{"id":37308,"date":"2020-04-07T19:59:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T23:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?p=37308"},"modified":"2020-04-07T19:59:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T23:59:25","slug":"creating-lasting-relationship-service-provider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andysowards.com\/blog\/2020\/creating-lasting-relationship-service-provider\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Lasting Relationship with Your IT Service Provider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Service providers are everywhere. From the traditional roles most businesses outsource \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like accountancy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to service providers that are now offering an alternative to in-house departments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like IT and HR.<\/p>\n

The thing is, getting your outsourced IT provision isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something you should take lightly.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

IT generally represents the backbone of a company \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and, when asked, 94.4% of businesses believed that losing their IT systems would severely inhibit their ability to trade from day one.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, you need an IT provider to make sure your systems work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but will just any provider do?<\/p>\n

The answer is a very definite \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. For every managed IT service provider out there, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely to be 100 that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the skills you need to be a good fit with your company and to keep your systems up and running.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, how do you sort the good from the not-so-good?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve put together a series of questions that will help you find a provider that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfectly suited to your business, the way you work, and the IT you use.<\/p>\n

How will we pay you?<\/h2>\n

\"6-tips-to-manage-your-business-s-expenses-and-reduce-your-costs\"<\/a>
\n6 Tips to Manage Your Business’s Expenses and Reduce Your Costs<\/em><\/p>\n

Although it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perhaps not the first question you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ask a managed IT service provider, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to understand how IT companies will generally charge you for their services.<\/p>\n

Almost all companies will work with a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcservice level agreement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 – or SLA<\/a>. In essence, this is the contract that the two of you will commit to \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the service they provide and the price you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll pay for that service.<\/p>\n

Although that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pretty standard way of retaining a company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s service, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely vital that you make sure the agreement outlines everything that you expect to get from the company. For instance, a provider might tell you that you can call them at any time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but does that mean you can pick up the phone in the small hours of the morning? Or does it mean that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an account manager who can help you in office hours?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to get these things mapped out exactly \u00e2\u20ac\u201c because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no room for misunderstandings when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dealing with the systems that keep your business on track.<\/p>\n

When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re absolutely clear about what the company offer, you need to make sure they outline the costs for services above and beyond this too. Generally, managed IT service provider will offer support and maintenance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but adding to your network might fall outside this remit. As such, turning to your provider when you need a network redesign, help finding a good value MPLS provider<\/a>, support setting up new offices \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and a huge number of other tasks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c could be expensive. Having a price list of services will help you decide exactly how you should be managing your IT budget.<\/p>\n

Will you help us keep ahead of problems?<\/h2>\n

Picture the scene; you walk into work on a Monday morning, boot up your PC and the latest email to land in your inbox is a message from your managed service provider telling you they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d managed to keep your infrastructure up and running \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite a software issue overnight.<\/p>\n

Good news, right?<\/p>\n

Of course, this is the kind of email that means you can get on with your day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good chance you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have forgotten all about it by 10am. The thing is, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only going to get an email like this if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working with a provider that monitors your systems and applications 24\/7.<\/p>\n

The alternative is sitting down at your desk and finding out mission critical applications won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t launch when you need them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or, quite frankly, that your PC won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come to life.<\/p>\n

If you rely on IT to keep you business running, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to use a provider that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll work proactively to keep your most important systems and devices working as they should. With downtime costing even small businesses enough to often put them out of business, the alternative will definitely still be on your mind when you get to 10am\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Do you speak our language?<\/h2>\n

\"strategy-is-different-in-service-businesses\"<\/a>
\nStrategy is Different in Service Businesses<\/em><\/p>\n

IT has its own language<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not at all uncommon to find people who work in IT that forget other languages exist.<\/p>\n

Where a culture like this exists with a managed service provider, it can make it very difficult for their team to gel with yours in the way you might need \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to be working remotely a lot of the time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c relying on talking to you and your team over the phone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

A good managed service provider should be a team you can turn to when you know what you need \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily know how to get it. In much the same way you can drive a car without knowing how exactly how an internal combustion engine works \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but knowing where to find a good mechanic.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, this is something that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to gauge from early conversations. Are they clear about what they offer? Are they patient when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to describe your needs or hopes for your IT systems? If the answer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s yes, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re likely to keep that up during your time working together.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Have you got experience of working with companies like ours?<\/h2>\n

\"4-ways-to-help-you-choose-best-service-providers\"<\/a>
\n4 Tips for Finding the Best Service Providers<\/em><\/p>\n

There really is no substitute for getting a first-hand account of how a managed service provider performs when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been working with you for some time.<\/p>\n

This is why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very useful to talk to a provider about who they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked with \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the kind of problems they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve helped those companies overcome. They might not be able to give specifics \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to get a feel for whether or not they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked for companies that are like yours \u00e2\u20ac\u201c either in industry type or size.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a good idea to reach out to companies they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked with and talk to them directly about their experiences. You might even want to go back over this list and get a feel from real clients as to whether or not they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re proactive, clear with their pricing, and helpful with their communication; after all, IT keeps most businesses running \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so you shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be hoping for the best. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Service providers are everywhere. From the traditional roles most businesses outsource \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like accountancy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to service providers that are now offering an alternative to in-house departments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like IT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,5695,1],"tags":[5891,10900,8293,8665,4803,5837,6295,20,10497,224,12014,7404,3737,5759,5760,12013,11106],"class_list":["post-37308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneur","category-tech","tag-business","tag-business-relationships","tag-business-tips","tag-cost-savings","tag-customer-service","tag-engagement","tag-isp","tag-it","tag-it-service","tag-outsourcing","tag-partners","tag-partnership","tag-relationships","tag-reputation","tag-reputation-management","tag-service-provider","tag-vendors"],"yoast_head":"\nCreating a Lasting Relationship with Your IT Service Provider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Service providers are everywhere. 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