If you have good-quality IT support at your business, it can make a significant difference to productivity. IT support keeps downtime to a minimum, reduces technical problems and frees up your employees to focus their time on important job tasks. But many businesses don’t have a good image of how IT support should look.
If you work with a managed IT services provider, there are some critical elements you should expect from the service.
Things to Expect from Your IT Support Provider
If you are unsure about what good IT support looks like, you are in the right place. We will lay out the essentials of a good managed IT services provider that will help you assess if you are getting the right help.
IT Support Should Be Readily Available to All Team Members
Whatever your team members need, they should have easy access to the IT team. It could be a simple matter like resetting a password or something more serious where software is not working properly. In any case, requests should not have to go through multiple intermediaries to be resolved.
If your team members do not feel that they can easily access IT support, this should be a red flag for the standards of your IT support service.
The IT Team Should be Proactive in Handling Issues
You may believe IT teams are supposed to enter and fix problems once they have been identified. This is an emergency response that is an important part of IT support. But a good IT support team will be proactive in handling potential issues before they surface.
For example, your IT support should be abreast of the latest apps and technologies. This will enable them to make recommendations about technologies that could help your business excel. Beyond this, they should be on top of the latest updates and patches for apps you already use, installing them at times that will not be disruptive to your operations.
You Should Get Swift Solutions to Problems from Your IT Team
When minor problems arise, slow resolutions can hold your business back. If employees are prevented from doing their work, it may be difficult to make up the lost time later on, and this can be a costly problem.
Some IT challenges take time to resolve. But a good IT support team will find efficient solutions to problems that arise. They know how to prioritise requests that can be quickly resolved and assign team members to manage them. This keeps other team members in reserve to deal with more complex issues when they come up.
They Should Provide Support for Your Most Frequently-used Tools
Businesses tend to be heavily reliant on certain tools that offer:
- Efficiency.
- Protection for employees.
- Improved productivity in the office.
Whether it is laptops, scanners, copiers or things like ERP systems and access control, you need these tools to be operating at their best so that your business can perform to its potential.
This means you need an IT team that can support you with the most essential pieces of technology you handle. You should never be left scrambling to contact multiple vendors and support providers to find answers to questions with these tools.
You Should Expect Your IT Team to Provide Data Storage and Protection Options
Data is integral to your company. Modern businesses collect and transfer data at an unprecedented rate, and loss of that data can be a huge problem for your business. Unfortunately, reliable data backup strategies are not in place for many organisations. This makes it difficult to quickly and efficiently restore lost data in the event of any kind of disaster.
There are various things that can lead to data loss. It could be a user error or something more malicious, like a cyberattack. It could even come from failing internal servers, leaving you racing to recover data that is contained within. With an effective IT team at your disposal, you will have assistance in initiating a high-quality data backup strategy. This will provide a simple means of restoring more data in the event of a crisis.
Other Key Characteristics of Good IT Support
In addition to the major aspects listed above, there are many great qualities to look for in your IT managed services provider. These include:
- Operating in specialist fields: IT is a broad area, and good IT support providers have specialisms. This could be for a specific industry or a set of services, but it allows you to select a partner with unique skills that are perfect for your organisation.
- Good communication: The communication between the client and support teams is central to a successful partnership. Communication preferences should be mutually understood, with the client’s preferences at the fore. This way, problems will be explained clearly and dealt with swiftly.
- Adaptability: IT support packages are great for smaller operations, but they may not fully meet the needs of larger organisations. A good support provider should be able to adapt its services to find ways that put your needs first. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for everyone.
- Deadline-focused: All services should be delivered on time to meet the client’s expectations. If IT projects are not completed by deadlines, or to the required standard, it can cause problems for you and your progress. Look for IT support providers that can present evidence of consistently meeting deadlines.
- A strong understanding of your business: Your IT support provider is a partner, so you need them to understand what you do. If they know the ins and outs of your business, as well as your IT systems, they will be able to provide the type of support you need to focus on your business priorities at all times.
Final Thoughts
All of the above should be present in combination for a good, trustworthy IT support service. If you do not feel that your current provider is meeting these standards, It might be time to look for a new IT managed services provider.
Why choose Eventura as your Managed IT Service Provider?
Eventura has been providing managed IT services to countless customers for 20 years. Our talented team of people can help you identify all your businesses IT needs and engineer bespoke IT solutions that have real-world benefits to your business.
We are also NetSuite Solution Providers and Sage 200 Business Partners, offering game-changing ERP solutions crafted to automate and streamline business processes.
If you would like to speak to one of our experts, you can request a free call back here.
