itSynergy: Blog
You Don’t Deserve Bad IT Support
Change is disruptive. It introduces unknown elements into our lives and rather than face uncertainty, we often choose to accept a less-than-ideal situation. You might put up with a mediocre dinner because you know it won’t be awful. You can’t apply the same logic to IT support.
Not All Managed Services Providers are the Same
Many local business owners have asked us some form of the following question: Aren’t all managed services providers the same?
Typically, they’ve only ever reached out to their provider for helpdesk support, leading them to think as long as an IT company responds in a reasonable amount of time when something breaks, they have decent IT support and don’t need to change.
Risks of Living with Bad IT Support
We’ve onboarded clients who initially think all IT support is the same. Their perception changes after we’ve implemented models like risk-informed decision-making, and they see the inefficiencies bad IT support created.
Mismanaged IT Environment
Mismanagement is hard to spot because it’s what you’re used to. You may experience prolonged issues – like your email server being down for 3 days – because your provider lacks the time or capacity to quickly resolve the problem. Or, your provider could tell you it’s okay to skip an End of Life update for Microsoft (It isn’t). You end up with dated systems and lost productivity, and lack critical security support.
Hidden Costs
Cost is another barrier preventing companies from changing providers, especially if you’ve never experienced a major meltdown. But, this overlooks hidden expenses eating into your budget, like:
- Continually fixing the same problem over and over again
- Lost productivity from using old or improperly configured systems
- Hiring extra staff to make up for technological inefficiencies
How Top Managed Services Providers Support Your Business
We understand why many people view a managed services provider as a number to call. Some companies only offer helpdesk support. Others evolve into this service after a month or two. When something goes awry, the provider rides in as the white knight, proving their “value.” What goes unstated is top managed services providers have processes to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place.
What to Look for in a Top IT Provider
Don’t look for a provider who wants to be a white knight savior. Find a company with a variety of experts on staff who will bring a holistic, proactive approach to IT support. You want a team who:
- Is structured and process
and compliance driven
- They’ll regularly visit your business and run through checklists to validate everything is working.
- Possesses a
strategic mindset
- Your provider has tools to evaluate risks and helps you think through the impact of different decisions on your organization and ways to move forward.
How to Change IT Support Providers Without Disrupting Your Business
There will be an adjustment period when any two companies start working together, but as long as your provider takes a strategic approach to IT and has standard procedures in place, you won’t experience significant disruptions. Here’s why:
Quick, Lasting Solutions to IT Issues
Your team’s issues will quickly be resolved, and how you access IT support will change. At itSynergy we have processes in place to respond to your needs quickly and efficiently – usually within 5 minutes 24/7/365 for business-impacting issues. To make it as easy as possible for people to reach us, your staff can communicate with us in the way THEY prefer – call us, email us, or fill out a form on a website.
Discover New, Lasting Solutions for Old Problems
It’s true; your new provider won’t know how the last IT person fixed Sally’s problem every time it popped up. But the issue shouldn’t be recurring, and a new provider will bring fresh eyes to the situation to find a permanent solution.
4 Ways itSynergy is Different
- Risk-informed decision-making: Our proprietary process assesses risks, and then creates a prioritized, proactive checklist, which informs your strategy and budget.
- Monitoring and improved customer satisfaction: If we receive neutral or negative customer feedback, we’re going to pick up the phone and ask what could have gone better, every time.
- Prompt response to issues: We are available 24/7 for clients experiencing critical issues and respond, on average, within 5 minutes.
- Attention to detail: Recently, we helped a client move to a new office. If a monitor had a post-it on the bottom right corner before the move, it was in the same spot after the move. We bring this level of detail to all our clients and projects.
Working with itSynergy
If you’re thinking about changing providers, call us today. We’ll set up a 20-to-30-minute meeting and see if a partnership is a fit for both our companies. “Yes” is great. “No” is okay too. We want what’s right for both of us.
Ready to talk? Contact itSynergy today at 602-297-2400 or online.
