What distinguishes
high-quality, reliable IT support from mediocre or substandard service? Is it
lower prices? Flat-fee services? At ET&T, we believe several factors
separate even good providers from great ones. When clients switch from their
old IT companies to us, they often share the same feedback: they didn't realize
they had bad support; they just didn't know what good support was.
In today's blog, we're
sharing ten things top-level IT providers always do. It's time to stop settling
for tech headaches and subpar service that could put you and your company at
risk. Great IT providers:
- Answer the phone during emergencies: If you have an emergency, you can't wait
on hold or leave a message and hope for a call back; you need help NOW!
Reliable IT providers understand the importance of time and will answer
calls live or respond within 30 minutes or less.
- Are consistently easy to reach and
responsive for non-emergencies: They are readily available even for small tech-support issues.
Ask around your office: does your staff enjoy working with them, or are
they frustrated by recurring issues, poor customer support, or long wait
times for solutions? If the latter, that's a red flag.
- Offer after-hours support: Any reputable IT company should answer
phones live (not through voicemail or phone trees) and respond from 9:00
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. However, high-quality IT companies
understand that many executives work outside of normal hours and need support
at nights and on weekends, providing fast responses any time, any day.
- Proactively monitor your network: You shouldn't be the one alerting your
IT company to issues. Their technicians should monitor your systems for
downtime, breaches, inefficiencies, and more, coming to YOU with proposed
solutions and updates.
- Have a customer-centric system that's easy
for you to use: You
should be able to easily "open a ticket" in their IT management portal,
allowing them to properly assign, track, prioritize, document, and resolve
issues quickly. Without an efficient system, your requests might get
overlooked or forgotten.
- Prepare, propose, and implement a
cybersecurity plan:
Cybersecurity is critical. If your IT team hasn't proposed a comprehensive
plan to protect your business from ransomware and data loss, they might
not be qualified to provide the support and protection you need, putting
you at risk.
- Provide detailed invoices: Do you know exactly what you're paying
for? Often, clients are charged a flat fee but have no idea what the
service includes. Transparency is crucial; you should know if help with a
printer, sourcing new computers, or any extra services are included. Avoid
providers who 'nickel and dime' for every small request.
- Carry cyber liability and errors and
omissions insurance:
Ensure your IT provider is adequately insured. In case of an issue caused
by their team, such as a network problem, data loss, or a security breach,
their insurance should cover it. Ask for proof of insurance, including
workers' compensation and cyber liability.
- Insist on periodic test restores of
backups: Regularly
backing up your data isn't enough; the backups must be tested to ensure
they aren't corrupt and can be restored in an emergency. Your IT company
should treat your data with the same importance as their own.
- Complete projects on time and within
budget: If your IT
provider frequently adds fees or delays projects, consider switching.
Great IT providers accurately estimate timelines and work hard to stick to
the schedule and budget, communicating promptly if issues arise and
proposing solutions.
It's time to stop settling for inadequate IT service. Tech nightmares should be a thing of the past. If you want to know what trustworthy, reliable IT support looks like, we offer a FREE, no-obligation Consult.
To get started, click here to book your FREE Consult now or call our office at 610-433-1000.
