SO WHAT IS IT SUPPORT AND HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PROVIDER?

 

 

Information Technology systems have become such a crucial and integral part of everyday business life that even the slightest glitch can have a very grave impact on business performance. It is important, therefore, that your IT systems are designed to run as smoothly and safely as possible and that if things do go wrong you have the confidence that they will be sorted quickly and effectively.

However, not all companies can afford in-house IT support managers and technicians, so having an IT support company on your side that you know is only a phone call away and will go into immediate action for you is not so much a luxury as a necessity. But what exactly should an IT support company offer you?

 

'having an IT support company on your side that you know is only a phone call away

and will go into immediate action for you is not so much a luxury as a necessity' 

 

• Well, for starters they should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a weeks to come in and fix problems as and when they arise. This support should be accessible through a single central number by which you can ask questions, report errors or check the status of a piece of equipment. There should also be a secure online system where you can make requests and check the status of work that is being carried out on your behalf.
• Their support should be flexible enough to resolve any problem rapidly and with as little disruption to the company as possible, from providing an emergency piece of hardware on a Sunday afternoon, to taking an employee through a software programme step by step over the telephone.
• The support should include assistance with the operation of all peripherals, including printers, switches, hubs, routers and wireless hardware
• It should include support for all types of server machines, desktop machines and laptops, whether they are Compaq, Dell, HP, IBM or Apple. Equally software support should include all Microsoft products and operating systems, ACT, CRM MYOB etc.
• It is also worth investigating the chain of command that any request you make goes through and how urgently the request is attended to. Will you be put through to a support engineer who specialises in your problem immediately after making your request? And will that support engineer stick with the problem until it is resolved? Alternatively, if the issue cannot be addressed while you are on the telephone, will the details of the fault be noted down and passed on to somebody specialising in your problem who will call you back as soon as they are free. How long is this process likely to take?
• How involved and proactive will the IT support company be? For example, will representatives from the company visit your workplace regularly and make recommendations about the various ways you can upgrade and improve your system in light of your business needs and suggest ways of cutting costs? Will this service be inclusive of their annual fee?
• How regularly will the IT support company monitor your servers to do a health check on the performance of your system? Will this include essential maintenance such as performing any software updates and restoring deleted files, deleting old users, data backup, log monitoring, re-setting passwords, bug fixing and ensuring there is enough disk space?

• Other issues that need to be monitored on a regular basis include bandwidth status to avoid bottlenecks and assist the efficient flow of data and security checks to ensure that there are no listening ports open. Will this monitoring also identify possible future problem areas before they arise, and will it be performed remotely, without any interference to your daily business affairs?

  • Does the IT support company have the necessary vendor accreditations to carry out work on your systems and programmes without affecting the warranty?
  • Ask the IT support company to identify the areas of support they do not cover. For example, the support offered may not include laptops that are remote to the office or support to any software upgrades and new implementations you may be thinking of carrying out.
  • What about the various levels of support on offer? Perhaps you just want a one-off network maintenance visit or a quick clean up after a virus or hacker has infiltrated your system. Or maybe you have some level of IT skills in-house and only need occasional help on an ad-hoc basis. Is there a pay structure for this sort of work, alongside packages that give you the choice of paying annually or quarterly? (And while you are negotiating this ensure that there are no additional charges for travel or hotel costs).

  This article outlines the range of services that any prospective IT support company should be able to offer you, alongside the various grey areas and additional services it is worthwhile clarifying during contract negotiations, so that you will be able to make a more informed decision about the kind of company that is best suited to your particular needs.

 

 

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