5 Important Things to Look for in an Outsourced IT Support Partner

It’s not uncommon for small and medium-sized businesses to have no in-house IT support. Instead, technical problems and IT decisions are handled by the most tech-savvy person in the company. 

This can work for a short amount of time, but it’s certainly not a sustainable practice. That’s why small and medium-sized enterprises typically partner with an outsourced IT support partner (also known as a managed IT services provider) for their technology needs.

Interested in learning more about outsourced IT support? Read our blog, What is Outsourced IT Support? Everything You Need to Know.

Partnering with an outsourced IT support partner takes the strain, and alleviates the IT burden, off of a company’s internal resources - giving them more time to focus on core business functions rather than technical issues. 

With that in mind, we’ve created a list of the top five things to consider when partnering with an outsourced IT support partner. 

This should always be the primary consideration when selecting an outsourced IT support provider, or any vendor in general really. It doesn’t matter how fast their response times are or how cheap their service is, if they don’t have the technical expertise to help your business then they aren’t the right partner for you.

Look for a partner who is able to understand and optimize your current technologies, knows exactly what goals you are trying to achieve and proactively plans your IT strategy around those objectives, and who has strong partnerships with leading vendors.

Every company has different processes, and response times can vary as a result. To ensure your business doesn’t negatively suffer from IT downtime, make sure the IT services provider you partner with is able to offer fast service and prompt response times.

IT support providers will be able to give you a good idea of their average response time, and some will even set guaranteed response times in the contract you sign with them. 

While most technical issues today can be worked on from different locations, there’s still huge benefits in partnering with a local IT support provider who is available for onsite support if required.

Here at OT Group, we have multiple offices across South Eastern Ontario and can visit our client’s offices when required for technical support. In fact, we provide a range of IT services and IT support offerings to a wide number of companies in the Toronto to Ottawa corridor. 

One of the most important IT strategies for any organization today is data security. Yet building a data security plan that protects your company’s information and processes from outside threats isn’t easy.

An IT support partner is able to ensure you have a highly secure IT environment that’s protected against viruses, malware and hackers, and that you have a solid data backup and recovery plan.

IT support partnerships typically start when a technology or process in your organization breaks, and your team has no idea how to fix it. You bring in an IT support partner to fix the issue, but quickly learn they have far more to offer your organization than just repairing broken technology.

An IT support provider should work with your organization as an advisor. They’ll learn about your company’s requirements, conduct an audit of your current technologies, network and system and suggest areas of improvement that will make your business processes more efficient and profitable. 

The result is improved business operations, reduced IT costs, more time for your internal team to focus on core business functions and access to reliable IT expertise on an ongoing basis.

Does that sound beneficial to your business? Get in touch with OT Group today. Our team of experts would love to discuss your company’s specific IT requirements and how we can alleviate the burden of technology for your employees.