In principle, the choice is good. In practice, the choice can be very confusing, especially when you have an important decision to make. Choosing the best-managed IT services partner for your organization is one of the most important decisions you are likely to need to make. With that in mind, here is some guidance on choosing the best-managed IT services partner in Elk Grove.
1. First of all, make sure that you actually need a managed IT services partner
If you are having persistent issues with your IT infrastructure because your current IT team just doesn’t have the time to take care of regular maintenance on top of everything else, then moving to managed IT services is probably just what you need. If, however, you are having persistent issues with your IT infrastructure because it just isn’t up to standard and nobody has the time to get to grips with upgrading it, then moving to managed services won’t help. In fact, you may not even get a managed IT services partner to agree to take on the job.
In this situation, you need to fix your outstanding issues before you even bother looking for a managed IT services partner. If your current IT team doesn’t have the time or the skills for the task, then what you need is an IT support partner in Elk Grove. Get them to fix the outstanding issues and then look for a managed IT services partner to keep everything running smoothly.
2. Get everyone in-house on the same page about your needs, wants, and budget
In the long term, moving to managed IT services can save you both time and money as well as frustration. In the short term, however, there is inevitably some upheaval involved in making the move and this usually involves some expense, especially if you need to upgrade your infrastructure to meet your managed IT services partner’s standards.
This means that you want to pick a managed IT services partner in Elk Grove who will be able to meet your needs (and ideally your wants) over the long term and this means that you need to know what they are. Ideally, you should be looking up to ten years ahead. If that is too much then aim for at least five.
Getting feedback from all stakeholders may be a long, tedious (and sometimes frustrating) process, but it is generally a whole lot less effort than ending up choosing the wrong managed IT services partner and having to go through the selection and migration process all over again.
When setting your budget, remember that managed IT services only covers predictable work, essentially regular care and maintenance. Projects (including the likes upgrades) and break/fix work are either passed back to the client or charged as extra services. This means that you might want to allocate spare funds and/or insurance to cover them.
3. Work your way from long-list to request for proposal, checking details as you go
Resist any temptation to rush your way through to various preliminary stages of the selection process. They are all there for a reason and you need to go through them thoroughly. Essentially, you are trying to find out the answers to two key questions. Does this manage IT services company look like it could do the job and does this managed IT services company look like a company with which you would want to do business?
For the most part, the initial selection process (right up to the request for proposal stage) is going to be focussing on the first point, but you do want to be alert to any potential red flags on the second. It might be premature to take a company off your list of candidates without speaking to them personally (unless the issue is really serious), but it could certainly be a sign that you need to remember to raise your concern with them and see what they have to say about it.
One particular point to check is whether or not a company that advertises managed IT services in Elk Grove is actually located in Elk Grove (or at least near Elk Grove) or if it’s just offering managed IT services in Elk Grove (but is legally and/or physically located elsewhere). This is much more than a detail. Generally, service providers insist that any contract is written under their local laws and that disputes are settled by their local courts. This can put you at a significant disadvantage if any issues do arise.
If you’d like to speak to a reputable managed IT services company in Elk Grove, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.
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