Many customers feel a sense of relief when they hire an IT support company for the first time.
You’ve now got experts on hand to take care of the tricky technical tasks for you. It provides many business owners with peace of mind and allows them to return to their day job.
However, as with any outsourced service, there are still some responsibilities that will help your IT company serve you the best they can.
To help prepare you, here is a quick guide on how you can get the most out of your business IT support services.
Communicate Expectations
We love happy customers. And one way we help keep our customers happy is through excellent and regular communication.
When you first start working with an IT service provider, take the time to explain your preferred communication method and frequency.
That helps set expectations and makes it easier for the company to provide you with timely information about your IT setup once everything is up and running.
Set Targets
Do you have specific IT goals for the future? Try to make them measurable and set targets for three-, six-, and twelve-month milestones. For example, that might include upgrades, new rollouts, or security fixes.
That will help you ensure that your IT support services translate to your higher-level business strategy. And it will give your IT support team a clear set of goals and milestones.
In the long term, it will also help you spot problem areas that might need a more comprehensive support service from an IT provider to resolve.
Have a Point of Contact
It’s helpful for an IT provider to have each customer’s named point of contact.
That person will be the first point of call when an issue comes up from systems monitoring and allows the customer to manage any problems in line with their internal processes.
You might sometimes want to have multiple contacts for different purposes. For example, you might have a project manager as the first point of contact for a new rollout and a technical manager for ongoing issues and IT management.
Be Ready With Information
Don’t forget that sometimes an IT support team will need information from you to help progress a project or issue! That might include decisions or sign-offs on new orders.
So make sure you know what’s expected and by when. That will ensure things don’t get delayed unnecessarily and impact your business operations.
Seek Support Early
Don’t wait until a problem becomes critical before notifying your IT service provider.
Your IT provider is arguably an extension of your team and is here to help. And early notice of a problem means a technical engineer can start diagnosis work right away, minimizing any potential downtime.
In addition, if you have something important on your calendar, ensure your IT provider knows about this in advance. A good example is planning a high-profile press release on your website.
They might do extra monitoring on the network and infrastructure to ensure everything runs smoothly on the day.
Business IT Support Services That Work for You
Our business IT support services are here to help you. And these tips will hopefully allow the relationship to flourish from day one.
For more information about how our IT team can support your business, look through our services page to see what expertise we have to offer.