10 things to look for in a Managed Services Provider

1. Availability
2. Fast Service and Response Time
3. Annual IT Budget Planning
4. Disaster Recovery Planning
5. Third-Party Vendor Partnerships
6. Local On-Site Maintenance and Support
7. Daily Backups and Cloud Services
8. Security Testing & Monitoring
9. Employee Support
10. Proactive Maintenance

As businesses start to grow, so do their technology needs. Growing businesses often find that they save time and money by contracting with the right Managed Services partner. Managed Services allow you to augment your existing IT staff and infrastructure by partnering with a dedicated IT firm to take care of your network, servers, computers, and all your technology needs. This is the perfect solution for companies who need to operate at peak efficiency but do not have the resources to manage a large on-site IT staff. Choosing the right partner for your Managed Services needs is important. Here are 10 Things to look for as you are evaluating a managed services provider:

Evaluating a Managed Services Provider

Availability

You don’t work 24 hours a day, but your network & security needs to and so does your IT provider. When choosing any managed services offering, you must make sure your provider is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Your business depends on it.

Fast Service and Response Time

Not only does your provider need to be available all the time, but they also need to respond quickly to your needs and problems. Make sure that your IT provider doesn’t forward calls to a call center, but actually responds in a timely manner. Look for guaranteed response time.

Annual IT Budget Planning

A good managed services provider will sit down with you and assist in your technology planning for the future. Look for their advice and expertise to assist you with yearly planning and look for ways for you to save money and improve efficiency on technology that will help your company grow to the next level. Make sure your managed services provider is forward-thinking and looks out for your interests.

Disaster Recovery Planning

If your business is hit with a weather disaster, vandalism, or other outages, are you prepared? A good managed services provider will help you plan for the future, protect your data, and make sure your business can recover from a disruptive event.

Third-Party Vendor Partnerships

An advantage of using a managed services provider is that they can handle technology vendors for you, saving you the time of tracking down multiple vendors for service and support. When evaluating a provider, look at who they partner with and make sure they have expertise on the tools you use.

Local On-Site Maintenance and Support

Make sure you choose a vendor that is available for onsite support. Using a local provider is a huge benefit to making sure you have the best service.

Daily Backups and Cloud Services

Using a managed services provider is a great way to ensure your data stays safe and secure. Make sure your provider provides automatic and consistent backups, backed up on a remote server for safety.

Security Testing and Monitoring

A good managed services firm will help protect your network from cyber-criminals and hackers. Make sure that your plan includes regular security testing and monitoring for attacks.

Employee Support

If your employees are fighting with technology, they can’t get their jobs done. Make sure your IT managed services provider is available to provide fast answers to technology questions and use remote access to resolve issues quickly.

Proactive Maintenance

At a busy, growing company, often the temptation is to only fix technology when it is not working. A managed services partner will make sure you are pro-actively running the updates you need now to avoid problems later.

Managed Services Help Your Bottom Line

Whether it is improving efficiency by saving time, saving money on problems before they occur, or avoiding costly disasters and repairs, a managed services provider can bring great value to your business and improve your bottom line. Finding a true partner to look out for your technology needs will help your business grow to the next level.