To make your business successful, Outsourcing IT Support Services is crucial. Part of this success is based in maintaining records and security. IT services are essential to transfer data and help in the computing of data or information from one software to another.
Some business owners decide to hire an on site staff, however many companies are learning the benefits and cost savings that come from outsourcing their IT to a Managed Service Provider.
Today, we will discuss 5 factors to consider when outsourcing IT support services.
5 Factors to consider when Outsourcing IT Support Services
Outsourcing IT services means hiring a third party vendor that manages your IT. Though many companies still opt to hire an in-house IT staff, that decision is often accompanied by a hefty price tag.
No matter the size of your company, outsourcing your IT can be a cost effective option that gives you access to a team of specially skilled IT experts. There are several factors, however, to consider when choosing to outsource your IT Support in San Antonio. The top 5 factors that you should consider when outsourcing IT services are:
- The experience of the Outsourcing firm
Before you outsource the IT support services from any firm or a third party, make sure they have the experience to back themselves up. The business should be established and have a skilled staff with multiple layers of expertise. It is important to make sure that your IT partner can actually support your network.
Generally speaking, having an Outsourced IT vendor that takes the time to understand your business and offers the best solution should be the one you choose to go with.
- Staff confidence
It is important that your IT vendor has a competent staff that understands what they are doing and can explain it to a customer who is currently in a breakdown in an even, measured, and knowledgeable way. Too often IT technicians might talk down to a less technologically skilled user or use tech speech they can’t understand.
Having the confidence to speak what steps your technician is taking and how they can help is important to making your own team feel well cared for and understood.
- Communication
One of the greatest fears you might have in employing a third party IT vendor is often a lack of communication. There’s nothing more frustrating than your technology breaking down and not knowing when or if you can expect your issue to be resolved. Find an IT Consulting service that prides themselves in their level of communication both internally and to their customers.
Just as often as a customer doesn’t hear from their IT professional, many customer feel uncomfortable reaching out to the IT vendor when they’re in a breakdown. Having established and varied ways a customer can request help makes it easier for them to get help. Look for a range of communication options when choosing your IT vendor to make sure your staff know support is easy to obtain.
- Budget
Another major factor to consider is cost. The average cost of an IT generalist in the San Antonio, TX area is $60,000/year and that’s for salary alone. As your company grows it will need more support with a wide range of skills to get the job done. Though you can hire a full staff of IT professionals with variant skills and knowledge, the cost is prohibitive to most small to medium sized businesses.
By outsourcing your IT, you can have an entire staff of IT specialists at your beck and call for a fraction of the cost of even one full-time IT employee. (8 benefits of an outsourced IT e-book link?)
- Security and IT consulting services
With the frequency of cyber-attacks rising, the security of your data is critical. Outsourcing your IT to a reputable IT Consulting service is of the utmost importance in maintaining the fidelity of your data and records.
Things to look for when choosing a security focused IT vendor:
- Trustworthiness. Check their reviews and ratings. Make sure customers are satisfied with the work the perform.
- Compliance Assistance. Look for vendors that have compliance offers available and ask them what the scope of those packages are. If they know their stuff, they will help you maintain security at every level of your business.
- What’s included in their security services? A good IT consulting company should have password managers, threat detection and remediation software, data redundancy plans, MFA policy requirements, internet security setup, data encryption and archiving plans, spam filtering and more.
For the best IT Support in San Antonio, your third-party IT vendor should proactively monitor and support all parts of your network. The best threat remediation plans are the ones that happen without you knowing they needed to.
Conclusion
When looking to outsource your IT Consulting Services it is important to consider all these factors. Ensuring the longevity and security of your network and supporting it as your business grows should be the focus of any IT vendor you want to partner with. For superior IT Support in San Antonio, TX contact SecureTech today to learn how we can best support the growth of your business!