When you are running a business it is important to focus on your core competence and leave the rest to specialists in that field. Computer network support is one such activity that you need to outsource to a competent company so that you are not plagued with constant problems of network outage. As you are aware, that can cause a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst your employees and your customers, and lead to loss of productivity.
Now computer network support companies themselves are of two types. The first type is better known as a managed service provider, that offers you support for a fixed fee every month and the second one is the break-fix provider who would attend to you only when you face a problem and they would normally bill you by the hour. This arrangement is better suited to small companies that are not be able to afford the fixed cost and whose scale of operation is limited to a few machines or work stations.
When you opt for the managed services provider kind of arrangement, the fixed payment per month to the provider would be based on variables such as the number of workstations and servers they are expected to maintain, the system patching as well as monitoring and preventive maintenance work they are expected to conduct every month.
There are advantages with opting for such an arrangement. They are:
a) You can get access to remote support from the provider.
b) The amount you pay for maintenance is fixed and there are no surprises.
c) The service provider will do a good job at fixing problems as they do not stand to benefit by attending to them time and again.
d) You would get prompt service.
However, there are certain checkpoints you need to keep in view before appointing a managed service provider for your companys needs. They are:
1) The number of years they have been in the business.
This is important because you should not be appointing somebody who does not have a minimum of three years experience.
2) What is the platform they would be using to provide support and maintenance?
Unless they are using one of the four state-of-the-art platforms such as Kaseva, N-Able, Zenith or Level Platforms, you should not be agreeing to their services.
3) The type of Service Level Agreements they follow and their track record
An experienced service provider should be quickly able to reel off the service parameters upon which they monitor themselves, as well as the response times to those parameters. However, do not go by only what they are saying and ask for an automated report so that you can be convinced about their standards of service.
4) What references they can provide?
This is essential as endorsements from the references they provide are generally unbiased and will enable you to make an informed decision. If the service provider hesitates to provide you with any names, then do not proceed with the discussion.
Author Resource:-
Claranet are a leading managed services provider offer both hosting and network services for small and large businesses. To view the full range of services offered by Claranet, visit http://www.claranet.co.uk
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