Businesses small and large are turning to managed IT services to free up critical resources in order to speed the development of new products and services to help their companies thrive. Not all managed IT service providers are the same, so how can you get the most from your provider? Here are 7 critical tips sourced from 7 different reliable sources to give you the advice you need to choose the perfect MSP for your company. If you have questions about managed IT services, contact the IT professionals at DSC today.
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Managed IT Services – 7 Critical Tips How to Get the Most from Your Provider
1. “Resist the urge to bargain shop for managed IT services”
The best advice provided in this article by Thor Olavsrud, senior writer, CIO, is that you should avoid the temptation to bargain shop for managed services. With an ever increasing number of companies entering the managed IT services business, it can become difficult to tell the difference between them, so many businesses just go with the lowest priced one. But this may be a mistake. Instead, try to find a managed service provider (MSP) that understands your business and doesn’t just talk about technology. Look for a company that can discuss and understand your business’s goals and that is able to offer you the services that you require to further those goals. You want an MSP that can see your business perspective, not just see the technology perspective.
Source: How to get the most from a managed IT services provider
2. “It should be up-to-date on the latest trends”
A great tip given by David Corey in his article from IT PRoPortal, is that when you are looking for the best MSP, you should make sure that they are well-informed on the latest and most up-to-date trends in hardware, software and network developments. This is important so that they can in turn update and use the most current technology for your business if that is what your company needs. Find out if they have an internal training and upgrading program for their own staff to make sure that they are familiar with and trained in the newest technical developments.
Source: Digital Transformation: Four ways managed service provider should help
3. “Conduct high-level audits and ask for concrete proof of a cloud vendor’s security claims, whether that’s PCI DSS certification or a SSAE 16 report”
It is easy for a MSP to claim that they have a high level of security to ensure the safety of your data but as David Cottingham, suggest in his article originally published from Network World, it is better to ask for proof of those security claims. For example, does the MSP comply with the security standards governed by the Payment card Industry Security Standards Coucil (PCI DSS). Or you could ask them for their SSAE16 report which is a written assertion that their organization’s system description honestly describe their control objectives and accurately consists of the services they provide.
Source: Into the Cloud – Securely
4. “Understand Your Endgame”
Danny Bradbury’s critical tip that he shares in his article from Forbes, is to understand what your goal for using an MSP is so that you can best decide which services to hand off and which to keep in-house. For example, if your company is serious about innovation, you may want to give the mundane services such as managing email to an MSP to handle so that your staff is freed up to come up with new ideas. On the other hand if your company doesn’t have the expertise to engage in introducing new strategies they may want to outsource the strategic part of their functions and have their staff perform the traditional services.
Source: Which IT Services Should Be Managed?
5. “Make sure you understand what security services you need and ask for them by name.”
Entrepreneur.com‘s guest writer Paul Ihme, President of Consulting Services a Soteria, advises that you ask specific questions of prospective MSP’s to make sure that you understand exactly what you are getting. He suggests that if you are getting data backup services, you should ensure that you know exactly where the data is being backed up, how many copies of your data there will be, how long it will be stored, and how long it would take for your data to be restored if required from the backups. An additional tip is to get the answers to all of these questions in writing so that you have something to fall back on.
Source: 4 Security Questions to Ask When Outsourcing IT Operations to Make Sure Your Business Isn’t at Risk
6. “In today’s ever-changing world of technology, being proactive in your IT strategy is key to your business plan.”
According to this article from Bizjournals.com, businesses today need to be proactive and not reactive with their IT strategies in order to be successful. They need to find an MSP that can help them professionally design an IT plan that implements processes, procedures and tools that will best suit your needs. This plan should include recommendations, regular updates, and system fixes that can be put into effect before problems come up.
Source: Why managed IT services should be proactive, not reactive
7. “Organizations opting for outsources managed services put themselves at risk if they do not manage their providers properly.”
Jim Duffy of NetworkWorld strongly suggests that businesses need to take the time, energy, and money required to manage their managed services. This means that companies should be in control of their managed services contracts. One way that this can be achieved is by having an in-house management team to do this.
Source: Managed services a risky endeavor if not managed
DSC – Top Provider of Managed IT Services
DSC is one of Georgia’s top providers of managed IT Services. For over 30 year, our customers have discovered that they can trust us to give them the best managed IT services in the State. We are experts in the IT field and can provide your business with the safe and secure cloud backup services you need. We offer a full range of internet-related services including colocation services, cloud backup, system monitoring, software hosting, dedicated email, website development and implementation, web hosting, e-commerce, security, and a variety of related products and services. We also provide telecommunications services as well as network support for Linus, Microsoft server and workstation platforms, Fortinet firewalls, and Cisco systems. Contact us today for all of your internet-related requirements.