The IT industry is brimming with so many IT guys and experts with various specialties these days. You would think it’s an easy task hiring one for your company. Finding an IT guy is not the problem. Finding a competent, reliable, and affordable IT professional can be challenging for many businesses. When you think you have found the right person, issues start to come up, and you have no choice but to fire them and start the search again.
There are several possible reasons why companies end up firing their IT guys. Here are the Top Five issues most commonly cited by company owners and why these issues can be very detrimental to a business.
A timely response is important in most aspects of a business. Particularly when it comes to the crucial areas where downtime can be costly or cause the operations to stop, and because of this reason, you should avoid working with IT specialists that are consistently late for scheduled tasks or who do not show up at all.
There are tech experts that are incredibly proficient and good at what they do. But when the bill arrives, it includes unexpected charges that were not in the initial quote. Aside from being highly unprofessional, such surprise invoices might also cause you to go over budget, which is certainly not good for your business.
Sometimes also known as feature creep or requirement creep, scope creep is becoming more rampant in the IT industry. It is an extension or expansion of an IT task because the hired expert can’t resolve the issues immediately. Instead, the original problem branches out into several other issues, so the scope of the task keeps increasing. By the time everything is resolved, it will have taken up much more time and cost much more money than expected.
Some IT professionals speak in very technical terms. This practice is a problem when talking to clients who are not tech-savvy. Perhaps they are so used to geek-speak that it has become part of their daily language, and they assume that everyone else understands what they are talking about, even when the client has no clue.
Some IT guys intentionally speak in technical terms to show that they are the expert and know more than the client about technical matters. While this may be true, taking on a condescending tone will not help anyone. It is much better to hire an IT guy to educate the clients about the system instead of making them feel dumb.
The IT industry is a service-intensive industry, so it can be perfectly natural to expect that you would get great, or at least decent, customer service from them. You are paying for the service, so you should not settle for anything less. At the first sign of bad customer service, many companies would not hesitate to fire the IT guy because so much time is wasted.
The best way to avoid hiring a bad IT guy would mean being more meticulous in your search. Don’t be afraid to be choosy when selecting from applicants. Read through their CVs very carefully and pick only those that seem reliable and professional. And always check references.
During the interviewing process, screen the applicants thoroughly by asking them the right questions. Based on their answers to these questions, you will be able to decide on whether they are the right person for the job or not. Considering hiring someone to manage your IT? Contact us today!
There is no question that reliable IT support is a necessity for all of us, including small businesses. The reason is that most transactions and business functions are completed online. Business owners need to decide on the type of IT support they need. Whether that be an internal IT department or a Managed Service Provider. Let’s take a look at some typical IT scenarios.
This protection means keeping an in-house IT person on your regular payroll. It’s straightforward, but this is a practice that is not frequently considered unless your business uses a lot of technology. For one thing, having someone on your payroll that you don’t need regularly is not the most economical approach. Also, you will be limited to the skills and expertise of the individuals in your team.
Small businesses favor the break-fix IT model because it is a simpler option. What this means is that you only hire an IT professional whenever your system fails or there is some tech-related problem. In other words, when something breaks, you hire someone to fix it.
When working with the break-fix model, you don’t have a regular IT support team to keep things running. This setup sounds like a feasible and more economical plan if you are not expecting to encounter many system problems. But this approach is also idealistic because the truth is that things will break, and more often than you would like. That usually translates to unexpected costs and a runaway budget.
Larger companies that have more complex online systems will hire a team of experts in the form of a Managed Service Provider, or MSP, that can offer complete and diverse IT solutions. Small businesses don’t follow this path because they focus on the monthly bill and not the benefits. The typical reasoning would go like this: What if nothing breaks this month? We would still have to pay the fee for nothing, and that would be a waste of money!
But here’s the thing. When hiring an MSP, you get to choose the kind of services you pay for. It’s not a one size fits all offering. You can decide what kind of IT services or support your business needs, and the monthly flat-rate fee will be computed based on only the services you choose.
And what if nothing breaks? Well, that’s the goal of a good MSP. Your Managed Service Provider will be proactive and keep your technology operating and not approach things reactively, like a break/fix service.
If you are still on the fence about hiring an MSP for your business, take a look at some of the advantages MSPs have over other types of IT support.
A Managed Service Provider consists of a team of highly skilled experts in practically all areas of business technology. If you hire an MSP, you will have access to this vast pool of professionals to help you with any tech issue you might encounter. This approach is in sharp contrast to having your own internal IT guy who may be very capable, but his skill set pales to a team of experts from different backgrounds.
