Assume for a moment you decided that one of your priorities for the new year is to upgrade your IT support. You collect quotes, meet with specialists, and sign a contract. How long should it take before your tech strategy is sorted out? Or to put it another way, how long do you have to wait before your hardware and software is running smoothly?
We don’t want to give too many specific answers to this question since there are a lot of possible variables involved. However, here are some things you should think about when you begin working with a new managed services provider…
A New Vendor Should Be Trying to Impress You
As a rule of thumb, your early interactions with a new outsourced tech support team should be overwhelmingly positive. After all, they should be doing their very best to impress you in those first few months. To be fair, they should be trying to win and keep your business all the time, but especially when you are getting used to their service.
That means you should be getting quick answers to your questions, steady and professional communication with you (or your team) as needed, and a commitment to hit the ground running. If your managed services partner comes up short in any of these areas, then that’s a red flag.
All of this is a way of saying that your first impressions should be that they are trying hard to get up to speed. What that doesn’t mean, however, is that everything is going to go perfectly at first. That brings us to our second point.
Not Every Issue Can Be Resolved Immediately
If your previous IT vendor wasn’t as thorough or professional as they could have been – or if you didn’t have anyone looking at your technology at all – then don’t expect your new managed services vendor to get everything working perfectly right away. There might be lots of lingering issues to deal with, and some of them might require extensive diagnostic work or creative thinking.
It is sometimes the case that a new client won’t come to a company like ours until they absolutely have to. That means they’ve been ignoring things like network errors and security warnings for a long time. Even though we’re great at what we do, that doesn’t mean we can reverse years of neglect in an instant.
You don’t want to give a new IT team an unlimited amount of time to get up to speed, just the space they need to catch up. How do you strike that balance? Let’s move to some firmer time frames.
The Best Way to Manage Your IT Expectations
We realize that the perspectives we have given you in this post can be a little conflicting. So, how can you get to the bottom of the issue?
In general, recognize that it might take a few months for you and your new managed services vendor to get to know each other. During that time your IT provider will be checking out all sorts of things and looking to find the solutions you need.
Assuming you have good communication with them during this period, you shouldn’t be in a rush to make a change. After all, that can mean starting the process all over again from the beginning with another team – and that’s never a good way to speed the process up.
Have more specific questions about your company’s IT strategy? Contact our sales team today to get a free quote for your managed services contract.