How to find The Best IT Support Company for your Business?

Information Technology (IT) systems have become such a crucial and integral part of everyday business life that even the slightest glitch can have a very grave impact on business performance. It is important, therefore, that your IT systems are designed to run as smoothly and safely as possible and that if things do go wrong you have the confidence that they will be fixed quickly and effectively.

However, not all businesses can afford in-house IT support managers or engineers, so having an IT support company on your side that you know is only a phone call away and will go into immediate action for you is not so much a luxury as a necessity. But what exactly should an IT support company offer you

Here is a list of what you need to look at when finding an IT support company:

Well, for starters they should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a weeks to come in and fix problems as and when they arise. This support should be accessible through a single central number or support email address by which you can ask questions, report errors or check the status of the reported issue.

Their support should be flexible enough to resolve any problem rapidly and with as little disruption to the company as possible, from providing an emergency piece of hardware on a Sunday afternoon, to taking an employee through a software programme step by step over the telephone.

The support should include assistance and support for the operation of all peripherals, including printers, switches, hubs, routers and wireless hardware. At times you may be already supported for your office peripherals (in many cases printers and faxes are supported by the manufacturer or the company you purchased the equipment from), so make sure you are not charged duble for the same service!

It should include support for all types of server machines, desktop machines and laptops, whether they are Compaq, Dell, HP, IBM or Apple. Equally software support should include all Microsoft products and operating systems (Windows Vista, Windows XP etc.'), Exchequer, ACT, CRM Anti Virus software like AVG Anti Virus or Sophos Anti Virus and all telecommunications including Alchemy and BT Nortel Systems - again, make sure you are not paying the company that installed your telephony systems already, if you do - you should not include this service in your IT Support contract.

It is very important to check what is the SLA or Service Level Agreament, which basicly explains the time scalle for each support query. In general, most IT consultancy companies will use the following guidelines:

Email support quiry:

Within the same business day.

Phone support quiry:

Within the same business day.

Remote assistance request:

Within 2 hours.

On Site assistance request:

Within 4 hours.

Make sure you have proactive support included in your IT support contract, proactive support is the best way to prevent problems before they even arise! proactive IT support will reduce the number of IT problems related issues - leaving you business to consetrate it it's actual pupose and not dealing with problems that could have been prevented, so make sure that a representatives from the support company will visit your workplace on monthly or weekly basis (depending on your busness size and needs) and make recommendations about the various ways you can upgrade and improve your IT system and suggest ways of cutting your business IT costs.

Make sure that your IT equipment, your server or servers and other network equipment such as your company router and firwall will be monitored regularly - This is very important as proactive support! Monitoring of your IT systemas is usually done remotley, your IT support company will install a piece of software on your server or servers and it will allow them to get live feeds about your systems and alert them if ther is any problem that needs to be addressed. In some cases the monitoring can be as the IT engineers come onsite and checks the server or servers logs and status (but this is usually for small companies with less then 5 computers that their system is not that complex and can save money on the remote monitoring service).

What types of IT Support contracts are out there?

Well, as the IT support industry in the UK and especially in London is so vast - you can most likely say that you may be able to find ANY type of IT support or maintenance contract, but most of them fall in to two main categories:

Monthly Support per Computer/Server:

In this support option you will pay a flat fee for each server/ computer/ laptop you have in your business for a calendar month. This flat fee may cover you for a variety of support services for your IT equipment - so make sure you get the most services as possible for the best flat fee you can. The price range is usually £15 - £95 per desktop / laptop and £100 - £175 per server, but that is depending on the amount of computers you have in your office, the more computers you have in your office the less you should pay for each machine.

Hourly Rate Support Contract:

In this support option, you may pay for a bank of support hours, this can be remote support hours, onsite support hours or combination of both. You will be then be able to utilise these hours as you may need, for example if you have 10 onsite support hours and 5 hours of remote support every month to your disposal, you can schedule an on-site engineer visit twice a month for hours and you will still have two on-site support hours left for emergencies.The hourly on site support range is: £35 - £75 for remote support and £55 - £175 for on site support - depending of the type of support you get and the specialities of the engineer that is performing the task.

Please note that the price range above is to be used as a guide line only and it's based on our knowledge in the IT market in UK / London today.

Other issues that need to be monitored on a regular basis include bandwidth status to avoid bottlenecks and assist the efficient flow of data and security checks to ensure that there are no listening ports open. Will this monitoring also identify possible future problem areas before they arise, and will it be performed remotely, without any interference to your daily business affairs?

Ask the IT support company to identify the areas of support they do not cover. For example, the support offered may not include laptops that are remote to the office or support to any software upgrades and new implementations you may be thinking of carrying out.

What about hardware or software warranty? In most cases the hardware and software warranty is being provided by the manufacturer, so find out with the IT support consultant what cover you get in case of a hardware fault or break-down.

What about bakcup? Backup is a very crucial point of your IT systems, you must make sure that your IT support consultant covers this are as well. Make sure that both your data and emails are backed up and find out what is the time estimate for each time you will need to restore a piece of data in case its been lost or accidently delted.

Does IT support companies provide our Internet or broadband connection as well? Usually no, but they will be able to give you a very good advice about this matter, helping you decide which is the best Internet Service Provider (ISP) is best for you, considering the bandwidth you will need for your IT systems and help in getting the best value for money possible for your Internet connection and services.

This article outlines the range of services that any prospective IT support company should be able to offer you, alongside the various grey areas and additional services it is worthwhile clarifying during contract negotiations, so that you will be able to make a more informed decision about the kind of company that is best suited to your particular needs.