With most businesses adopting managed IT services, it seems it will become the new norm. Outsourcing an IT service provider is a significant investment for any company, considering you still have to maintain your in-house IT team. This begs the question: how do I make it a viable investment for my business? The answer is, by taking a leap of faith, outsourcing one, and ensuring you get the most out of this partnership.
Wondering how to best maximize managed IT services? This article will guide you in the right direction. Just follow the tips below.
Understand Your Needs
To get the best from your outsourced IT provider, you need to know your IT needs. If you aren’t proficient in the technology sector, let your in-house IT team give you insight. They should tell you about needs they’re having difficulty fulfilling for several reasons, such as the lack of advanced technology available to them.
Make a list of what you need the best New York IT consultants to do for your company. Have the items in order of priority. Those at the top should be the ones you can’t compromise on or forgo, while those at the bottom, the managed service provider need not handle them.
By understanding the needs of your business, you’ll be able to provide a benchmark against which you can vet various managed IT providers.
Choose A Managed IT Provider Carefully
For the utmost maximization of your managed provider, you must select one that fully meets your needs. And that can include choosing a provider that's local to your region. If you're in Nebraska, for example, then you can find some excellent managed IT services in Omaha, that will work with you to build your technology roadmap.
Compare the services they’re offering against the list you previously made of your business needs. Your preferred provider should be able to meet most of your needs, if not all of them. Don’t compromise on the services you’re going to get; if they don’t meet your core requirements, drop them and continue the vetting process. Why should you settle for less when you can get the best?
Most business owners tend to fall into the trap of basing their choice of provider on the prices they’re offering. Yes, it’s a determinant, but it shouldn’t be at the forefront. Don’t join the wagon on this one. The cheapest option isn’t always the most viable one. Compare the price being presented against the services being offered. Is it cost-efficient to you, beyond your needs being met?
Outline Roles
A great time waster is not establishing the roles to be fulfilled by your provider from the start. With no outlining, they’ll provide their general services, which might not fully satisfy your business needs, since what works for one company might not work for another.
Lay down your expectations of what you require from them regarding service delivery. For better working relations and efficiency, they should also let you know what they expect from you as their client. Do they require certain services or resources from you to execute their tasks?
If the outsourced IT team is to work with your in-house team, define the roles that each should and shouldn’t perform. This will prevent conflicts during task executions, which may waste valuable time and cause you to end up losing a good IT provider.
Besides defining roles, establish the communication channels to be followed by both teams in reaching each other or the top management.
Clearly outlining roles for your managed IT provider provides a platform on which you can call them out for possible underperformance.
Formulate Strategies Together
Managed IT providers have a high level of expertise in the IT field. Therefore, besides using them for the services they offer, let them give you insight into your operations. Let them in on your daily operations to allow them to customize their services for your business entirely.
Come up with data recovery and incident response plans together. By brainstorming, you can come up with rigid plans that can be implemented using the resources your company has.
Trust Their Services
Establish clear and constant communication from the start. Regularly send and receive feedback regarding your operations and provide a platform where you can communicate freely with each other.
Learn to ask questions. If there’s an additional thing you think they can do for your business, ask them about it so you can come to an agreement.
Make sure to have a good rapport with the outsourced IT company—if not with their technicians, then at least with its top management. Let them know you value them, and don’t undermine them just because they aren’t in-house. It’s believed that people will work better and be motivated to provide their services if they feel respected and valued. Do the same, and you’ll get the best from them.
Takeaway
It should be noted that, even as you aim to establish a good relationship with your outsourced IT provider, you shouldn’t forget to put your business needs at the forefront. If your company outgrows your managed IT services along the line, you need to terminate their services and choose one that can meet your new needs. Therefore, as you choose your provider, it’s essential to consider their flexibility. Since your business is bound to grow in a few years, can they grow with you and meet your growing needs?
As you can see, the above are simple practices that you can quickly adopt. You don’t have to do much to ensure you get the most and best services from your managed IT team.
Erin Hayes is a technology guru and small business owner. She holds workshops on a yearly basis to educate small business owners on how to increase their economies of scale. During her free time, Erin loves to go for runs, bird-watch, and come up with new recipes.
Stay up to date
Sign up for my FREE newsletter. Get informed of the latest happenings in the programming world.