September 6, 2016
Looking for an IT Services Company? Find the Right One with These 7 Tips
Cyber attacks are a big problems for individuals, industry and even the United States government. It has been estimated that the U.S. Navy has to fend off 110,000 cyber attacks every hour. Hackers all over the world are constantly looking for ways to create malware and cause problems. Even if you are not too worried about cyber threats, you may be in the market for a company to help with your information technology (IT). Finding the right IT services company may seem daunting but it does not have to be.
- Determine your goals and needs. Before you start talking to managed IT services companies, you need to know what you need and what you want. This is really true of any service or product you are looking at. if you hire a cleaning service, for instance, you will want to ask yourself the same thing. Work through what you need and where you think the holes in your current IT plan are and then start to talk to IT services companies.
- Talk to other people in your industry. The best way to find any kind of quality goods or services is to get personal recommendations for them. You know other people who run businesses in your industry, ask them who they use to provide their business IT solutions. How did they find them? How do they like working with them? Even if you do not go with the same company, you may get a list of IT companies to look into. At the very least, this will give you a starting off point for these kinds of services.
- Talk only to qualified IT services companies. Make sure the companies you talk to have the right certifications and training. This information should be on their website. They need to have certifications for all of the operating systems and software applications that are needed in your industry.
- Get references. Even if you do not know anyone who has worked with the IT services companies that you are considering should not be a reason to not hire them. Ask the companies if they have current or former clients that you can talk to about the services they provide and what it is like to work with them. Many IT services companies have testimonials on their website. It is in your best interest to check these and not just assume they are real. There are a lot of companies that just make up testimonials on their sites and others may not check.
- Make sure the IT services company knows your industry. Every industry has different needs for its IT support. IT consulting differs from company to company as well. You need to make sure the IT services company that has experience in and an understanding of your specific needs. This is another reason knowing what your needs are is so important. You cannot tell if the company understands your needs if you do not know what they are yourselves.
- Go with an IT services company that asks a lot of questions. Of course, you should ask a lot of questions of all of the IT services companies but you can tell a lot about the IT support firm by the questions they ask you. This shows how much they care about getting your business but also how good a job they will do for you once they have it. If the firm gas no questions for you or if they will not take the time to answer your questions for them, you should go to a different company. Any company that will not take the time to answer your questions before you hire them is never going to make that time for your afterwards.
- Know how fast they can help with emergencies. You hire good IT services companies because you want to prevent emergencies from happening but that does not mean you will never have any. You need to know what their policy is for help on the nights and weekends.
Hiring the right IT services company to take care of your business’s needs is possible with some effort.