With the break-fix method, you can hire top professionals for your issues, but the process of locating them and getting them on board takes time. With an MSP, all you have to do is call and tell them your problem, and they will immediately send someone over to fix whatever is wrong.
Most businesses that use the break-fix model do so with the assumption that this method will save them money, but as it happens, they usually end up spending a lot more than if they went for an MSP instead. MSPs will charge a monthly fee – that is true. But this is a flat rate. No matter how many services you ask them to perform or how arduous some of the tasks may be, you won’t have to pay a single cent more than the monthly rate. On the contrary, the break-fix model requires you to pay for each service separately, and the expenses can quickly pile up faster than you would have anticipated.
Many businesses perceive the monthly flat rate for IT support to be high. But when you take a close look at your total monthly expenses that go to IT-related services, you might be shocked at how much you are spending.
Your flat-rate fee will vary depending on the extent of IT support you require. Contact us so we can calculate the monthly fee that fits your requirements. Chances are it’s lower than what you are spending now, which means that hiring an MSP could save you a considerable amount. Ready to find out?
All businesses today rely heavily on IT support. Some have their own in-house IT experts, while many others choose to hire managed service providers, or MSPs, to perform specific IT functions for their company. These services are needed to oversee the office hardware and software and stay ahead of the competition. Like all industries, the IT industry has a few red flags that need to be addressed.
With all the available services, you wouldn’t think that it would be that difficult to find reliable IT support for your business. We live in an almost entirely digital world, so tech services are available around every corner. The IT industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and so have the red flags in the industry. These issues make it harder to find reputable service providers that will give you the quality service you need.
So what are these red flags, and as a business owner, what can you do about them? Read on to find out.
Many business owners today do not have extensive knowledge or skill in IT. This technology gap is the primary reason they hire MSPs in the first place. Unfortunately, many providers are taking advantage of this. They will charge businesses for extra services that they do not need. In other words, they end up spending more on additional services even if they are not necessary for solving the problem at hand.
Make sure to do your research and find out exactly what IT services you require. Search for a provider that will deliver these services without trying to hoodwink you into paying for other services you don’t need.
Clear and constant communication is essential in any business relationship. But for some reason, many IT service providers are failing in this department. Many of them will take your specs and get to work right away, probably because they are confident that they know what they are doing. More than likely, they are hoping to impress you with a fast turnaround. This approach can lead to more problems like wasted time and resources.
Choose a provider that communicates well. The MSP should assign someone from their team to act as a point of contact to communicate and coordinate with you at any time.
What previous clients say about a service provider is one of the best ways for you to gauge the quality of their performance. If the reviews are inconsistent, would you still want to risk hiring them for your business? The same is true for MSPs with very few business reviews because they are new. There might be a chance that they are good, but when it comes to your business, it is better to be safe, especially when hiring service providers for the fundamental processes of your business.
Look elsewhere. Finding a company with perfect feedback is quite impossible. The occasional irate client leaving a 1-star review is inevitable. But at least, you should search for a provider with a large number of consistently high ratings.
Time is of the essence in any business, and quick results are highly preferable. There are a lot of service providers these days that provide excellent results but have a slow response time. These delays can be costly for your company and cause you to lose clients and eventually lag behind the competition.
Quality results are great, but not when they come too late. Choose an IT service provider that does not keep you waiting when you have concerns. And make sure they guarantee the fastest possible turnaround when you need them.
Cyber attacks are getting more rampant by the day. Because of this, every business with an online presence needs to have a reliable cybersecurity insurance policy to protect against the possible damages resulting from a data breach. And who should be in a better position to help you with the approval process than your MSP?
Right from the start, you should ask the managed service provider if they have cyber insurance and can assist you in applying for your insurance policy.
Beware of these red flags and any possible implications for your business. If you know of anyone who has experience with an “iffy” managed service provider, have them contact us right away! We can show them the value of working with a reliable MSP.
Cybersecurity is one of the foremost concerns of many companies today. Especially for small and medium businesses that utilize online sales. To face these unforeseeable attacks, you can prepare ahead of time by taking out a dependable cybersecurity insurance plan. This coverage gives you a chance to recoup what you might potentially lose in the face of a cyber-attack.
The risk of cyberattacks gets higher each year as online criminals continue to improve in their craft. They work around the clock, devising new and innovative methods to supersede whatever security software IT companies create. As a business owner, you must always be on your toes and ensure your network and data are secure. Ask yourself, is your business currently protected with the latest cybersecurity technology? If you’re like most business owners, you probably don’t have the time to worry about such things, but you should.
