Why Do You Need An IT Quarterly Business Review? What Should You Ask?

By: Eileen Smith on February 12, 2025

Why Do You Need An IT Quarterly Business Review? What Should You Ask?

When using managed IT services, how do you know if your managed IT service provider (MSP) is delivering everything they promised? Do you have a way to measure their performance?

If you're unsure, a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) can provide the clarity you need so you can see where your money is going.

Also, if you’re not currently using an MSP but are considering outsourcing your IT management, you may be curious about the business benefits of QBRs.

In this article, we’ll examine the role of quarterly business reviews in managed IT services and provide 8 questions you should ask during your QBR meetings.

With this information, you’ll know exactly what to expect during your meeting to ensure that you're getting the most out of your QBRs to help your business succeed.

What Is A QBR And What Are Its Biggest Benefits?

In a nutshell, a quarterly business review is a way for managed IT service providers to provide transparency and develop and maintain healthy relationships with their customers.

Before signing with a managed IT company, you spend a considerable amount of time hashing out the specific services and support you’ll need from the provider.

This information, along with the expectations for what you, as the client, are responsible for, should all be clearly spelled out in your managed IT service provider agreement (MSPA).

An MSPA is a legal document that establishes the framework for the client-MSP partnership.

This official contract lays out the exact statement of work (SOW), included technologies you’ll receive, promised milestones and deliverables, the specific MSP IT team members responsible for the work, as well as the itemized cost of services.

It’s important that you thoroughly review your MSPA before entering into the agreement. That’s because the MSPA becomes the foundation of your MSP relationship, providing a vehicle to establish impartial, concrete metrics to properly evaluate your provider’s performance.

This is where the QBR comes in.

At these in-person meetings every three months, MSPs have a chance to showcase the value of the services they provide by highlighting the benefits to your business, including increased efficiency, security, productivity, and profitability.

The main function of an effective QBR is to provide both transparency and accountability while helping you reach your business goals.

During a QBR, managed IT companies provide status updates. An MSP also uses these meetings to recommend potential opportunities or cost savings, alert you to business risks or regulatory changes, and provide guidance on new technologies that could improve your business.

At QBRs, which usually last about an hour to an hour and a half, an MSP also details any unexpected problems that may have popped up, how they plan to address the issues, and how long they think it might take to resolve them.

QBRs are often led by the provider’s virtual chief information officer (vCIO), an executive-level IT specialist responsible for overseeing the proper rollout and integration of the scheduled work.

A vCIO also provides strategic, forward-looking guidance to your executive team.

QBRs should be used along with monthly on-site visits and regular phone check-ins to keep clients in the loop.

What Could Go Wrong If My Provider Doesn’t Give QBRs?

Without quarterly business reviews, your projects could derail or stall. The lack of accountability and oversight that a QBR brings could lead to:

Project delays with missed milestones and service level agreements (SLAs)
Potential cost overruns and revenue loss
Missed chances to correct issues early with proactive support before they turn into full-blown problems
Lack of business alignment
Inability to adjust to changing client needs
Increased client frustration and dissatisfaction

During your QBR, you can: make changes to your SOW, add on services, report staffing changes within your organization, provide updated points of contact, and other relevant updates.

QBRs also give businesses an opportunity to ask questions and voice any concerns they may have about the partnership and quality of service.

What Should Businesses Ask Their MSP During A Quarterly Business Review?

While a good MSP will go over all of the important information and related metrics during your QBR, you should also have a set of questions on hand in case your provider doesn’t bring up certain issues—whether intentionally or inadvertently.

8 questions to ask during a QBR:

1. What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) you used to assess your level of service?

KPIs measure the quality of services your business is receiving against a list of important metrics, such as: SLA compliance, business uptime and efficiency, average resolution time for issues, opened/closed ticket ratio, and customer satisfaction.
An SLA (service level agreement) refers to the level of service a business can expect from its MSP, including the amount of time the provider is expected to take to respond to and resolve your IT issue.

2. Were there any major performance issues in the last quarter, and if so, what were they and how are they being addressed?

It’s important that you have a clear picture of how the work is progressing and if there have been any significant hiccups along the way to stall the progress.
Getting updated milestones and SLAs will allow you to better track the work being done and plan for any expected downtime as new IT equipment or systems are being installed.

3. What was the uptime percentage for the most recent quarter?

It goes without saying that time is money. Ensuring that you’re experiencing optimal uptime for your business means you’ll be able to effectively meet your ongoing customer, vendor, supplier, and partner obligations.

4. What were the average help desk response and remediation times?

You should expect a detailed analysis from your MSP on its help desk initial response and SLA remediation times to service tickets.
You should also know how many closed tickets there were during the last three months vs. open tickets.

5. What cost-savings can I take advantage of?

Small and medium-sized business like yours are always searching for ways to save money, so it makes sense that you would want to ask your MSP about any budget-friendly IT solutions or procurement savings you can take advantage of.
An MSP can often negotiate better prices on products and equipment because of their partnerships with different industry vendors.

6. Are there any potential regulatory compliance issues that need to be addressed?

Find out from your provider if there are any new state, federal, or insurance cybersecurity or privacy requirements your business needs to satisfy.
Based on your MSP’s risk assessment of your business, they can offer strategic guidance on the right cybersecurity tools, practices, and procedures to implement to meet those compliance mandates.
Keep in mind that any cybersecurity measures that fall outside of the original contract may require a new SOW with associated costs and projected timelines.

7. How effective have the cybersecurity measures you've implemented been over the last quarter at preventing cyber incidents?

One advantage of using managed IT services is that your MSP will install its stack of advanced cybersecurity software and hardware to protect your sensitive private data, proprietary business information, and valuable equipment.
Although the types of security defenses used by your provider are already identified within your contract, you should find out about recently implemented security controls and how they’re performing in safeguarding your data and IT systems.

8. How will you address my specific concerns about the quality of service you’re providing my business?

You should raise any issues of concern you have with the provider directly at the QBR meeting.
Communicating your concerns and allowing your MSP time to properly respond will help minimize potential squabbles and misunderstandings.

The Bottom Line With QBRs in Managed IT Services

After reading this article, you now understand the importance of QBRs in determining the effectiveness of your MSP partnership in helping you solve your IT issues in line with your long-term business goals.

At Kelser Corporation, we provide QBRs for all of our managed IT service customers. While we offer comprehensive managed IT support, we know that isn’t always the right answer for every business’ IT challenges.

Rather than push you to work with us, we’re committed to offering informative articles like this one to help you make the best IT-related decisions for your business.

Want to learn more about the hidden benefits of managed IT services? Read about it here.

Learn eight criteria to evaluate potential MSP partners, or how to avoid common mistakes when working with an MSP. Discover our list of the top 5 MSPs in Connecticut (we purposely left our names off the list to try to be as unbiased as possible).

Or, get your free managed IT support checklist by clicking the button below to help you decide if managed IT might be right for your business.