The fastest way to stop tech problems in your office is to fix the support behind them. Good IT prevents the outage, the lost file, the printer that won't print. Bad IT shows up after the damage is done and bills you for it.
When the internet drops, most offices grind to a halt until it comes back, and that costs thousands in lost productivity and sales. The smaller problems pile up too: file access, passwords, printing, recovering a file someone overwrote or deleted by accident. These come up constantly.
You need a way to get running again fast when something breaks, and a way to stop most of it from breaking in the first place. That comes down to who is handling your IT and how. Here is how to tell if yours is up to it.
Run your IT company through this checklist
- Do they answer the phone live and respond to emergencies within 60 minutes?
- For non-emergencies, are they easy to reach and back to you within an hour?
- Do they monitor, patch, and update your network's security settings on a set schedule, and can you tell how often? Most firms can't show you, which usually means they aren't doing it.
- Can they prove they are backing up all your data, laptops, and devices?
- Do they meet with you at least once a quarter to report what they've done, review projects, and suggest improvements, rather than waiting for a problem to talk to you?
- Do their invoices spell out exactly what you're paying for?
- Do they explain things in plain English instead of geek speak, and ask if there's anything else they can help with, no matter how small?
- Do they bring up cybersecurity with you, recommend ways to protect your network from ransomware, and offer training so your team doesn't fall for a scam?
- Have they given you complete network documentation and your own admin passwords? Or do they hold the keys to the kingdom, leaving you helpless if something goes wrong and you can't reach them?
- Do techs show up on time, dress professionally, and leave you glad you called, instead of dreading the next time you have to?
What your answers mean
If your IT company, technician, or in-house IT guy doesn't check every box, you're probably paying for substandard support. That puts your data and network security at risk and burns thousands in lost time, because you and your staff keep solving problems that shouldn't be happening at all.
If that sounds familiar, look at what else is out there and make sure you're getting what you pay for.