Hiring an IT company can streamline your business, make it easier to collaborate with remote workers, and protect your data security. The process of finding a reputable, qualified IT services company shouldn’t be difficult. If you do a little research ahead of time, ask for recommendations, and personally vet each company, you’ll have a better chance of success. Here are eight questions you should ask each IT consulting or IT security company before you make your decision:
What IT Services Do You Offer?
Most IT companies offer a variety of services, but you should verify that they specialize in the particular services you need. Ask if they offer IT consulting, cloud management, tech support, training, software or hardware integration, onsite or virtual IT services, and disaster recovery. Even if you don’t need all of these services right away, your IT services needs might change over time as your company grows. If you hire an IT company that offers comprehensive IT services, you won’t need to shop around for a new provider in two or three years when your needs change. Plus, IT companies who offer robust IT services also have more experience, training, and skills than smaller companies.
Can You Provide References?
Before setting up consultations with IT service providers, you should check their online reviews and customer testimonials. This will provide some reassurance that they are reliable, trustworthy, and experienced. When reading customer reviews, keep in mind that all companies, no matter how exemplary, will occasionally get bad customer reviews. Watch out for reviews that indicate that the company charged more than they said they would, were hard to get a hold of, didn’t have the experience or qualifications they claimed, were unfriendly or hard to communicate with, or didn’t provide services they promised. You should also ask each company if they can name some clients as references. Ask for two or three references, and contact these references to gauge the level of service provided and how satisfied their clients are.
What Are Your Tech Support Hours?
If you’re looking for a remote IT services company, you’ll want to know what their tech support hours are. If you have an emergency or disaster after hours or on a weekend or holiday, you want to trust that your IT services company will be reachable. If they don’t have set tech support or customer service hours, that is a red flag. The most valuable IT security and IT service providers will offer a clear schedule for after-hours and weekend support.
What Disaster Recovery Services Do You Offer?
You should not choose an IT security or managed IT services company that doesn’t offer disaster recovery services. Disaster recovery services are integral to maintaining the security and efficiency of your office. A robust disaster management plan will protect you from data loss, breaches, malware and ransomware, and natural disaster. You want to look for an IT company who specializes in disaster recovery services. Ask them if they offer data and backup tools, targeted risk assessments, robust testing and updates, cloud solutions or offsite management, inventory checks, ongoing communication planning, and disaster recovery team meetings.
What is Your Response Time?
Another key consideration is the response time of each organization. An IT support company who takes days to respond to your questions, concerns, and needs won’t be very valuable to you, and is a waste of your money. You want an IT company that offers a fast response time so that your issues will be addressed efficiently and timely. Ask each company representative how long it takes in between when an issue is first reported and when the client receives confirmation that a member of their IT staff is working on the issue. You should also ask how much communication you’ll receive during this process and what their triage system is for evaluating the response level.
What Qualifications, Certifications, and Training Do Your Staff Have?
The IT company that you choose should be able to give you information about their staff members’ qualifications and certifications. They should also be able to provide some evidence of the training that their staff undergoes. You should ask about their certifications and confirm that they hold partner certifications and third-party certifications. For instance, if your entire team uses Microsoft products, is there someone on their tech support and IT services team who is certified on Microsoft devices? You can also confirm that their staff has at least three years of experience in all IT services you require.
Do You Engage in Continuing Education?
Continuing education and training is what sets some IT services companies apart from others. All staff should be required to stay on top of the latest tech advancements, procedures, best practices, tech solutions, and hardware and software training. Their commitment to continuing education is how you can determine if they are consistently striving to be the best that they can be for each client.
Are Your Services Scalable?
You can also ask if their services are scalable. This means that as your company grows and expands and develops changing IT services needs, your IT company can keep up with those needs. You don’t want to have to go to another IT company each time you want to add on a new service or product. Scalable IT services will actually save you money in the long term as well, as you won’t have to keep paying added fees to pick and choose a la carte IT services.
If you’re ready to learn more about IT services in Tucson, contact us at Silverado Technologies. We are a comprehensive IT service provider with 25 years of experience providing managed IT services, IT security services, cloud services, IT consulting, and disaster recovery services. We’re a woman-owned business who works closely with each client to design a customized IT services plan that meets their needs, goals, and budget. To schedule a consultation, call us today at (520) 903-1580 or contact us online.