When they’re scaling their business, a lot of companies decide to outsource some or all of their IT needs. There are a lot of companies out there offering IT services, but choosing the best one for your business can be hard. Handing over a business-critical function like IT to someone outside of your company can be a daunting idea. How do you know who is reliable/ Is there service good value? What happens if it goes wrong? To get the best IT support, interview each vendor and ask these questions. 

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Where Are You Based?

It doesn’t matter that much where your IT support has their head office, but you should know where their servers are. The location is important if they will be offering you services like cloud hosting, computer networking, or VoIP. Server location can impact on the quality of your services. Local law about GDPR may also have implications on the way your data is stored, especially if your company works in an industry with a high level of regulation.

What Geographical Areas Do You Cover?

You don’t need your IT support vendor to be based in the same city as you these days. However, you do need to know what areas they cover, especially if you might move your premises in the future, or want to expand your business into new areas or different countries. You need to know that your provider can keep supporting you. 

Do You Offer Different Levels Of IT Support?

IT support companies usually offer a few different levels of service, which can suit different budgets, businesses, and requirements. For example, you can choose between:

• Pay-as-you-go or ad-hoc support
• Break-fix support
• Managed service support

Look for a company who can offer the level of support that you need and can afford. 

What Exactly Is Supported In The Contract?

You should be careful with a company who says they support everything, without giving detail about what that actually means and what is included in the agreement with them. It’s not unusual for companies to assume they will get complete coverage, only to find out that they can actually only log a maximum number of support tickets every month, or that some services will be charged as an extra. Get this laid out clearly from the beginning, so you understand exactly what kind of support you will get. Otherwise, you run the risk of signing a contract that doesn’t actually work for your business. 

What Isn’t Covered In The IT Support Contract?

You could assume that this is covered by asking what is included in your support, but it’s still wise to get more detail by asking this question as well. There may be some services which are not covered by your contract. It’s better to know in advance what will be billed separately so you can budget more accurately. If there are any services that are not included in your contract, then you need to know about ad-hoc or hourly pricing. 

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