prioritize protecting your business’s confidential data, like trade secrets and customer information.
Your IT provider should have features that prevent data intrusions instantly upon detection for specific security measures. The list includes phishing attacks simulations, web content filtering, DNS security, endpoint protection, mobile device management, and dark web protection.
In addition, responsible teams should eliminate point-of-sale and network intrusions before they compromise your system. Making sure they abide by security compliance and government regulations is also paramount.
MISTAKE #4 - FORGETTING THE BUDGET
Many IT companies operate under pay-as-you-go pricing schemes. Although this helps you minimize upfront investment, adopting many technologies simultaneously without considering the recurring costs can cripple your finances.
Thus, think twice before signing on the dotted line.
Research your providers thoroughly and draft your budget with expert assistance.
MISTAKE #5 - NOT DEFINING SCALABILITY
One of the biggest impediments to growing your company is choosing an IT provider with poor scalability.
By contrast, scalable IT teams allow your business to evolve and grow. They can continually extend their services to accommodate your company’s goals, even if these goals change.
MISTAKE #6 - OPTING FOR A NON-RESPONSIVE SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
Service level agreements (SLAs) hold IT providers accountable for their services. It establishes responsibilities, quality, scope, and delivery time in writing. Without it, you’ll have no way of ensuring transparent collaboration.
When selecting your IT provider, find one with a responsive agreement. It can help guarantee the SLA scales with their services while rendering continual improvement.
MISTAKE #7 - IGNORING EXPERIENCES WITH PREVIOUS CLIENTS
Choosing an IT provider is similar to buying standard products and services. Failure to check user reviews can lead to disappointment.
To get a clear picture of your IT team’s capabilities, analyze their current and previous clients from similar industries. Look for reviews, testimonials, and ask the provider for a list of projects and references.
After doing your due diligence, you should tell whether an IT provider is an ideal match for your company.
However, keep in mind that every IT team is different. For instance, they might be well-versed in the healthcare industry but have no experience working with retailers. That’s why as mentioned, stick to IT providers servicing your sector to get the best results.
FIND THE RIGHT FIT
Nobody wants to end up with a poor IT provider that can’t deliver outstanding results, leaves your company open to cyberattacks, and causes other vulnerabilities. Your investment goes down the drain, and your operations suffer.
Fortunately, we can show you a way out.
Let’s organize a quick, 15-minute obligation-free conversation. We can discuss more ways to find the right IT provider for you.
