Should you Outsource IT or Keep your Support In-House?
Finding a managed IT service provider seems easy enough. Simply searching for a local MSP on your browser will undoubtedly net you a large number of results and ads.
However – the quality of MSPs can vary wildly. It’s not that any of them are terrible – but any random MSP may not be very well suited to your particular business.
But how does one come across the perfect MSP? And how can it be ensured that your relationship remains strong as you grow as a business? Read on to find a few tips we’ve gathered from some of the most successful MSPs, and your questions should be answered.
Come to a service level agreement that suits you and your MSP
It is incredibly important to put in place a good service level agreement, or SLA, when you first start working with an MSP. Your working relationship depends on it, so you need to find one that works for you and for them.
Many businesses find it helpful to start with a ready-made agreement, and then make slight tweaks until you perfect it, and decide on a way of working you’re both happy with.
In the end though, there’s no one-size-fits-all method of putting together your agreement – but it’s definitely crucial to make sure both parties’ needs are being met. After all, this agreement is your contract, so you both need to ensure your businesses are headed in the right direction, based on what’s in the agreement.
Ensure your MSP is willing to work with your IT team
IT teams don’t tend to contain many hostile individuals with difficult temperaments, but even so – you can never guarantee that any two teams or even individuals will be able to work together successfully. This is particularly the case when skill areas cross over, and there are disagreements about how exactly work should be done.
To this end, it’s necessary to find both an MSP who is ready and willing to work alongside your current IT team, and a method of working in which it is clear whose responsibilities are whose.
There are definitely numerous advantages and disadvantages that must be thought about when deciding whether to manage a project in-house, or use an MSP, so it’s crucial to make sure your agreed way of working together gets you the results you need.
Find an MSP who has worked with similar companies to yours
Finding a company who has already provided support for businesses that are similar to yours is always the right move. It’s not necessary that an MSP needs to have worked with a company that is a similar size, exact same industry, and similar stage in growth, but having at least one of these things in common is downright crucial.
If you find a company that’s worked with similar businesses, you can be sure that they’ll be able to understand where exactly your business is at the moment – though they may need a little time to fully understand your exact method of getting things done.
It can be beneficial to ask an MSP to put you in contact with a business they’ve worked with previously. You could also have a look on their social media, such as LinkedIn, and see if you can’t get an idea of who has employed them before. Speaking to someone who’s worked with your MSP before is hands down the best way of figuring out whether they’ll fit your business.
Ensure your MSP is proactive
Imagine how much of a nightmare it would be to arrive at your office early on Monday morning, only to find that systems failed on Saturday, and have been down since then. Would you rather get to work to find an email from your MSP telling you how they caught the problem and addressed it by Sunday, or be the person who has to call your MSP, asking for their help?
It’s approximated that downtime costs businesses a whopping $10k for every hour they lose – so that first option really sounds like the better choice. But that’s not always the service you’ll receive from any given MSP.
Certain MSPs do constantly monitor your applications, ready to let your 24 hour staff know if they find a potential – or actual – problem. Others rely on you finding issues, and letting them know you need help. Not every business has their systems online at all times, but if you do operate this way, employing 24 hour staff, you want to ensure the MSP you choose is able to proactively deal with any issues that may crop up.
Make sure you MSP can grow alongside you
Whichever MSP you choose to work with is likely to become very intertwined with your business, which is why, even if growth isn’t part of your imminent plans, you need to find a provider that can keep pace with you when you do decide it’s time to grow.
Once you and your MSP have a good couple of years under your belt, they’ll have helped you with numerous business tasks, be that designing systems, changing premises, and helping make key business decisions. Such a close relationship is not unlikely to have some logistical issues when it comes to an end.
This is why you don’t want to leave your MSP in the dust when your business grows, not to mention, they most likely have been a key player in facilitating that growth.
Ensure to converse with your potential choice of MSP about their 5 year plans, and let them know about your own. This will help you check whether or not you can see them growing at the same speed as you. Make sure to also discuss the possibility of unpredictable events such as landing a large client or securing a huge contract – you want to make sure they can help you react to whatever may happen.
Without question, IT has been a critical part of the growth of every billion-dollar company. If your potential MSP can’t keep up with you, it may be necessary to move on, and look for another. If however, they are able to facilitate whatever goals you may have by putting in hard work to ensure they can support you, you may be on to a winner.