The increased popularity of Managed Service Providers, or for short MSPs, over the last years is due to one thing – in the digital era, most organizations found that maintaining their IT Infrastructures can be quite an overwhelming task. IT services are the most important thing in generating revenue.
Today, there are no parts of a business that do not depend on the IT systems functioning properly. However, how do you know if the IT candidate will be valuable to your company? In this article, you will be able to read the questions you should ask during the first meeting and your candidates should have a response to each of the questions:
Img source: theamegroup.com
How will your managed service help my company compete more actively?
Can they make the company and systems more efficient and more flexible? Can they help you generate more revenue? The bottom line is to enable you to be active by implementing specific technology and adapting quickly to changing marketing trends. You should ask them about machine learning and automation, as well as how do they fix problems. Also, ask them what is their plan for the next couple of years and what examples can they give to ensure that they can actually compete at the highest levels?
How will their managed service fix the IT infrastructure problems and how will they optimize the environment?
When you think about it, this is exactly why you wanted to hire them in the first place, their expertise in how well will they run the IT infrastructure and how well will they put it together and how well will they maintain it.
How will their managed service help with implementing new technology more quickly?
Are the MSP’s technicians and engineers already up to date with the latest and greatest technology? Can they actually determine which technologies are right for your business and what technology will not offer you any benefits?
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How will the managed service allow better partnerships and innovation within your company?
Any partnership with a managed service provider company should allow you to have a smoother and more productive environment for your workers.
What is their uptime guarantee?
The technician should be able to monitor and manage all your applications, networks, computers, and services in order to keep things running smoothly and without any problems that could hinder the daily processes of your company. You should make them commit to response time and network uptime that should be close to 99.9%, which is the industry standard.
What kind of insurance do they offer?
There are various types of insurances that MSPs provide. Data is not usually covered by the usual property insurance policy, hence, you could ask them how will you be compensated if there is a data breach.
Img source: highergroundmsp.com
Is the in house help desk available 24/7?
The SLA will provide you with an overall assurance that they will keep your systems up and running all the time. However, if they outsource the help desk after hours or during weekends, your company will depend on the MSP’s SLA with their vendor, you should be critical.
How will they prevent cyber attacks and data breaches? What will they do if it happens?
According to Sydney Technology Solutions, you should make yourself comfortable and ask about the level of incident and penetration of monitoring they have implemented. Make sure that they have an appropriate plan, including the service restoration.
Img source: highergroundmsp.com
Conclusion
If you are looking to hire an IT managed service provider, make sure that you ask them these questions. It will make it easier for you to choose a candidate, as well as ensure that they have the needed skills and knowledge.
