Signs It May Be Time To Switch Your Managed IT Services Provider

Do you have doubts about your external IT services provider’s ability to meet your technology and business needs? Have you noticed a decline in promised IT support? Are you seeing a significant lag in response times and follow-through?

If you’re a small or medium-sized business using external managed IT support and you’re grappling with a disconnect between you and your managed IT services provider, it may be time for you to have an honest conversation with them about the issues you’re having.

In today’s global economy, businesses have become almost entirely dependent on technology.

Critical business functions including operations, communication, finance, sales and marketing, supply chain, customers, and vendors rely on the seamless connectivity of your entire IT environment.

When there’s a kink in your system, even a small hiccup could lead to lost productivity. More significant IT issues such as a ransomware attack could result in missed business deals, customer defections, reputational damage, and revenue loss.

That’s why for many organizations, having a reliable managed IT services provider (MSP) is a crucial part of maintaining market share and being in a position to seize on future business opportunities.

If you have reached a point with your current MSP where you’re not sure if they’re the right fit and need to decide how to proceed, we want to give you some practical tips to recognize whether or not your MSP is meeting your needs and how to address your concerns.

After reading this article, you will recognize the red flags that signal that your MSP may not be the right fit for your business.

Is My Managed IT Provider Meeting My Business Needs?

How did you choose your MSP in the first place? Were you facing a catastrophe after a data breach or some other significant cyber incident and needed to quickly hire an MSP to put out the fire?

Perhaps the company made an impressive sales pitch, making lofty promises about the many IT solutions and services they would provide. It’s possible you knew someone at the company, or that you were recommended by a business associate. Maybe you simply did a hasty internet search, and they were one of the first names to pop up.

However you initially found and settled on your current MSP, there are definite signs that it may be time to re-evaluate your partnership with your MSP.

Here are 5 red flags to watch for:

1. Transparency: Have they been transparent about their pricing and the technology and human support you should expect? If you are suddenly being billed for hidden or unexplained costs you were never told about, this is a key indicator that your MSP isn’t being level with you.

2. Communication: From the time you initiated contact with the company, how long did it take for them to respond to your query? Have you seen a noticeable drop-off in getting calls or emails returned? Do you feel like you’re getting the runaround when you are able to reach someone or perhaps receiving abrupt responses?

Such communication issues may signal that the company has too many projects on its plate. It could also mean your MSP has taken on larger enterprise clients and no longer has time to make your company’s needs a priority.

3. Responsiveness to problems: When technical, order, or supply chain issues pop up, does your MSP respond in a reasonable amount of time to your questions or concerns? Does the provider stay on top of them and work in a timely manner to fix them?

If your managed IT services provider does not offer a 24-hour help desk or dedicated customer support staff, you may need to look elsewhere. Likewise, if your MSP is no longer providing the same standard of care they promised at the start of your partnership, that could lead to prolonged downtime.

As the saying goes, “time is money,” so waiting for extended periods for support could cause even greater headaches for your business.

4. Lack of internal resources: Some of the red flags listed above could be a direct result of staffing challenges your MSP may be facing. As you know, being understaffed means there is an increased workload placed on the other team members.

If your MSP simply cites staffing issues as an excuse for ignoring your problems, that is likely another clue that they are no longer able to continue meeting your needs.

Not having staff with enough expertise to address your specific pain points is equally telling. Does your MSP offer strategic consulting in the form of a virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) services to coordinate your specific managed IT solution from start to finish?

Does it have a Technical Alignment Manager (TAM) to develop an intimate knowledge of your entire IT environment to identify your specific technology needs and make customized recommendations?

5. Lack of online resources: If your MSP’s website doesn’t have a direct client portal or lacks clarity and transparency, that could be yet another important sign that your MSP may not be able to fully meet your needs.

How Do You Start A Conversation With Your MSP?

Beyond the technical aspects of managed IT services is the human side. In order to maintain a healthy partnership, your MSP must continue to foster trust and accountability.

At Kelser Corporation, being an MSP ourselves, we recognize that there are times when things simply don’t go as planned for various reasons. We also realize that switching MSP’s is neither easy nor inexpensive.

That’s why we strongly encourage you to give your MSP a 6- to 9-month window to correct the service or performance deficiencies you have spelled out to them.

If after this period you find that some of the IT provider problems we’ve identified in this article still exist, then you may need to take a closer look at your MSP partnership. Read this article to learn the things to consider before switching IT providers and the steps to take if you decide it’s time for a change.

While all of us at Kelser know that managed IT isn't for everyone, we are committed to publishing informative articles like this one that help companies like yours make informed decisions to help propel your business.

If you’ve determined that your issues are still being left unresolved, you may have decided to start looking around for other small business IT support. If so, we encourage you to do your research to explore your options among managed IT services companies.

We know that finding the right small business IT support can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve gone ahead and done a little homework for you to save you a step. Check out this article where we compare Kelser to one of our competitors (Cooperative Systems), using readily available public information.

If you’d like to find out more about what you should expect from an IT services provider, reach out by clicking the button and one of our IT experts will get in touch to start the conversation and see if we might be a good fit to work with.