Although managed services have not been around that long, the value that they provide has caused the industry to explode. Every year, people around the planet spend more than $267 billion on the managed services market. On top of that, this industry is expected to grow by more than 13% every year until 2030.
With that kind of explosive demand, there are a lot of different managed IT service provider options out there. If you do not know much about managed service providers, how can you tell which option is the right choice for you?
Following the steps in this selection procedure will help you find a managed services provider without taking longer to choose than necessary!
The first thing to do is make a list of what you are looking for in a managed services provider. Some people make the mistake of jumping straight to investigating different companies. However, if you know what you are looking for, it will help you proceed through the selection process faster.
Think about your budget and the specific services you need. Think about whether or not you need support around the clock and if you want help with managing cloud services. Whatever your specific needs, write down what your managed services provider will need to be able to provide.
Everyone has different specific needs, but you might want to make a priority of online security. It is getting more and more common for cybercriminals to target companies with ransomware and other types of malware. It is more important than ever before that companies have a strong defense against online criminal activity.
Once you have decided what you are looking for, you can start making a list of managed services companies to consider. One easy way to find many options is by using a search engine.
However, search engines tend to provide generic responses. They don't understand your specific needs, so they won't know which providers should be your top candidates. Another way to make a list of candidates is by receiving recommendations from people you know.
Think about anyone you know who has worked with managed services providers in the past. Consider reaching out to them and asking if they would recommend their own provider.
This is also a good time for you to share what you are looking for with them. That way, they can change their recommendations based on your specific preferences.
It can also help to ask about providers that you should avoid. If you can remove a few candidates from your list, it will be easier to come to your final decision for your managed services provider.
Once you have a list of candidates, it might seem like a daunting task to sort through all of them. However, you can make this process much easier if you sort through your candidates in the right way.
The first thing to do is remove candidates that do not fit your budget. No matter how good a candidate is in other respects, if they do not fit your budget, there is no point in wasting time investigating them further. Remember that the faster you can remove certain candidates from consideration, the faster you can finish your selection process and pick a managed services provider.
After you have removed the companies that are too expensive, you can also look for candidates that seem too expensive for what they provide. For example, you might have a candidate that provides the basic services you need but does not provide everything you might want.
If they offer their services at a good price, they might still be worth considering further. But if they only provide for your basic needs while also being one of the more expensive candidates on your list, then it might be helpful to remove them so that you can focus more on other candidates.
This process will help you shorten your total list of candidates without having to do too much research. You can apply similar principles by reading company ratings online.
If you look at the overall rating for each of the remaining companies on your list, you might benefit from removing the candidates with the worst ratings. That does not mean that you can simply pick whichever company has the highest overall rating. Ratings are only a rough indicator of which company will be right for you.
After you have removed a few more candidates with the worst ratings, you can read two or three reviews for your remaining candidates. As you go through them, make a note of which options seem like the best few candidates for your situation.
Once you have finished reading only two or three reviews for each candidate, go back to the managed services providers you identified as top candidates and read several more reviews for them. At this point, it should start to become clearer to you which option is your top choice. Even if you have a few top choices, it is great to have backup plans ready in case your first choice falls through.
It can be difficult to know which managed IT service provider to choose. We hope that these steps in this process will help you proceed through your selection process and find the IT support that you need.
To learn more about how you can find quality managed IT assistance, reach out and get in touch with us here at any time!
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