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How to Choose the Right IT Company

Why choose an IT Support Company?

• Most businesses are on “middle ground” - dependent on their IT systems and big enough to have invested substantially in them, but rarely of a size to justify employing full-time, in-house IT staff with the inevitable burden on overheads.

• Business owners are finding it makes sense to concentrate on what they do. After all it is best to run the business whilst using a friendly & competent IT firm to manage the IT systems.

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The Problem

• There are hundreds of IT Support companies out there, we offer IT Support to Leeds and I can think of 30+ companies in the area alone and its difficult to separate the good from the bad.

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Things to Look for:

• Competence & Availability

• Ensuring value for money

• IT support needs to be there when you need it

• Remote Monitoring & Managed Services

• Project Management

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Competence & Availability

• Don’t be afraid to ask searching questions on this. IT is a world of jargon that easily confuses the average businessman/woman so you should ask your potential IT partner:

1. What training and accreditations do you have appropriate to my IT systems?

2. What is your experience and track record in IT?

3. Please can you supply us with three organisations that you have worked with and improved their IT operations?

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Ensuring Value for Money

• Key questions you need answering:

1. What rates does the IT company charge?

2. What does that include?

3. How quickly does the company respond to customer issues?

4. What internal processes occur when you receive my request for help – the firm may have the best IT trained team in the world, but without efficient systems your problem will be lost with the rest

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Different IT Companies Offer Varying Operational Procedures & Charging

• Pay-As-You-Go – You call when something isn’t working, they come, fix it and you receive an invoice based on an hourly rate.

• Block Hours – Some IT companies offer block hour deals where you purchase an agreed number of hours per month at a reduced rate.

• Managed Services – Where the client company pays the IT firm an agreed fixed monthly fee in exchange for it providing all your IT service needs: support, server monitoring etc.

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IT Support Needs To Be There When You Need IT

• One of the most important reasons for employing a third party IT Company is to fix things when they break.1. Are you required to call a helpdesk?

2. Do you have an engineer’s mobile number?

3. Do you have a contact email address?

4. What systems does the IT firm have in place?

5. Are customer issues dealt with swiftly and efficiently?

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Remote Monitoring & Managed Services

• Prevention is cheaper than the cure & nothing is truer than in today’s IT world where IT companies offer the facility to monitor your IT systems 24/7 - 365 days a year with remote software.

• The software spots a potential problem, the IT Company is immediately informed by SMS or email & is able to act swiftly to resolve the issue, all of which links to a managed service contract.

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Project Management

• If you already use a company for IT support, it makes perfect sense to turn to it at the time of a project.  But you should be satisfied that any IT support company you hire: – Has suitable systems in place for project management– Has the necessary tools to set deadlines, ensure they are met

without anything critical “falling through the cracks.”– Has a foolproof mechanism for ensuring projects are completed

on time and within budget

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Putting it All Together

• The more important your IT systems are to the running of your business, the more important it is you select the right IT Company. When something breaks (and it will!) it will be your business that depends on them. Monday morning on the busiest time of your year when your server goes down isn’t the time to realise your IT company hasn’t got what it takes.

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Thanks for Listening

• Visit our IT Support Blog:

http://www.integral-it.co.uk/site/blog

• Follow us on twitter:

@integralit

• Email Us:

info@integral-it.co.uk

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