If you are a small to medium enterprise company you have, or currently are, using some type of managed IT services for your business. Whether it be from full-blown managed IT to printer/copier maintenance and repair, everyone is using some type of managed service. Having been in the Managed IT services industry for close to 20 years now, I have heard many horror stories, and many successful ones when it comes to Managed IT services and the experience different companies have had in using those services. Let’s be honest, they all promise the same thing in the end — lower cost, better service and access to a multitude of talented engineers within their ranks that will make sure that your IT systems and your users are taken care of. That is great, but if your experience is a bad one, does the service actually deliver on its commitment to you and your company?
What should your customer experience be like with a Managed IT services partner? This all depends on what your expectations are as the end customer. Not all companies have the same needs when it comes to their IT systems and support of those systems. Smaller companies who operate on a standard business day schedule may have very little requirement for a 24x7 services provider, where as a firm that has offices in multiple time zones may have a requirement for such a service. When selling Managed IT Services of any type, I always want to make sure that we are meeting the client’s expectations. The only way this happens is if the expectations are very clear at the beginning of a service contract.
When selecting a Managed IT services provider it is very important to make sure your expectations are clearly set for both sides from the beginning. This includes, but not limited to, items such as SLA’s for uptime of services/devices, onsite support from the provider, hours of the day that service is expected from the provider, mean time to resolution of service/device failure, etc.
In the end, your managed IT provider is your partner and the expectation is that they understand your needs and hopefully your business. A provider who understands what your business does and how it works will be more successful in meeting your expectations and providing an experience that allows a successful partnership benefiting everyone.
If you'd like to talk more about your Managed IT needs, call me at 713-351-5196.
