Seven Characteristics of a Good IT Provider

Website design By BotEap.comYou may be considering hiring an information technology provider to manage and support your company’s computer system. Maybe you’ve gotten tired of doing the work yourself, or maybe the supplier you have now isn’t satisfactory. Here are seven characteristics to look for in your technology support partner:

Website design By BotEap.com1. Technical expertise

Website design By BotEap.comOf course, your IT partner must have a sufficient level of expertise to recognize and resolve problems with your system. Certifications and experience demonstrate that your partner has a basic understanding of the concepts and applications required for strong support. As a test, your prospective partner should be able to spend up to thirty minutes reviewing your system and providing a solid explanation of the condition of your system and perhaps a recommended improvement or two.

Website design By BotEap.com2. Strong communication skills.

Website design By BotEap.comYou may not need to know the details of everything your provider does on your system, but you do need to know the overall health of your network and what expectations to set for the future. It won’t help if your partner has extensive knowledge of all the technical aspects, but doesn’t have the ability to explain the technology in terms you can understand. Effective communication can mean the difference between getting frustrated that an issue isn’t resolved right away and understanding all of your options for addressing a system problem.

Website design By BotEap.com3. Share your perspective

Website design By BotEap.comChances are you don’t have an unlimited technology budget for your business. You need a partner who recognizes this fact and recommends solutions that will improve your system, while keeping your costs manageable. Sometimes you need to make decisions based on factors other than technology, and a partner who shares your perspective will know how to balance the need for an optimal solution with your available resources. There are times when your IT partner needs to be creative in helping you achieve your goal without insisting that you invest in the latest and greatest solution.

Website design By BotEap.com4. Keep an eye on the horizon

Website design By BotEap.comTechnology is constantly evolving, with new technologies appearing almost daily. Not all of them will be relevant to your business, or at least they may not be today. A good IT partner looks at these emerging technologies and recommends them when the time is right for you.

Website design By BotEap.com5. A partner, instead of a contractor

Website design By BotEap.comAll systems experience failure at some point. It is only during the emergency or major failure that you will see how good your IT partner really is. Do they share with you the same urgency to restore your operation? Will they spend as long as it takes to get your system back up and running? Are they looking to blame or do they focus on the problem at hand? Once your system is back up and running, do they present their analysis along with recommendations, or do they just advise you to hope and pray it doesn’t happen again? Or worse yet, are they overloaded and need to rush to their next emergency?

Website design By BotEap.com6. An observation problem solver

Website design By BotEap.comAlthough your IT partner may have years of experience, no one knows everything about everything. There will be times when your provider is stumped. Successful troubleshooting is a combination of determining the real cause of the problem and applying the correct solution. Many hours have been spent resolving a symptom, rather than a cause. The best way to determine if your IT vendor is an observational troubleshooter is to contact your local references. Not every reference may have a story to tell, but if your partner is proud of their work, you’ll have the opportunity to speak with at least one customer who has seen your IT partner in action during a crisis.

Website design By BotEap.com7. Willing to support all your technology

Website design By BotEap.comYou don’t want to manage multiple vendors for every piece of your system. That takes extra time and effort and can lead to a disjointed support solution as the server vendor blames the phone vendor, who blames the programmer, who blames… you get the picture. Look for a provider that can support all of your critical operations, including communications, computer networking, and software programming. If you already have support contracts for specific software or equipment, your IT vendor should be willing to work directly with each vendor on your behalf.

Website design By BotEap.comIs your IT provider up to the task? If so, congratulations, you have found a good partner for your business. If not, please contact us. We would love to show you the difference between an IT provider and a strategic partner. We manage your computers, so you can run your business.