You have a gut feeling that something isn’t right about the way you’ve been approaching IT in your business. You’re not sure exactly what to do, but you’re afraid of what might happen if you continue the current path. Maybe you have one or two internal IT employees. You’re worried about what would happen if your network crashes overnight or while they’re on vacation. Maybe you contract with a freelancer or company to come to your business and install or troubleshoot equipment as needed. They do the work you ask, but you’re not sure if there are better hardware and software options available. If these are the things keeping you up at night, outsourcing your IT department might be the right solution for you. Managed IT is just one of the four main ways businesses approach IT support, but it is the only comprehensive outsourced IT option that will address your concerns. With managed IT services, an IT company takes on complete oversight of your network and support of your devices and end users. Managed IT services include both strategic and tactical services. You get the benefits of an IT strategy with a team of professionals handling the monitoring and maintenance of your network along with the day-to-day end user support.

You signed a contract with an IT support company and are relieved to have the weight of technology troubles lifted from your shoulders. Not so fast. You may be in for a bumpy ride. We’ve heard all kinds of stories about why businesses are unhappy with their IT support vendor. Sometimes trouble creeps up over time as the service or the perception of service goes downhill. Other times the relationship is rocky from the start. We’re not too proud to admit that we’ve had clients leave us in search of greener pastures. We’ve also acquired new clients leaving other providers with which they became unhappy. Sometimes you need to leave your IT support provider (yes, even if it's us) when you outgrow one another or determine that your priorities and values are no longer aligned (or maybe they never were). Other times you can turn the relationship around with a little communication.

There are four different ways most businesses acquire IT support.

Welcome to the third and final installment of our three-part series demonstrating the types of services you should expect from a quality outsourced IT vendor. Part I outlined the support you should expect from a help desk and service team, and Part II showed how your IT vendor should advise on business strategy. Now, we’re featuring the third element of service provided by an outsourced IT vendor, project management and implementation. Part III: Project Team Projects are pre-planned, scheduled activities, like new device installation, software migration, cabling, etc. This role might be filled by the same team that handles your day-to-day support. However, when you’re evaluating an IT partner, it is important for you to understand how they maintain the capacity to respond to daily requests while meeting their pre-scheduled project commitments.

In Part I of this series we outlined the Service Team component of an outsourced IT vendor. The Service Team tends to see the most day-to-day activities from clients since they handle incoming help desk calls and emails. They resolve issues remotely or on-site at the clients’ locations. Plus, they proactively monitor and maintain client networks to address as many potential issues as possible before end-users ever notice a problem. As you evaluate the benefits of working with an outsourced IT vendor, you’ll want a good understanding of the process for requesting assistance and their guaranteed response and resolution times. Additionally, you’ll want to understand what proactive steps the team takes to resolve issues before they impact business processes and productivity. But it doesn’t stop there - the Service Team is just one component of the relationship you’ll have with a quality IT vendor.

You've reached the point where you know your business needs some more sophisticated IT support than your current model can provide. You've evaluated the options, and are considering working with an outsourced IT vendor or managed service provider. An outsourced IT vendor can handle a lot of different functions for your business, but you're struggling to evaluate the return on the potentially significant investment you're about to make in their services.

Gone are the days of Nick Burns Your Company’s Computer Guy showing up at your desk shouting, “MOVE,” so that he can sit in your chair to solve whatever computer issue is keeping you from your work.

Most businesses launch their operations on a shoestring budget and manage the business on readily available technology.

Many organizations, especially those experiencing growth, find themselves at a crossroads where they must decide to expand their own internal IT department, or perhaps hire their first full-time IT staff member. Small and medium-sized businesses typically have a ‘technical’ employee or two who perform the daily duties of managing the organization’s equipment with varied results. These ‘involuntary IT managers’ often perform duties that go well beyond the scope of their actual job description. As a result, neither the job they were hired for nor those extra responsibilities are performed adequately due to time, budget, and/or knowledge setbacks of those individuals being pulled in multiple directions.

Do you know how much your business spends on print and copy expenses? If the answer is no, you are not alone. According to a Gartner Group study, 90% of businesses lack an understanding of the total financial impact of printing and copying. The two biggest reasons for this lack of clarity are: Printing and copying expenses are often split between office equipment costs and office supply expenses. Printers and copiers are often managed separately yet used interchangeably. Considering the average employee prints 34 pages per day at a cost of around $725 per year per employee, printing and copying expenses are typically the third greatest business expense behind payroll and rent.