How Do You Know When It’s Time to Change MSP’s

Mike has been running his accounting firm for the past 25 years. As the time went by, his technology needs grew. What started as an office of two with two computers grew into a firm of 20, each with their own computer. When the pandemic hit, Mike decided to move his team to a remote model. When he did, he also hired an MSP, or managed service provider, as he knew he needed help. The first two months were smooth sailing, then something happened. As his MSP gained bigger clients, Mike’s company and his needs seemed to get placed on the back burner. Phone calls were not getting returned on time, help desk tickets went from hours to days, and the decision Mike made to help his business, well, it began to hurt it. Mike was faced with a rough choice. He either had to hire an in-house, dedicated, IT staff, which he knew he could not afford to do, or to dump his existing MSP. From there, he knew he needed to start shopping around immediately for a new partner, as tax season was coming up, and he could not afford any more downtime.  The first time around when choosing an MSP, Mike went in blind, only knowing his immediate needs. Now, after dealing with his former provider, he knew what he wanted and more importantly, what he was not going to deal with. What are some other reasons people would want to change providers?

REASONS TO CHANGE MSP’s

RESPONSE TIME

Response time is of the utmost importance when dealing with your company’s technology needs. Depending on the issue, minutes can cost you hundreds if not thousands in damages and downtime. No matter what the issue is, you want your MSP’s help desk to give you an expedient response. Not only could it save you downtime and money, but it will also make you feel your business is valued and not lost in the shuffle. Another big factor in this is the level of customer service. No one wants to feel dumb or like a second-class citizen, and it’s no different when dealing with your IT team. Ask yourself this “Does my MSP make me feel valued as both a business and a human being?” If not, it may be time to move on.

TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY

Trusting a company with your systems and your data is hard enough as it is. After all, these are the things that power your business and allow you to track your performance. Your MSP exists to advise, implement, and optimize the technology side of your business. It is important that you can see the results of the work being done, and the changes being implemented. This allows you to know what is working and what isn’t, so you and your MSP can make changes accordingly. You could be getting the best advice in the business, but without seeing the data to back it up, how will you know what is effective or what needs amending. The answer is, you can’t. Being kept in the loop by your MSP is invaluable, as is being able to trust that the decisions they are making are working as they told you they would.

PROACTIVE APPROACH

Does your MSP get to the bottom of an issue the first time it happens? No company is immune to tech issues, be it firewall issues, system errors, or worse yet, breaches. How these are dealt with can be a make-or-break moment when choosing to continue with an MSP or changing course and finding a new partner. Do they take the band-aid approach, and just cover up the problem and keep it moving? Do they get to the root of the problem and fix it, ensuring that it goes from an avoidable issue to an issue that is being avoided? Those are the questions to ask when analyzing your choice of partner.

SECURITY

This is perhaps the biggest concern when it comes to trusting an MSP and continuing to do business with them. In the past two years, we have seen a rise in MSP’s getting hacked. From the hackers point of view, it’s simple. Why take the time to hack one business for their data and access to their network, when you can hack an MSP and get that information for multiple businesses? You want an MSP that takes their security as seriously as your security, not one that fails to practice what they preach. Ask for an explanation of what they do on their end to protect the data of you, their other clients and themselves. You also need to make sure they take compliance seriously. An MSP that isn’t on top of their compliance isn’t on top of your compliance, and this has serious consequences. As covered in previous blogs, being found non-compliant can cost your company thousands, if not millions of dollars in fines depending on the sector you are in.

COST/SERVICES

Do you look at your MSP bill every month and see things that you are being charged for that you never use? Does your MSP take a “one size fits all” approach?  Just like with your

cable company and other services you use in your personal life on a day-to-day basis, you want to make sure that you are only being charged for what you are using, not what you are not. A great MSP, such as Delval Technology Solutions will offer a la carte or tiered pricing plans to make sure that you are getting a solution that fits your business.

After doing his research, Mike realized that it was time to dump his existing managed service provider and move on. He knew what to look for, an MSP that was based on security, customer service, and proactivity. At first, he was cautious to trust based on his past experiences, but eventually he found the MSP that was right for him. They were willing to show him each step of the process, and he felt like their only client, although he wasn’t. Mike learned what many before him already have, a great MSP partner is invaluable.