Imagine if everything worked fine and no one was coming into your office complaining about how slow the computers are. Imagine employees not using “slow internet” as an excuse to not complete tasks. Moreover, at the time that I am writing this free report we are living through a pandemic that the world has never seen in two or three generations. As the strategic leader of your organization, you have the duty to ensure that your organization’s Information Technology is able to handle the needs of your staff.
In this post, I am going to give you seven things every Executive Director needs to know when outsourcing their IT.
- What is outsourced IT Service?
Per google: “Outsourced IT services are when you hire an outside company to handle your IT needs. A third-party managed service provider (MSP) can cover everything from the security of networks and the implementation of operating systems to the installation of software and the backup of files”
As this great definition explains that, an outsourced IT company is going to handle your IT needs and ensure that they are taking care of the day to-day operations of your IT infrastructure.
- Why you need to outsource your IT
Some organizations may already have an IT Department and need some additional resources to free up their IT team to handle bigger projects. Some may have it the other way around and bring in outsourced IT to handle bigger IT projects and let their IT team handle the day to day. These strategic decisions are for you and the Board of Directors to decide how to use outsourced IT.
- What is break fix?
When you decide to hire an outsourced IT company and you have a tight budget. You may hired them on a “pay as you go/need” option. This way you only call when you have issues and then they send a tech to come on site and take care of the issues. This may work for a short time especially if you have an internal IT team already and only need additional resources occasionally.
- What are managed services?
Managed Service Providers (MSP) will handled all that was in the definition above. This means that MSP’s will charge a budgeted rate for monthly IT resources or tech support and handle your day-to-day operations for your organization. MSP’s to some organization are an extension of company. They have been with them through the difficulties and successes. In addition to, celebrating their victories and defeats with the organization.
- Good IT Consultants will help you save money.
I know this may sound counter-productive but a good MSP or outsourced IT company wants to help their clients. They know that the less issues that you the client have the more money they will make. So great MSP’s will work with clients to be more proactive than reactive to get in front of issue first before they become bigger problems later. All business leaders want loyal and trusted advisors on their team to make sure they are doing what is best for them.
- How to tell a good IT Consultant from a bad IT Consultant!
I have heard horror stories about how some companies had a bad IT person or how this MSP that was managing thousands endpoints were hacked and now all their client’s computers was infected with malware. These stories are true and as the strategic leader, you have to do your diligence on vetting outsourced IT companies. I recommend that you verify if they have any certifications in IT industry. CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft or and other vendors that you may be using in your organization is a start.
- Do they have testimonials?
This leads into the last and most important point. What have other people said when they have worked with this outsource IT company? Have they good things to say or are they negative? Some negative is normal but if all you do when you do a google search, are negative or not happy customers that may be a sign not engage with that company.
I want to thank you for reading my free report and if you have any questions or suggestions please contact me at 312-267-1719×1 or email me at info@2ndchancepctechs.com
Sincerely,
Andre McDearmon Jr.
President
2nd Chance PC Techs LTD.
Twitter: @2ndchancepctech
Tech Support: support@2ndchancepctechs.zohosupport.com