Getting the Most from Your IT Service Provider
Hiring a managed IT service provider has become commonplace amongst companies requiring specialised IT services. Thanks to innovations in virtualisation and automation, partnering with an IT support company is typically more cost effective than hiring your own in-house IT department. It’s also considerably more reliable than hiring a temporary IT support engineer for those one-time fixes.
But there's no 'one size fits all' solution when it comes to managed IT services. As your business grows, so does your IT support.
Sticking with a managed services provider that no longer meets your needs can easily lead to a drop in your organisation’s productivity and, as a result, your bottom line can suffer. In this two-part article, we'll consider what a good IT provider ought to be doing for you - and what your options are if they aren't.
If it ain't broke, don’t fix it
Break / fix services with quick response times may seem impressive on the surface but, in reality, responding to a failure after the event has already cost you valuable time. In that respect, ad hoc fixes make it easy to lose sight of the big picture. They increase your service costs instead of helping you take control of your operational costs.
Cost effective IT support should take the form of a partnership that improves your day-to-day business. A managed IT services provider proves its commitment to your growth by recommending solutions that help you reach your goals. For example, it might recommend:
- Pro-active maintenance; spotting the early warning signs of impending failure and replacing hardware or software before it’s too late
- Better ways to use the tools, services and capabilities you already have
- Keeping you up to date with new tools that will improve your efficiency or protect you from the latest cybersecurity threats
On matters of IT and business continuity, prevention is clearly better than cure. A managed IT service provider that doesn’t offer proactive approaches to technology or that seems only to be fixing the broken things is certainly not acting in your best interests. The technology exists to help you minimise downtime and interruptions, so it makes total sense to use it.
Keep yourself updated
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.17.2"]There is no excuse for falling behind on software updates. Attacks are becoming more common, more devastating and more persistent. Even a slight delay in patching a vulnerability can give attackers a stepping-stone into your network. Updated versions of your software also often come with new features designed to make your apps easier to use, more productive and more reliable. You only need to look at the progress Microsoft has made with Office 365 to see how much things can change for the better!
Similarly, hardware updates may be required to keep pace with the most demanding software. By remotely monitoring your machines' performance, your provider can alert you to under-performing systems, roll out cost-effective fixes and make sure that no one is wasting their day watching progress bars.
Eliminate employee frustration
Slow, eccentric or overly fussy systems can be maddening. It’s estimated that every adult in the United Kingdom wastes an average of 156 hours a year dealing with slow technology. In the UK, it's estimated that the average worker loses 22 minutes a day to slow IT systems. For a company of 100 employees, this would equate to a cost of £121,458 per annum on wasted wages alone. That's to say nothing of the value of whatever additional work could have been achieved in those lost 9,500 hours.
Staff shouldn’t have to deal with the frustrations of a report that's hard to print, a document that won’t open, or a general loss of processing speed when trying to multi-task. Keeping your hardware and software up to date will help to ensure that your employees:
- Can use the most productive tools
- Don't waste time waiting for slow systems
- Operate in more secure environments
- Experience less frustration when 'just trying to do their jobs'
By giving your staff the technology and systems they need to succeed, your IT provider can help your business to be more productive, more efficient, and better able to meet your customers’ demands. Better yet, all this can happen in the background without you having to spend time worrying about it. A good managed IT service provider will take care of all the complex stuff - so that you don't have to.
Know your IT service provider
Building up a friendly relationship with your provider is a sign of great IT support. An IT team that is well known to your employees is a positive thing because it ensures that staff are not afraid of asking ‘silly’ questions or mentioning the bad link they clicked because they don’t want to be told off. Moreover, when the same team responds time after time, they will get to know your network, know your needs, and be able to craft a solution that works for your business.
By contrast, when different engineers visit, they each have to go through the same learning curve. Each new visit means they have to learn your network, learn your software, and waste time working out the finer details of your system. That can translate into longer response times, delayed fixes and greater downtime losses - and all resulting from problems that a more proactive IT company might have prevented altogether.
Building up a friendly relationship with your provider is a sign of great IT services. An IT team that is well known to your employees is a positive thing because it ensures that staff are not afraid of asking ‘silly’ questions or mentioning the bad link they clicked because they don’t want to be told off. Moreover, when the same team responds time after time, they will get to know your network, know your needs, and be able to craft a solution that works for your business.
By contrast, when different engineers visit, they each have to go through the same learning curve. Each new visit means they have to learn your network, learn your software, and waste time working out the finer details of your system. That can translate into longer response times, delayed fixes and greater downtime losses - and all resulting from problems that a more proactive IT company might have prevented altogether.
Introducing AMP Information Systems
Since 2001, AMP has been an IT service provider for Lancashire businesses and other organisations across the North West. From emergency call-outs to proactive monitoring and management, we’ll help you keep your systems productive and operational.
Our IT support services make it easy for you to choose a package that best suits your needs and budget. From low-cost monthly service agreements to ad hoc support, we give you a broad range of options. And better yet, we aim to be flexible, so if there isn’t a perfect fit for you, then please let us know and we’ll tailor our services to suit you.