So your company has decided it wants to outsource some, or all, of its IT (Information Technology) functions. You may have noticed a great deal of IT support companies out there, but finding the right one for your business can be complicated.
Putting a business-critical function, such as IT & computer support, in the hands of a third party can be quite scary. How do you know if your provider is reliable? Is their service a good value? What will happen if something goes wrong?
Interviewing potential companies is a vital part of choosing the right IT support provider. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Find a LOCAL IT Support Company
Most companies offering IT Services in Utah will provide remote computer support. This works just fine when your business is in Salt Lake City and the IT Company is in St. George. But what happens when the internet stops working? In order to provide remote support you need to have working internet. In this case, the IT Company will have to coordinate with another IT professional in your area to come to your location and resolve the issue. If this other IT professional is not available for several hours, or several days, then your company will not be able to work during this time. That is a LOT of lost revenue!
Another IT company in the Salt Lake City area will provide an on-site tech but only for certain days of the week. But if you have an issue on a day they are not scheduled then you either pay extra for them to come out, OR you just sit on your hands until they finally show up on their scheduled day. In today's fast paced business world, who has time to wait around? You deserve fast, quality service when you need it, not when they feel like finally getting around to giving it to you.
The solution is to find a LOCAL IT Support Company that provides remote AND on-site support. At qnectU, we service companies along the Wasatch Front from Ogden down to Salt Lake City, and on down through Utah County. In an emergency event where our team cannot resolve the issue remotely, we can quickly drive to our clients to resolve the issue "hands on".
Be sure that you ask any IT Company you are considering if they are local, can quickly remote into your office to resolve issues immediately, and if needed, drive to your location(s).
Bonus Tip: When considering Managed IT Services, be sure that the company your choose to work with provides a service agreement that does not charge extra fees for on-site work. This will ensure that any work performed, whether remote or on-site, will be covered in your standard monthly agreement.
Does the IT Services Company have experience working with your industry (and your specific industry software)?
Most industries have specific software that is utilized for their business (called a "Line of Business", or LOB, software). Health care companies such as hospitals have specific billing and patient record software. A family doctor's office will utilize a different billing and patient record system that is not as robust and is more cost effective for their smaller practice.
Also, many companies are moving toward cloud services and saas (software as a service) products that are more flexible and utilize a monthly "pay for what you use" model (ie, pay per user model such as the current Office 365 services) rather than purchasing an expensive program that runs on a local server or computer systems. Be sure that the IT Company you work with is familiar with your LOB software and any other business systems or business technologies.
Most importantly, you need an IT company that understands YOUR business. A great IT company will not only understand the technology infrastructure, but will take the time to understand the needs of your business AND help you plan for future growth. Utilizing technology properly in order to maximize your company's growth and profit margin are key to your long term success.
At qnectU, we provide more than just in-house help desk and desktop support, we provide IT security & compliance solutions (including computer security audits and cyber-security monitoring), and more importantly, become a part of your team. We work with you to strategize how to best incorporate technology...the right solutions, at the right price and the right time, to reach your company's goals.
Be sure that the company you choose to work with has a major focus on helping your company succeed. Anything less is just wasting money.
Bonus Tip: It is a good idea to ask about any industry specific compliance or regulatory requirements that your IT provider needs to comply with. Most providers have a basic privacy policy but with HIPAA, GDPR, and local Utah data requirements, you want to ensure that your IT provider signs any required documents to protect yourself AND that they are also compliant with all required regulations.
** Reminder, for HIPAA, not only do you need to be compliant, you are required to do your "best effort" to ensure that any vendors you use are also compliant. A simple BAA is NOT enough to ensure compliance.
What is covered and what isn’t covered in the IT support contract?
Too often companies think they are getting complete cover, only to discover they can only log a certain amount of support tickets a month or there’s an extra charge for certain services. It is better to be clear from the outset on exactly what level of support you would be getting. Otherwise, you risk getting tied into an unsuitable contract. If it turns out what you were considering isn’t quite right you can always ask whether there are different levels of support.
Although you may think this would be covered by asking what is included, asking what isn't included will provide you with extra detail. There may be a number of services which are not included in the contract and it is important that you have examples of what may be billed separately. Some companies provide back-up and disaster recovery services (BDR) in their monthly services, while many do not. BDR is extremely important in today's ransomware environment so it is important to verify if it is or is not included.
If there are any services which are not included in the support contract, ask about their ad-hoc or hourly pricing.
We provide multiple levels of service that are specifically tailored to the financial, medical, and legal industries, which have higher levels of compliance. Plus, we can create custom plans based on each client's needs. 
Be sure that any company you consider doing business with will do a thorough up-front interview to determine your specific needs before quoting a price. You don't want to end up in a contract that doesn't work with your way of doing business. Or worse, that doesn't cover your basic needs and ends up costing you much more in additional services.
Bonus Tip: Does the IT provider have an in-house live support team that provides the tech support? A more recent surge of outsourced help-desk solutions is overtaking the industry. This type of support structure is concerning. If you hire a local company to take care of your business networks, the last thing you want is to call for support and speak to someone half way across the world who doesn't even know your or your business goals. Make sure that your IT support company does NOT outsource the help desk support (not even to another US based company).
Does the IT Services Utah Company have any guaranteed response times?
You should expect your IT support company to offer guaranteed response times in the case of a problem. The exact response time may depend on what level of support you are willing to pay for, and there may be different response times for different priority levels. For example for a high priority issue or a P1, the company might guarantee that you will receive the first response in 15 minutes.
It is also important to differentiate between response and resolution times. If your company just says two hours, ask them to clarify if this means they will respond to you within two hours or they will resolve your issue within two hours.
If a company guarantees they will resolve an issue in a certain time period, be cautious. Of course, you should expect a target timeframe, but how can they guarantee when a specific issue will be fixed? It can sometimes take longer than expected to get to the root cause of the problem.
Are there any pre-requisites to working together?
There are IT companies that are desperate enough take anyone with a pulse. But that doesn't mean you want to work with them.
Other companies will require you to make your entire network/infrastructure to comply with their "uniform standards". This would be an added expense on top of any quoted monthly service level agreement, and could cost your company 5-6 figures to comply with. Having standards isn't a bad thing, you just need to know up front if there are any additional costs that you must incur in order to do business with your IT company.
Also, just like above, certain IT companies are more niche specific. We focus on the medical, legal, and financial industries where we can bring our expertise on compliance as an added benefit to our clients. In addition, we focus on small businesses that have 10-50 employees. Do we take on clients that are outside of these parameters? Yes, on a case-by-case basis, after an up-front interview. We have clients with just 3 employees and other clients with over 100 employees. But each of these clients has one major thing in common: they are focused on growing their business quickly and systematically. We understand that our expertise will benefit these types of clients the most, which brings a higher level of value to them.
At the end of the day, finding the RIGHT IT Services Company in Utah is about doing your homework. Simply hiring the company that charges the least money is a disaster waiting to happen. And going with your neighbor's uncle's cousin based simply on a recommendation is not ideal either.
Use the above suggestions and be sure to ask LOTS of questions. Finding the right fit is a little like dating. You may have to interview a few frogs, but eventually, you will find the right company that is the best fit for you!
Need more advice on how to choose the right Managed IT Services Provider in Utah? Fill out the form below to receive the free IT Services Comparison Chart and we will send it directly to your email.
