IT Support Companies

When considering IT support companies, one of the primary concerns is often how well they will mesh with internal IT departments. The truth is that a managed IT service company is often embraced by internal IT departments because they make their job much easier and focused. Nevertheless, the transition can be handled incorrectly, which can also incorrectly lead a company to conclude that managed IT support is not right for them.

Here are some of the major issues an IT department could have when dealing with cloud IT consulting.

Not Finding the Right Managed IT Support

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First: Not all managed IT support services are going to be made equal. You need a managed team that works well with your own IT department. Different companies have their own ethos and their methods of operating. Take the time to get to know a managed services company to discover what they have in common with you. Ideally, you should have matching mission statements and values, or the relationship may not work.

Failing to Have Consistency Between Contacts

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You should always have a point-of-contact (or several) with the other company, just as they should have a point-of-contact with you. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to manage communications. If each company has an "ambassador," information can be filtered and contextualized quite easily. If everyone is telling each other different things from each company, there's bound to be confusion.

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Not Outlining the Company's Responsibilities

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There are responsibilities for an MSP and there are responsibilities for the IT department. With very few exceptions, these shouldn't overlap. Otherwise, it becomes inefficient, and people start stepping on each other's toes. If you're going to outsource your help desk, it's usually better to outsource the entirety of the help desk; that way there's no potential duplication of effort or confusion when tickets are passed through. Further, there's no diffusion of responsibility; it's known who needs to take the ball and run with it.

Failing to Explain the Benefits of IT Support Companies

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Sometimes, IT departments can be reluctant to welcome a managed services provider. They may feel they're being replaced and they may lash out. It's important for the IT department to understand that the MSP provides support for them. The goal of an MSP is to complete the mundane, day-to-day tasks, and the specialized, one-off projects, so the IT team can do what it does best. It's not to replace the IT team, and the IT team should feel valued in their own right.

Not Leveraging the Managed IT Service Company

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Likewise, companies may be hesitant to move everything they can to the managed IT company because they don't want to lose control. But the company can't help if they aren't given tasks to complete. There are a number of things managed IT service companies do extraordinarily well: monitoring, maintenance, backups, consulting, transitions, deployments, and more. Consider how the managed services company can really help your organization, and make sure they are involved in these tasks from the start.

An MSP actually provides a vastly different role from an internal IT department. When these roles aren't considered, it can make it difficult to manage the relationship. By working with a managed services provider such as Cloud 339, companies can greatly improve their operations. But it has to be handled right. For more information, schedule an appointment today.
 

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