Strategic Decisions to Make Before Considering Hiring an Online IT Support Team

It’s obvious that when you’re running a small to medium sized business – whether product or service based – you don’t have enough overhead and aren’t big enough to have your own IT department to take care of your IT needs for computer maintenance and support. But having IT support is necessary because should any breakdowns occur with your desktops and devices, these problems can be immediately addressed.

The best solution here is to get an outside online IT support company. It makes sense because all you need to do is to subscribe to them (usually paying just an annual fee) and all you need to do is call or message them should a problem arise with your IT infrastructure. However, before you go registering with just any IT support company, be sure to strategically research the company and consider the following:

Consider how long the company has been in business

According to the latest research by the US government, roughly 50% of startup businesses closed down within the first 5 years. Thus, you need to strategically research for an IT support company that has been in the business for at least 5 years, and the more years, the better.

Strategically research the number of employees

A very stable IT support company will have a lot of employees, and we mean a lot, probably not lower than 500 in several locations in different cities or states. They may also have several overseas locations that may also serve as their technical or call center hub in good English-speaking countries like Canada or the Philippines.

Ask about their engineers and technical staff

You need to strategically research for an IT support company with many engineers and technical staff that specialize in different technologies that are either licensed, well-trained, or are professional graduates of their specialized course. Be aware that there are IT support companies that have “jack of all trades” staff that are good, but don’t specialize in anything. Beware of companies that have negative comments or complaints in their reviews pertaining to complex projects, overruns, and overall bad service. Their helpdesk staff (made up of the same engineers and technical staff) should all be dedicated and are not field technicians that are merely called when not busy.

Ask how many clients they service for IT support

Strategically search for an IT support company that services a lot of clients on a daily basis. Ask about their success rate since established IT support companies share their success rates to inquiring customers. A 90% average success rate is good enough. Their IT and helpdesk support are also onsite in their company locations or branches and not outsourced to outside merchants. This means their helpdesk engineers and technical staff are trained by the company itself and their certifications updated.

Onsite calls must always be part of their managed IT services solution

Look for an IT support company that is a permanent managed services provider that provides onsite support as part of their monthly price subscription.