The digital economy has become a huge part of the UK’s overall economic profile. It’s larger than agriculture, hotels and catering, meaning it’s never been more important for businesses to have strong and robust IT infrastructure. Even if you don’t deal in the digital world, processes like payroll, CRM and internal communications all require strong technology solutions to ensure efficiency and efficacy. For many, this can mean recruiting a local IT support service.. But how do you find the best IT support for your business requirements?
You need to consider some IT strategic sourcing techniques before you enter into a support contract with someone. This article will offer some tips for finding the right support provider, highlighting features any good supplier should offer you.
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Source IT support with comprehensive offerings
You should only invest in IT support and services that can offer you front-to-back, end-to-end support. There’s a good chance that you don’t actually need everything that the right provider can offer you, but the fact that they can offer all of that means they can better tailor their offerings to you and your needs.
Their support can include:
- A strategic roadmap that covers your current and future needs, including advice on the kinds of hardware and software installations you need to make
- Onsite support such as hardware installation, including Print and Audio Visual Solutions
- 24/7 Support for round-the-clock troubleshooting
- IT procurement guidance and IT sourcing services to stock up your workplace
- IT consultancy to manage specific problems or software implementation
- Enhanced cyber security for compliance and protection from criminals
These are just some of the offerings that you should keep an eye out for in your IT sourcing strategy for support or managed services.
Ensure that the company offers tailoring
An SME is any business with fewer than 250 employees, meaning there’s a fairly significant range of IT requirements any one business might have at a given time. It’s not enough to know that your support system offers a comprehensive suite of assistance, but also that they can tailor solutions to suit you specifically. There’s no point paying for a massive suite of features and tools if you’re not going to use them! This should also come with scalability and flexibility, meaning the provider can adapt to your needs as and when they change.
Managed IT Services vs Co-Managed IT Support
It’s important to distinguish between fully managed IT services and co-managed IT support.
Fully managed IT services involve fully outsourcing your IT department, leaving everything in the hands of trained experts, rather than an in-house team. It can also be a temporary solution for training up your in-house team.
Co-managed IT support is offered to enhance your in-house team’s IT capabilities, covering things like holiday gaps and understaffing. It can significantly reduce the digital risks associated with running a small in-house IT team.
The best IT support will have a strong reputation
If a team has made a positive impact on other businesses, there will be evidence that shows it off. This can take many forms, such as strong Feefo ratings, customer reviews and testimonials from past clients. Keep your eye out for these and even the receipt of awards. Reputations aren’t earned easily, so take them seriously when seeking out IT support.
Tip | Big brands with local support
A good move for finding the best IT support can be choosing a big brand that offers specialised local support. These companies will have a long-standing status as a trustworthy, reputable provider of support, with national relevance and specialised local services. Seeking out companies like this can be a great way to find the best IT support for your business’s needs.
