What is a MSP & why should you have one?
A MSP, or Managed Service Provider, have been around since the early 2000’s and have been growing in demand over the last few years. The primary function of a MSP is to provide your business with a team of technology experts for the same cost (most of the the time lower) as one full time IT staff member. They can cover a range of technology fields this way which is a huge overall cost saving measure compared to hiring every position individually.
However, not all MSP’s are created equal. As this is a growing market (estimated over $300 Billion by 2025 https://zipdo.co/statistics/msp-market-size/) any person that has plugged in a mouse and keyboard before have started up businesses with no real business goal in mind or a way to achieve it. I have spent over fifteen years in the technology field and have talked to over 100 of these companies in that time. The biggest mistake I have ever made in my time was to sign an agreement with a MSP that under delivered and took my money in the process. That is why my belief in doing research is so strong today. I would like to share five of my own tips & tricks when it comes to vetting a MSP…
Ask for business testimonials. This really goes for any vendor you are about to hire. However, this goes double for MSPs. Any MSP that is worth your time will have happy clients. If they don’t move on from that dumpster fire of a business. This leads me to the next tip.
Ask them to tell you of a time they took pride in helping a client. People who care about the client should have many times to recall. If they feed you a line of ‘I am prideful of all the clients I have helped’ that is a company I would suggest you avoid.
Ask to speak with the team managers they have. Every MSP has ‘bundled’ a bunch of technology services that consists of multiple teams and managers of those teams. The best MSP will have a clear management team that communicates to each other. You should know those managers and have a way to contact them if you feel the team they manage has dropped the ball on any request.
Ask about scheduling a weekly meeting. The only way requests do not fall through the cracks is if the accountability is a two way street. Meaning, you have to know about any technology issues/requests as much as your MSP needs to know about them. The only way a MSP is effective is if both you and them are on the same page at all times. Having a weekly meeting keeps this possible and should be no problem for the MSP if they care about your company and not just getting paid.
Research, Research, RESEARCH. Pretty sure I said that enough times, right? Think of it this way, you do not take the first estimate from a plumber or on a project for your home. Just because you need help ‘right now’ does not mean you should throw money at something that will be more of a hindrance than helpful.
As a business owner myself, I understand that time is valuable and even thinking about one more meeting each week sounds dreadful. Luckily, you can have someone like myself and my team be your “go to” technology expert and have me go to those weekly meetings. as I am sure you knew that this blog post would have a pitch in it, here it is. Hireageek.online entire business model is to help our clients focus on the business growth while we take care of the technology needed for that growth to happen. Schedule a 100% FREE forty-five minute consultation and see how much easier business technology can be!