Businesses often turn to outside firms to manage their IT services to give personnel a chance to focus on other priorities. It’s a logical step, but care needs to be taken to ensure that these efforts are not pushed too far away.
“This company you are hiring should be looked at both as a partner and as an extension of your business,” says Charles “Scott” Davis, director of IT at Meritech Inc. “It should be viewed as a partnership and not a client relationship. Hold that partner accountable, no different than you would a person working in your office.”
In these times where every dollar is so carefully considered, external service providers can provide targeted support that is also easier on your budget.
“To hire a full-time employee to handle these services is a lot of money, plus benefits and everything else that goes along with it,” Davis says. “With a managed service provider, you only have that service to manage. One bill to pay, one hand to shake.”
Smart Business spoke with Davis about finding the right IT partner and about how to help this partnership succeed.
What are some key things to consider when looking at potential IT service providers?
Take a look at the facilities that house the company with which you are looking to partner. Does it have redundant systems? Does it seem like the company is an accurate reflection of the product it is trying to sell you? It’s one thing to say it in a sales pitch. It’s quite another to walk the talk in terms of the service that is provided to clients.
You also want to get a sense of workflow and how assignments are managed with this firm. How does the firm manage tickets? What is the process for bringing in new hardware or launching a project? How does the firm work with other clients who are in a similar industry to yours? You should also look at companies that have different work situations. The goal is to get a well-rounded sense for how this company approaches its work and whether there is a fit with your business.
How should a company prepare for an exploratory meeting with IT service providers?
Compile data on your current infrastructure, documentations, drawings, processes and procedures and have that information available at your first meeting. Know, for instance, that you have five servers, three firewalls and a virtual private network point-to-point for these three sites along with their IP addresses.
It provides an opportunity to ask specific questions that pertain to your company. Being prepared to ask questions is very important.
One area where customers make a huge mistake is when someone comes in from a managed service provider and says something that the customer takes as the absolute truth.
‘This is the way it is, that’s what the guy said.’ The reality is you need to remember that you are the customer. This company works for you. You need to know what you are getting out of your contract and then hold the vendor accountable.
How can you help your IT service provider?
You need to help employees understand what to do when an issue arises. Who do you go to? What’s the procedure to open a ticket? You need to clearly articulate how the system will work so that when problems do arise, the provider can resolve it quickly and minimize any loss of productivity.
A fault management system is the cornerstone for managing any infrastructure and needs to have the correct tools in place to allow you to remotely see utilization, bandwidth, circuits, servers, routers, switches – all of those things. The second your service has a hiccup, it sends out an alert and the problem can be quickly resolved.
What’s the key to managing the partnership once an agreement is reached?
Maintain a weekly business review for the first 90 days. From 90 days to six months, meet with the provider monthly and then from six months on, you should meet quarterly.
Make sure you establish those business reviews right from the start so you understand what’s going on with your infrastructure. You don’t just hand over the keys to the kingdom and then walk away. You want to know what’s really going on.
Insights Technology is brought to you by Meritech Inc.
