It’s Not Me; It’s You
Is it time to break up with your current managed service provider? Perhaps your needs have changed; maybe the MSP’s priorities have changed. Maybe your MSP hasn’t kept up with the innovations taking place across the industry. Wondering if it’s time to find a new managed service provider?
Here are 8 Signs It’s Time to Move On…
• Frequent and Recurring Issues. Issues happen. Hardware fails, power surges, files become corrupt, users make mistakes. However, you engaged an MSP to monitor your systems and prevent issues. Monitors are in place, warning signs should be present. If things are not running smoothly, your managed service provider isn’t taking care of you.
• They’re Just Not That Into You. There are two glaring signs that a managed service provider isn’t that concerned about keeping you as a customer: inflexible terms and slow response times. As a small business, your needs change regularly. Are they willing to be flexible?
Slow response times could mean that the MSP is short-staffed, but if it keeps happening, maybe they just don’t love you anymore. Most MSP’s triage support requests based on the severity and impact of the outage. Low priority issues, like an individual software installation problem, are lower on the list than an outage that shuts down your entire office network. But what if you have an outage and your phone calls are not returned or the technician shows up 5 hours late?
• They don’t “get” your business. The best information technology professionals understand both technology and business. It’s not all about bits and bytes. It’s also about helping business use their technology to meet unique business goals. Many MSPs specialize in specific industries such as banking, real estate, legal, retail, senior living, or healthcare. Managed service providers familiar with your industry already understand many of the challenges you face. In fact, they may have already solved them for companies like yours. If your managed service provider doesn’t understand your industry and business, you’re missing out.
• You’re treated like a cash cow. Constant up-selling gets old– especially if the offers are unnecessary or don’t justify themselves through improvements in security, efficiency, or ROI. You’re smart enough to distinguish between an authentic recommendation that is necessary or genuinely helpful and one designed primarily to benefit the MSP. If you’re tired of the”offer of the week,” it’s time.
• Invoices are unpredictable with plenty of surprise fees. No one likes to find extra charges on their invoices. While some extra charges may be legitimate, it’s important that your MSP communicate with you when your company has exceeded its monthly service hours package. Your MSP should be able to provide you with sufficient detail for all of the charges on your invoice, even before the invoice has been generated.
It’s smart to have a single point of contact manage the relationship and monitor all services on a daily or weekly basis. This person can determine if it makes sense to handle minor requests in-house or escalate them to the managed service provider.
• Someone else is always to blame. Does it seem as if the managed service provider neveraccepts responsibility for an issue? What you really need from a managed service provider is a proactive approach.
You never get to speak to the same technician twice. Either the managed service provider is huge or it has a high turnover. Neither allows for a strong relationship with your managed service provider, and the MSP is unlikely to get a deeper understanding of your business’s needs and challenges.
• The MSP engages in questionable security practices. You rely on your managed services provider to help keep your computer network safe, but does your MSP practice what it preaches? For example, does the managed service provider collect payment on an unencrypted webpage or ask you to send your credit card information via email? Not good!
So is it time to find a new managed service provider? Quikteks in the NJ/NY metro area offers comprehensive business tech support. Contact us today at (973) 882-4644 to schedule your free network security assessment.