What Happens During A Kelser IT Engineering Site Visit?

Whether you are new to managed IT support or are switching from another provider, you are probably wondering what happens when our engineer comes to visit your site. What questions can you anticipate?

What will the engineer be looking for? What will they need to access? Who will they want to talk to? How long will it take? 

I’m a technical alignment manager at Kelser and I’ve performed countless engineering site visits. I hear these kinds of questions a lot, so I’m writing this article to provide all of the information you’ll need to know about our site visits. 

Our feeling is that it’s better to answer your questions upfront so that you are comfortable and know what to expect before we show up at your site.

We know it can be uncomfortable to share the inner workings of your business, so we want to be candid about our expectations, so you understand the purpose of our visit and why we need access to certain things. 

At Kelser, we form relationships with our customers that are based on honest, clear communications. Articles like these are just one way we do that. 

What Is An Engineering Site Visit?

An engineering site visit is an informal walk-through of your site(s). This is an opportunity for one of our engineers to get a comprehensive, first-hand view of your entire IT footprint and infrastructure.

From devices to servers, we need to see the existing state of things so we understand your current state and make intelligent, proactive recommendations about the best path forward. 

What Is The Purpose Of An Engineering Site Visit?

The purpose of the engineering site visit is to gather detailed information about your current IT environment. This information will form the basis of the proposal document we put together to support our partnership.

When Does An Engineering Site Visit Happen?

The engineering site visit happens at the earliest mutually agreeable time following your initial discovery call with Kelser.  

Who Should Be Available During The Site Visit?  

You’ll likely want someone from your staff to escort the engineer. This person will show the engineer where things are located, so it should be someone who has a basic understanding of your access points, devices, servers, and other hardware.

Ideally, this is the person who has the best understanding of your current IT environment from a technical perspective. 

You might also want to have key stakeholders available to explain how they currently use technology. We’ll want to know what works for them and what they wish technology could help them do differently.

This information will help us assess, understand and make best-in-class recommendations for your business. 

What Happens During An Engineering Site Visit?

During the engineering site visit, we’ll want to get an inventory of the number and type of devices in use. We’ll want to see the type and location of access points. We’ll want to look at your servers and racks. And, as mentioned, we’ll want to talk with your technology experts and users. 

What Questions Should You Be Prepared To Answer? 

During the site visit, the engineer will usually ask some general questions like: 

• How well does the current set-up work for your business? 
• How do users interact with IT resources?
• What are your concerns/pain points?
• What would you like to be able to do with technology in a perfect world?
• How is the compliance workload affecting your internal IT team (if you have one)?
• Do you have regulatory considerations? 
• How are you feeling about your cybersecurity posture overall? 

Then, the engineer will want to get specific about the IT equipment you have on-site as well as any remote technology resources. Some of the specific things we’ll be looking at include:  

• Data Closets/Server Rooms
• Servers/Racks
• Network and Wireless
• Phone System 
• Printers
• Devices (laptops, desktops, tablets)
• Backups
• Security 
• Email
• File Sharing
• Wi-Fi

What Happens After Your Kelser IT Engineering Site Visit?

This article has given you a comprehensive overview of Kelser’s IT engineering site visit. You know what the visit entails and why it’s a key part of our process. You know where it falls in the timeline and who should be involved.

You know what happens during the visit and some of the questions you should be prepared to answer. 

The site visit is an integral component of our process. It helps us develop a proposal that takes your unique needs and requirements into account, so that we can determine the best way to prioritize our shared goals. 

You may have recently installed expensive hardware or just refreshed your computer inventory. Or, you might be using the same server you installed 15 years ago. By examining your infrastructure upfront, we put together a plan that takes your specific situation into account. 

Once the site visit is complete, the engineer will compile the findings and share them with the sales and engineering leadership teams.

The sales team will craft your personal proposal and within a few days of the site visit, based on everyone’s schedule, we’ll set up a meeting to review your customized proposal that reflects your current needs and recommendations for moving forward. 

Check out our managed IT support page to review the comprehensive list of services that will be included in your Kelser managed IT support.