How do I pick the Right Support Company for my Business?

With so much choice out there and multiple support providers offering similar services, it can be a bit of a minefield and somewhat overwhelming to shortlist the one(s) you would like to meet and get a quote from, so where do you start and how do you choose?

It’s no surprise that in every industry you have ‘The Good’, ‘The Bad’ and ‘The Ugly’. The IT sector is no exception to this and there are various reasons for why they may be this way, including:

• Too small (1 or 2 people) and have taken on more than they can handle.
• Too big. Customer service and a genuine want to ‘care’ often fizzle out, leaving you to feel like a number, rather than a priority.
• Sometimes claims are made that cant be delivered on, or the finished ‘resolution’ is of poor quality.
• Unless you find a company who genuinely strive for perfection in what they do and seek 100% customer satisfaction, a lack of passion will very quickly become visible.

Its easy to put all the right things you want to hear onto a website, we’ve all seen it at some point, but the proof is in the pudding as they say. Seek referrals from trusted contacts/colleagues/friends, there is a lot to be said for solid recommendations and its almost like a ‘try before you buy’ scenario, so this should be your first step.

Google is incredible for assisting us in finding local businesses that suit our needs. Do a quick search and take a look at the websites that come up in your results. How professional do they look? This might seem irrelevant, but as humans we have a habit of allowing our eyes to judge something before we dig deeper behind the scenes. Appearance in business is important, so a company who take pride in their online presence, can quite often signify how they want to be ‘seen’ by people/customers. Look for reasons to have interest in them, see if they have testimonials on there and do they offer anything outside of just general IT support?

Pick the one(s) you like the look of and give them a call. How do they answer the phone? Do they genuinely listen to everything you say and WANT to find out what YOU NEED, or are they just trying to sell you what they want you to have.

Price is always a tough one, a big focus in running a business is to make profit and therefore we naturally try to find the cheapest quote out there that we can. You know the saying ‘pay peanuts, get monkeys’ or ‘if something seems too good to be true, it probably is’. Be wary of any quotes that fall into this category. It could be that they are losing customers due to poor service and are desperately trying to fill this void, or it could even be (and this is one we see often) that there are hidden costs, not included in your monthly fee. For example, there might be some annual bills that appear out of nowhere for anti-virus, or your Microsoft licences. Also consider the fact they might be charging extra for on site engineers visits/fixes, not included in your package.

A good company who are more expensive with their price, will usually cost your business less in the long term.

Meet with your shortlist (if you need one) and get a feel for them on face value, their technical knowledge and passion for improving things within your business. This could be as simple as cleaning up a mess that’s built up over time, or identifying ways that they could make technology work better for your business and staff, so you can operate more productively. Its also important to consider their SLA’s (response time) and how they manage these.

There are many variables that will lead to your final decision, however we hope this helps and if you happen to have some current pain points and a desire to change IT Support provider, let us know, we would welcome an honest and genuine chat to see if we are a right fit for each other.

Feel free to call on 01323 287828 or fill out our contact form here.