If you haven’t switched your company’s IT to a managed services agreement yet, then you might not even know what kinds of cost savings and productivity gains you’re missing out on. That being said, they aren’t all the same. Differences in plans, and the outsourced IT companies that offer them, can make them all a drastically better or worse value.
With that in mind, here are fives features, or tools, you’ll definitely want included in your managed services plan:
Automated backups. Although backup and disaster recovery is a big topic, it’s enough to say that your IT company should be making extra copies of your most important files on a regular basis.
Software updates and patches. While nearly every outsourced IT team would include this as part of the managed services agreement, it’s worth checking because of the impact they can have on both security and performance.
Web and communication security. Speaking of keeping your data airtight, you’ll want to ensure that your IT company only uses the bet in Internet security software and hardware, to keep your data (and your customers) safe.
Fast response times. Your IT provider will probably give you a guaranteed response time in your managed services agreement. Pay attention to it, because you don’t want to wait too long for technical help when you need it most.
IT consulting hours. While a lot of business owners and executives ignore IT consulting, they can literally help your business saves tens of thousands each year by eliminating waste, redundant equipment, etc.
