When meeting with your IT Provider for the first time, they paint a picture of constant monitoring of your workstations, servers, and everything else in between. How could anything go wrong with your IT so well looked after?
The truth is, IT Providers can promise more than what they deliver, and it’s a problem that unfortunately compromises your service.
Our role is well defined: We are responsible for delivering technology that helps your business grow.
With every business relying on technology to function, this role becomes quite important. After all, your IT provider will have access to the core of your business: your data, your people, and your processes.
So, how do you gather evidence that your IT provider has your back? Today’s post teaches you how to ask the hard questions – and what you should be expecting back.
1. Can they survive a disaster?
Your IT provider may talk the walk when it comes to disaster recovery and business continuity, but would they actually walk the talk if doomsday came?
You don’t want to have to find this out the hard way, but unfortunately many do. So how do you know if your provider is capable of helping your business rise like a phoenix out of the ash?
One way to understand how serious they are about disaster recovery and business continuity planning is to question them about theirs. They should be able to give you detailed answers about:
- How they will get their data back if they needed to
- How long it would take
- How much it would cost to do so.
2. Are they part of your risk management plan?
Your data is a crucial part of your business. Your IT Support partner plays a key role in keeping your data available and to do that, we need the keys to the kingdom. We can read your email, we can see your HR files, we can shadow your desktop while your work away. Without trying to scare you, we require the highest level of trust and access to be able to do our job. Shouldn’t we be considered in your risk management plan? How we access your network… when we access it… who accesses it. Your IT Support partner should be able to provide evidence that they know who, how and when access to your network occurs at the very least.
3. Have they got a roadmap for your tech future?
The most valuable IT Providers are able to align your technology roadmap with your businesses strategic plans. This is all about how you use technology, and providing you with the tools you need to propel your business forward, at the right time.
Ask your IT provider to walk you through your IT roadmap, and explain how it aligns with your businesses strategic future. If they aren’t able to articulate how they are aligning IT with your businesses future, chances are they haven’t considered it.
At the crux of these three points, is genuine care, ridged processes and consistency. If your IT Provider squirms and splutters at these questions you know you are having the wool pulled over your eyes, and it’s time to move on.
How we can help
Evologic is in the business of helping businesses achieve more through technology, and that’s why we expose our knowledge to anyone wanting to take advantage of it!
If you want to get a quick, independent overview of how your IT is performing, you can use our self-serve 10 minute IT auditing tool here.
If you would rather have a chat and discuss how you may be able to use technology better, we would love the opportunity to come to your business and have a workshop with you!
Our workshops (valued at $4,500) are commitment-free, available to any business wanting to have our expert opinion. Head over to this link to book your session
