October 18, 2016 | By stephen

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Most IT Providers Are Behind The Curve

• Tech(know)logy

Unfortunately, your business could be drastically exposed to an ever changing security landscape

As an IT service provider in Chicagoland, we have no less than 30 competitors in our surrounding area.  Our responsibility to our clients is quite large.  Technology can accelerate companies or it can bring them down.  Our role is to leverage technology to help you run a better business, be responsive to your every day needs and issues as they arise, and protect your business from the multitude of security threats that change every day.

Managed IT Providers

To play our role correctly, we have large investments in tools, software and services.  We invest in quality team members with great knowledge and an aptitude for customer service.

There is NO accreditation and there is NO certification for companies like ours. To make it worse, another competitor pops up every week. All of which pitch a monthly flat fee approach with “managed IT services“, “IT support”, “help desk”, “backups” and more. Problem is NONE of us are apples to apples and it is very hard to see the differences especially given the technical nature.

• Their best practices are lacking – servers configure incorrectly, weak passwords
• Their backup strategy isn’t adequate and they aren’t able to recover data
• Their security does not protect against critical threats which expose clients to hacks and data loss
• Their documentation either doesn’t exist or doesn’t portray your network to their team
• And a multitude of other issues

While neither technology nor any IT service provider can be 100% effective, it is imperative to have key things in place.  Also, it’s important to always move technology forward as things change daily.

IT Support Company Red Flags

Here are 10 things to LOOK OUT for when interviewing or hiring managed IT support providers:

1. No client testimonials
2. No industry recognition or awards
3. No E&O insurance (request a copy)
4. “You don’t need a firewall”
5. “It’s just a password”
6. They don’t track issues or tickets within a system
7. They need to be notified when things are “down”
8. Lack of response
9. Don’t publish their numbers (i.e. response time, satisfaction)
10. Cheaper offering than competition – quality support costs more