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Selecting an IT Service Company
We might as well start this with the obvious, we are biased. Companies are always better than individuals and we are the best company that you could select. With that out of the way let’s take a look at a some issues.
When selecting an IT services vendor we believe companies are a better choice than individuals working out of their homes. The main reason for this is depth or redundancy. With a company, you are not tied to a single individual. There are multiple support staff that can assist you. “But I would rather deal with one person, they have a better knowledge of my network.” This may be true, so when selecting a company ask if you have a primary point of contact or if they are just sending who ever is available. But consider the alternative, if your person is unavailable, on another project, on vacation, or just plain missing, you have no other source that you can trust or rely on.
The moonlighter works for another company’s IT department and can be very popular with business. This is what they do and they do it for us cheaply. In addition to still having the same problems outlined above, now you only get support after 5:00 PM. If your problem is an emergency, call us, we will help you during business hours!!
Our favorite is the son, daughter, relative, or friend of someone working for your organization that is an incredible computer whiz. This may be true but think about that for a minute. This is your business, shouldn’t a key component of your business operations be managed by another business that specializes in exactly that area. Would you trust your accounting or legal needs to an employee’s teenager or relative who likes to “play” with these things for hobbies? There is more to effectively designing and administering a business computer network than just enjoying computers for a hobby. Secondly, is it worth straining employee relations if something goes wrong?
A good IT services company should have multiple support staff but also assign you a primary point of contact for your network. Be careful, that company touting 40 engineers most likely has 35 of them contracted to various corporations for 40 hours a week. They are not available to you. You should also check support staff’s experience and industry certifications. We will be the first to tell you that certifications are not the end all, experience counts! Never the less, you should use a combination of the two as a guide for your selection process. Lastly, ask for references and call them. This is not for employment, you can ask the questions and they can respond. And ask what the companies strengths and weaknesses are. Take it from our experience, selecting a good IT services company will most likely be a better solution for your organization.
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