Ask Your Managed Service Provider These 6 Questions

Your business’ technology solutions might be a major point of contention for your bottom line, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t create value with it. In fact, one of the best ways you can create value for your business’ IT is by implementing a better way of managing it. We’ll walk you through what it means to shift from break-fix IT to managed IT services, as well as what questions you should ask to expedite the process.

For many small businesses, the difference between the various types of technology management might seem trivial, but the reality is that they can be budget-breaking when mismanaged. Take break-fix IT management; it worked for businesses in the past, but how much did it really help? After all, the entire premise of break-fix IT management relies on the breaking and fixing of technology, when in reality the goal should be to prevent the breaking from happening in the first place.

This is why managed IT is such a valuable investment. It actively prevents IT issues from hampering your business’ operations, meaning that downtime doesn’t become a problem. In a way, managed IT takes your organization’s capital expenses related to technology and transforms them into operational expenses, saving you lots of time and money that can be spent elsewhere.

However, you don’t want to implement just any managed IT provider. You want to work with only one who can answer the following questions in adequate detail.

• Does this provider help my business become more competitive?
• Can this provider help my business leverage technology more quickly?
• How does this managed service provider help my business utilize the cloud?
• How transparent is this managed service provider?
• How can your investment in managed IT free up funds that are better spent elsewhere?
• How quickly can the provider respond to new industry trends and ideas?

Not sure how to approach managed IT? Directive might be able to help. Ask us these questions yourself and see what we can offer your business. To learn more, reach out to us at 607.433.2200.