Hiring a managed services provider can have numerous benefits to your business, but only if you have selected the right one. You want the MSP you hire to deliver skills, resources and expertise that you couldn’t currently attain from your in-house capabilities.
When hiring an MSP, here are some important things to you should be looking out for:
Knowledge of your business
The most obvious ways to discover whether a potential managed services provider is right for your business is from the questions they ask. Your company’s MSP should be interested in your business, its clients, future strategies and overall targets. By getting to know your business’ background and existing IT services and equipment, an MSP can better prepare a personalised plan – flexible to your budget – to improve your technological infrastructure and help you ultimately achieve your goals.
Expertise across the board
Any managed services provider you are considering hiring should have referable expertise across all delivery models that they offer. From managed services, cloud and up-to-date technology, to traditional IT and strategic outsourcing, the provider needs to be able to efficiently and effectively integrate with any in-house teams and, if necessary, deliver a multi-sourcing strategy. You want your MSP to have experience in a variety of fields, including: multiple network technologies, cross-platform integration, mobility, security, virtualisation, databases and cloud technology.
Year-round remote monitoring
The right managed services provider will have invested in a quality remote monitoring and management tool (RMM) and a Networking Operations Centre (NOC). The RMM tool needs to be able to provide alert monitoring for all your business’ work-stations, integrated ticketing, network devices, servers, firewalls, switches and routers. It’s also a good idea to ask to view references regarding this service.
Variety of services
Your company’s requirements are always evolving, meaning your MSP needs to be able to provide a variety of specific services tailored to your business; mobility, security, resilience, system management and cloud storage. You want to know whether your provider will work with external partners in order to find a quick solution for any external software issue that might occur, and what cost will this have to your business? You’ll also need to ask what additional expenditure will occur for software updates, security patches, antivirus and firewall updates.
Technological knowledge
Because technology is developing rapidly, it’s incredibly tough for an individual IT professional to have expertise in all areas of the industry. By having a team of skilled employees, MSP’s can ensure they have specialists with knowledge of each different sector. You want your provider to be able to keep you updated on all the latest innovations and technology that could impact your business, as well as advise you on the most appropriate investments for your business.
Comprehensive support
Any managed services provider you hire should have the capabilities to provide both remote and on-site support. Remote support services will resolve any of the daily issues that might occur without causing your business significant disruption. On-site visits are required in order to see that your equipment is working as it should be, and you will need to confirm whether on-site maintenance is included in these visits. When it comes to your MSP, you’d rather have one that is proactive rather than reactive.
Cost
Many companies can come under the impression that MSPs are commodity-based, and can focus their search on price comparison. But in the world of managed services providers, you get what you pay for. Lower costs are usually associated with below-par service. To ensure technological faults don’t cause your business lost revenue, it’s worthwhile investing in a provider who is the right fit for your business.
Contracted Agreements and Clauses
You need to have a Service Level Agreement with any MSP you hire which will detail the existing infrastructure, potential problems and proposed solutions. There also needs to be written confirmation of a provider’s response times and metrics. Any contract you agree to should include performance-related clauses, that can, if needed, be triggered in order to terminate any deal should your business not feel it is getting the required level of service. Any MSP should be happy to back-up promises with penalties that will occur should the pre-agreed quality or level of service not be met.
If you want to know more about Konnetix and the services we provide, call us on 0800 999 3365 or email us oninfo@konnetix.com