In my 10 years in the IT industry I have seen some abominations of service. “Service” is a word that is used so flippantly by IT providers that it really should be investigated as to what you are really getting.

Some simple tips for auditing your IT providers:

1.       Survey your staff

At Evolve IT we recently had to renew once of our biggest contracts. The client had a new CFO and therefore she shopped around for a better deal to what we were providing.

Once the pricing came back and was about the same, the new CFO did a very smart thing: she surveyed the staff who we deal with every day to see what they thought of Evolve IT’s service and the people that provide it.

The result, needless to say, was good. The staff members were extremely happy with us and therefore there was no competition to the renewal of our service. So ask yourself the question: If you asked your staff what they thought of your IT support provider, what would the reaction be? Better yet, actually ask them and take the guess work out of it.

2.       Study your SLA

Your service level agreement is what you should be basing performance on at a scientific level. What is the agreed turnaround time for a job? What is the actual time logged?

At Evolve IT our clients are the most important thing. We have many opportunities to make more money through using our resources to do paid jobs rather than looking after our pre-paid clients, and here is where we differ from our competition: we don’t take these opportunities. Evolve IT managed Support Services clients are our only priority. We endeavor to serve our clients quickly and to the best of our ability to ensure that our clients never want to leave.

Is your provider making you a priority?

3.       Do you have an Account Manager?

Sometimes you just want to get someone on the phone. Anything can trigger this: advice, recurring problems or purchasing decisions. All of these things warrant a phone call to someone who knows you, knows your business and knows what the consequences are of bad decisions.

At Evolve IT we pride ourselves on providing an Account Manager for all of our Managed Support Services clients. Our Account Managers can provide you with guidance and advice on how to better, not only your network, but your business.

4.       Does size matter?

Evolve IT is a national company with 20 staff across Perth and Melbourne. With this size comes depth of experience and qualifications to ensure that our clients always have someone to talk to about specific problems that they are encountering.

Be it a project or simple service, expertise and depth ensures that it is completed quickly and to a higher degree of success than smaller “back yard” operators.

5.       What kind of infrastructure does your provider have in place?

Infrastructure management requires some very important tools on the providers side as well. There are so many jobs that don’t require a technician to come out on site if this infrastructure is in place. These jobs are often done remotely, if the provider has the tools in place to do so.

At Evolve IT we have invested more than $350,000 into our client services infrastructure  to ensure that all jobs are logged, completed and tested in the shortest amount of time possible.

6.       Vendor relationships

Does your provider have good enough relationships to get you the best deal possible on new hardware and software?

At Evolve IT we have very strong relationships with the large Vendors; Microsoft, Sophos, Acer, HP and Trend Micro. We have very strong relationships with the supply chain across Australia. This all enables us to get the best technology at the best price for you, the client.

So here are six things that set Evolve IT apart from the rest, and questions that you should be asking your boss, or yourself about your provider.

Let’s recap then and ensure you are getting the best service from your IT company. They should have:

1.       Positive staff encounters and service levels

2.       Be sticking to well within the SLA

3.       Provide you with an Account Manager

4.       Have the skills and depth to fix any problem that you encounter

5.       Have infrastructure in place to ensure timely and accurate solving of problems

6.       Supplier relationships that benefit you when you need to spend money

If you like the sound of a company that can give you all of this, then why don’t you contact me and we can arrange a meeting to discuss the possibilities.

Mark Ehlers