If you’re a business owner in today’s fast-paced environment, then you know that IT support services are no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. It doesn’t matter if you’re a newly established start-up or an enterprise with years of experience under its belt, using business IT support is a must if you want to secure your system. The question is not whether you should use these services or not, is how to choose the right service provider. With so many options available on the market, choosing the right option might be more challenging than expected. In this article we are going to look over the main factors which one should consider before signing a contract with a business IT support provider.

1. Look into Expertise and Specialization

Not every business is the same and, if you’re a business owner, you know that very well. Depending on the specifics of your business, you might require certain services that not all providers are able to offer. If you’re unsure what to look for, you can ask these questions: • What industry are you most experienced in? • What kind of specific systems do you support? (Ex. Windows, Linux etc) • What kind of certifications do your technicians have? A provider with extensive experience in your field of activity is more likely to successfully understand and meet your business’s needs. You might be inclined to think this aspect is more relevant to businesses active in fields such as health or finance, but that is not entirely true – any business can benefit from specific help.

2. Availability and Responsiveness

Like most emergencies in life, IT issues don’t really respect a schedule. You never know when they may happen and you want your IT business support to be able to aid you whenever an emergency strikes. Time is money and for every minute your systems are down, you’re losing money. This is why IT availability is crucial. Here is what to look into, in order to make the best choice: • 24/7 monitoring and support • Quick and swift responses • Multiple channels of communication You can also inquire about their average response time, their resolution time and what is their procedure in case of emergencies. This will help you sort out the best from the mediocre.

3. Proactive Versus Reactive Support

Having IT support services that can fix your problems once they happen is good, but having IT business services that can keep your computers from running into problems is great. That is the difference between proactive and reactive support. Proactive support prevents problems from happening, while reactive support fixes problems after they happen. Here’s a list of proactive services you can ask for: • Regular maintenance and updates • Constant network monitoring • Cybersecurity audits Fixing issues once they appear is more expensive, which is why proactive support is crucial if you want to keep your computers safe and your budget intact.

4. Professional IT Support Services Offer Scalability and Flexibility

Every business, regardless of their field of activity, has the same objective: to make money, to generate income. That’s what makes scalability a very important yet often forgotten aspect to look into. Professional IT support services offer solutions that are flexible and can accommodate to the needs of your business. Here are some things you can ask, in order to determine the provider’s flexibility capabilities: • Do you offer different service plans? • Are you able to support multiple locations, users and devices? • What is your contract flexibility and how many service plans do you offer?

5. Cyber Security Capabilities

Cyber threats are more common than you might think and small and medium enterprises are the most common target. It doesn’t matter what your main area of activity is, cyber security is a must-have if you’re using computers. However, if your business handles sensitive data, then it is all the more important that you invest in keeping your client’s data safe and sound. Here are some cyber security-related services you can ask about: • Firewall and antivirus • Email security • Phishing protection • Data encryption • Employee training • Compliance management

6. Cloud Support

If you think your business model would benefit from cloud support, then cloud management IT support services can migrate your business to the cloud, even if it wasn’t originally designed for it. Professional companies can help you with it cloud backup and disaster recovery. In an ever-changing and developing industry, it is important that your service provider is up to date in what regards technological advancement, so that you can benefit from the many advantages of cloud management.

7. Business IT Support with Positive Client Reviews

Any business IT support can make its activity sound amazing. You need an outsider’s experience to validate a provider’s claims. You must check their reputation before signing any contract and, in order to do that, the best thing you can do is check their website, social media and Google reviews. Oftentimes, certified IT support services will also showcase any prizes they won on their web pages. You can also ask for case studies or client references. A provider’s disponibility to offer you this information is already a green flag.

8. Communication and Customer Service

Poor communication is a deal-breaker, no matter the professional qualities of a company. You want your professional business IT support to have open and transparent personnel and a dedicated person of contact so that you always know who to refer to. You can always test their communication style during the initial consultation. These aspects are best determined on a face-to-face basis. If you feel like you can’t get your point across to them, if you think the communication doesn’t have a natural flow or if you find it rather difficult to resonate with them, then it would be best that you don’t consider them a potential candidate.

Conclusion

Choosing the best IT support services from among the regular ones can be a rather challenging task, but the great part is that, once you do, you won’t ever have to find another company. As you can see, not all of the aspects that differentiate a great company from a good one regard their professional capabilities, some involve their communication skills, their client references and flexibility.