How Can You Evaluate Managed Services Providers (MSPs)?

Every business depends on vendors, no matter the nature of the enterprise. Aside from the commonplace, like cleaning or coffee/food services or maintenance, what vendor does every business need? Information Technology.

Your IT support is at least as important as any other vendor – if not more so. Your IT services provider keeps your office and business moving forward. A failure on the part of your Managed Services Provider (MSP) can result in a work stoppage, missed deadlines and potentially lost clientele.

In IT there are certifications of expertise that can be shown, but Information Technology is an unregulated industry. Virtually anyone can ‘hang out a shingle’ claiming mastery of the IT universe, but we at IT Support LA come to the rescue of far too many of these slapdash ‘IT guys’ to take that seriously.

So, how do you choose a good one?

Here at IT Support LA, we can attest to the fact that the number of ‘technicians’ who apply for employment with us, yet know next to nothing, is staggering.

Do you know how to sort through the chaff to get to the wheat? You have to dig through a lot of dirt to get to the diamonds.

What to look for in IT services?

The first step is to pay attention: Watch and listen.

Beware the long, one-sided ‘tell-sell.’ The Best MSPs will talk about their capabilities, but they will concentrate on you. If the IT candidate is pushing Plan A, B or C on you, based only on the number of users, they are more than likely hacks. Any MSP that treats your needs as fitting into one of their programs does not have your best interests in mind.

What the TOP MSPs do:

They Ask Intelligent Questions and Listen to You

They want to hear about your business, your goals and how work flows through your workplace.
A litigation attorney is geared toward the steps between the initial client consultation and the entering the courtroom with a winning case.
A manufacturer is geared toward the steps between an initial order and transporting the final product.

On a fundamental basis, businesses are similar, but they all have one commonality: computers need to work. The best MSPs want to understand your workflow, any frustrations you have, and how that current model will support the company processes as the business grows.

How do you go about creating and handling increased production?

What ‘new ground’ are you planning to break in terms of their products or services?
How would you like to improve customer service?

Where are your workflow ‘logjams’?

What currently happens when your staff experiences network downtime?

Different questions will ensue, depending on your responses - and they are listening.
The Best MSPs create a custom plan just for you based on what they’ve learned about you.

The Best MSPs Are Truly Proactive

Proactivity goes well beyond merely exhibiting core competencies: the proper experience, skills, and certifications necessary to do the job. THOSE attributes had better be a given, but they are just a starting point.

You need to dig deeper. Do not just listen to a canned and rehearsed presentation. Ask about the availability of both onsite and Help Desk remote staff with specific skill sets that are pertinent to your business. Have them explain their Proactive versus Reactive methods of support.

Find out about their internal policies and procedures and their mandate as to ‘Best Practices’.
A Top-Notch MSP will have these in writing and will not be shy or hesitant about sharing them with you.
If the ‘IT Guy’ sitting across from you looks bewildered and falls into basic selling ‘talking points’, like “We promise a one hour turnaround time”, then you are talking to the wrong guy. Get a Pro in there.

The mentality/mindset of best MSPs is a world away from the ‘Break & Fix’ (B&F) IT guys who overpopulate the industry. B&F doesn’t work for you, and if they were truly proactive, these IT guys would know it doesn’t work for them, either.

Any good MSP will earn your attention by sharing the Vision they implement every day: The same forward-looking practices that keep you up and running, that solves an issue the first time, which prevents foreseeable issues within your network, and thus keeps their hours on your network to a minimum. The MSP saves money, and you save money.

Proof of Consistency
You cannot expect consistency from any IT Provider if they cannot immediately spell out and show you their Best Practices and procedures. Consistency of quality is based on having a set of rules they live by, which are ingrained and come as ‘second nature’ to the entire staff. A Top-Notch MSP never ‘wings it.’

The are Your Virtual CIO

The best MSPs should be acting as your virtual Chief Information Officer. Proactiveness goes well beyond knowing the storage capacity in your server or the dates when hardware and software will become obsolete, it’s about how to recognize, test, and implement new technologies which can improve every aspect of your company, just those areas dealing with IT.

You should feel like your Managed IT services firm is just down the hall from your office, almost like a coworker. You need to have both repair/maintenance-based communication, but casual as well. If you see an emerging technology on the news that looks like it could help your company, you need an easy conduit to toss the idea around with your virtual CIO.

There is no such thing as going ‘above and beyond’ for the Best MSPs – it’s all part of being your technology partner.

The MSP You Choose Will Offer These Services (At a Bare Minimum):

For a Fixed Price per month, the MSP needs to provide:

1. Unlimited Help Desk
2. Unlimited on site for troubleshooting and repair
3. Network & Server Optimization
4. IT Budgeting & Road Map
5. Cybersecurity Strategy based on current equipment and any necessary upgrades
6. Vendor Management
7. Proactive monitoring
8. Reporting

The above items need to be precisely spelled out in a Master Service Agreement (MSA).

What is ‘Vendor Management’ (#6)?

It means you don’t have to juggle vendors when a technology issue appears. No matter who the vendor is – Internet, VoIP phones, printers, or the specific software programs your company uses, they all fall under the Big Tent of Electronic Communications, and we, the MSP, are the Ringmaster.

We manage all of your vendors under our umbrella when necessary to keep the network humming along. The internet’s out? WE make the calls and keep you informed. No more staff members caught in the middle, juggling phones, not knowing what to do next. We speak your vendors’ lingo, and we will sort issues out much faster.

It doesn’t matter what technologies you use in your business; the MSP must manage your entire multi-vendor and multi-device environment. The Top MSPs will never tell you “That’s not our problem. You have to call them.” WE will call them.

It is imperative to ask a prospective MSP if they are truly ‘vendor neutral.’ The best MSPs have many relationships with their own ‘behind the scenes’ technology vendors but will forgo any of these pre-existing relationships to bring you only the technologies that will provide the best results for your company.

For example, IT Support LA partners with both Microsoft and Google, so if you’re trying to figure out if Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace suits your business better, we have both ponies in that race, and the best one will win - based on your needs.

Technology Partners

It takes two to make this Technology Tango truly effective.

Choose an MSP that you trust, and have faith in their abilities, work practices and advice. This trust builds over time. As they say, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” If you are considering closing a deal with an MSP that you have a single reservation about, your work is not done.

The MSP you choose must be upfront, open, and honest, with every fact at their fingertips: from their ‘Company Culture’ to their Policies, Procedures and ‘Best Practices.’ They need to know where you are taking your company and be enthusiastic about being an integral component in helping you achieve your goals now, and in the future.