Who is your IT Provider? An internal IT Department, a contracted MSP, or a techy called Greg? They all have one thing in common: They’re critical to the running and success of your business. In this era the importance of tech cannot be understated, as doing so could cost you dearly.
Do you hear your employees or colleagues complaining about IT on a day-to-day basis? Be it a laptop misbehaving, email not sending, or the connection being slow? These are all things that can point towards issues in the way your IT operates. Here are some of the things that your provider should be doing.
Being upfront about costs
If there’s one thing everyone can agree about tech, it’s that it’s expensive. And worse yet, there’s always some tech that needs to be purchased. Your provider can make this less of a burden, though. Being upfront about costs, no matter how nightmarish, allows you to plan ahead and ensure the figures won’t shock you into an early grave.
Ensuring your business is kept up with tech
Leading on to my next point – tech moves quickly. Every few years there’s an important innovation that can radically change the way a business can operate, opening up new opportunities to increase productivity and provide a better service, both to customers and staff. Your provider should be on top of technical evolution and suggest strategies and changes to the business that could be of benefit. It won’t always be a quick change, but it’s one that’s worth planning for, lest your business’s technology becomes outdated.
Keeping up to date records
It’s not just the technology that needs to be kept up to date, but records too. Within a business you’ll have a myriad of device types from laptops and mobile phones alongside user accounts. The device information should be kept in an asset database, with user accounts being stored in a secure password management system. Failure to do this can lead to a lack of accountability, security and could ultimately lead to a security breach – should a device leave the site, or if a user’s password is read off that post-it we all know is in their desk drawer.
A reliable point of contact
In the event of an emergency you want to be sure your provider is always available and contactable. Have you had an experience where you needed help but couldn’t get through to IT support? Or you’ve sent them an email but never heard back? Both of these situations lead to a lengthened response time, a loss of productivity, and ultimately cost the business money. An often less considered factor is how much it frustrates staff, how long can someone go twiddling their thumbs without access to their email or a working device?
A good user experience
This leads on to, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of being an MSP. An IT provider should always give the user a positive experience, one that will allow them to feel confident in their IT services and the team that supports them. If the user has an issue, the provider should not only assist with resolving it, but take the time to show the user what may have caused it, and how to prevent the issues in the future. User training is critical to ensuring they feel confident and comfortable while working with technology, as not all members of staff like tech.
Few too many boxes being ticked?
If you feel that you’re not getting the IT experience you should, we’re always interested in hearing why and how we can help. Give us a call on 01252 933633, or say hello@xiria.co.uk. Alternatively, as time is precious and you might be busy right now, feel free to book some of mine or pop your details in here.
