Looking for a new IT provider? Here’s a checklist to start with

Looking for a new IT provider? Here’s a checklist to start with

As an IT provider ourselves we have some thoughts - okay a lot of thoughts - on what makes a good one.

It’s an unfortunate fact that many of our clients came to us after being failed, sometimes catastrophically, by their previous provider. While we service a large portion of the Central California area, we know many readers fall outside this region and we thought it would be helpful to provide a printable and online capable checklist for the top 9 things to look for in an IT provider.

The items found on this checklist are simple enough you could even have it handy while you interview new provider options. If the answers to any of these questions are a “no” or even hesitancy, we suggest you continue looking. Items like security, disaster recovery and responsiveness to requests are hard stops when it comes to choosing a provider that will best support your business.

If your old IT service provider left you in the lurch during a disaster, why would you risk choosing a new provider that can’t guarantee that the same thing won’t happen again?

You also want to make sure they believe in proactive maintenance. When choosing a new provider and paying for their services the last thing you want to have happen is that you’re still the person responsible for maintaining your own IT. Paying their bill every month while still slogging through updates on workstations yourself would just be salt in the wound. We think this should be an included part of any full coverage service plan.

Speaking of full coverage plans, at Valley Techlogic we believe in unified billing. This means when you choose us all of your IT services are contained under our one billing umbrella. We manage their IT subscriptions, their VoIP plans – everything is designed to be as hassle free as possible. While not all providers operate the same as we do in this regard, we (and our clients) think of it as a positive feature.

Migrating from your previous provider can also be an intimidating time for any business owner, this person or business had access to all of your sensitive systems and if things ended on a sour note, you may be feeling unsure whether your data and systems are safe.

We wrote a comprehensive guide on what to do when your IT guy (or IT provider) suddenly quits, you can find it here. The topics are applicable whether they quit or were fired by you. It’s our suggestion you don’t try to manage this on your own, locking down access and recovering credentials is really best left to the professionals.

If your business is located in Central California (Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Merced and everywhere in between) and you’re looking for a new IT service provider, Valley Techlogic meets all of the criteria found in the above checklist and more. Reach out today to learn more.

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This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/valleytechlogic.