It is wise to consider investing in a comprehensive cybersecurity insurance plan. Despite having seemingly ironclad protection, there is no 100% guarantee that hackers will not be able to penetrate your virtual walls. These crooks are extremely good at what they do. Just in case the unthinkable happens, and you fall victim to a nasty cyber incident, a cybersecurity insurance plan can at least help you recover some, if not all, of the losses and damages.
As the need for cybersecurity insurance becomes more pressing, you must also become more discriminating in choosing a managed services provider to handle your cybersecurity insurance needs. However, as the business owner, you must fill out the form yourself instead of passing on this task to your MSP. However, your MSP can help you with much of the information you’ll need to fill out the form.
If you are working with a Managed Service Provider, it makes sense to ask them if they have the resources to connect you with a reliable cybersecurity insurance agent. They will undoubtedly have plenty of contacts, and it would be in their best interest to recommend the best agent for you. Of course, you can also find an agent on your own if you wish, but you do have to be wary of unscrupulous entities such as fly-by-night companies who will suddenly be unreachable when you want to make a claim.
Cyber insurance is recommended for all businesses these days. However, by no means will it make your business invincible against cybercrimes. Even after taking out a trustworthy policy, the MSP should continue providing first-class security solutions to your business. The more levels of top-quality protection you employ, the safer your business will be.
Taking out an insurance policy for cybersecurity is not as simple as some business owners think. More than just adding such a plan, there is the matter of making sure you get paid back any losses.
Cybersecurity insurance can protect your business against financial loss caused by cyber-attacks. The plan may include coverage for financial losses. Such as data breaches, data theft, ransomware extortion payments, system or network takeover, and company losses. This coverage is even more important if you store your sensitive data on a local server in your office. These systems can be easily breached by hackers looking for an easy target. If this is the case and you do not wish to look into cyber insurance, you should consider storing your data in the cloud for enhanced security.
An experienced MSP can help you handle these procedures, and we recommend that you investigate them. Experts say that in 2022 the rate of cybercrime is expected to escalate even further. If you want to protect your assets, let us know! Let’s talk about how security, protection, and cyber insurance can help with the growth and success of your business in the coming year!
Most businesses have now gone digital, taking their processes online and storing data in the cloud and whatnot. While speedier transactions and greater portability make this technique very convenient, it also poses some risks. One of these is the risk of digital disasters and possible security breaches from all directions. In other words, if you aren’t vigilant, all of your company’s data can be stolen or encrypted. Do you have a disaster data recovery plan in place that meets all of your requirements?
In recent years, there have been numerous disasters that have affected global companies in different industries. Most of the attacks in 2021 came in the form of ransomware that took advantage of human gullibility.
The electronics company Acer took a hard blow in cyber-attacks in 2021. Overall, they ended up dealing with a $50 million ransom demand that a notorious hacking entity called ReEvil supposedly asked for in exchange for the return of a massive amount of stolen digital data.
In April of this year, Facebook suffered a security breach that exposed the personal information of over 530 million users. Screen scraping is a technique used by hackers to get information from websites. It’s how they were able to access the data files of almost 92% of LinkedIn members and obtain personal details like emails or phone numbers!
Because of the lockdowns and work-from-home setups, previously protected information became exposed in the digital world. Luckily, most companies had reliable security policies that protected data coming in and out of their office networks. However, with most individuals working remotely and using devices, it is difficult for a corporation to keep control over their security network, necessitating an upgrade.
Business owners often make the mistake of believing that something like this will never happen to their company. They like to believe that because they are a tiny firm, no hacker would be interested in attempting to compromise them. As a result, many don’t even bother to take precautionary measures to protect their small or medium-sized businesses from potential threats.
Unfortunately, small and medium-sized businesses are easy to crack and are typical targets of these hackers. Many companies lack the appropriate infrastructure and security tools to protect themselves from cyberattacks. To keep from being a victim, you must partner with a managed services provider that can provide you with an ironclad disaster data recovery plan.
Disaster data recovery is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly. The process of developing this plan entails a great deal of deliberation and decision-making.
Begin by defining a sensible recovery time objective (RTO). This process is the amount of time you expect to be fully back on track after disaster strikes. The shorter the RTO, the more expensive the disaster data recovery will be, so you need to consider this.
Also, make sure to clearly outline the duties and responsibilities of each individual employee in your organization. In addition, establish a clear communication plan as well as security protocols.
Of course, the most crucial parts of disaster data recovery are having offsite data backup and installing dependable and updated anti-spyware tools on all the devices used for business procedures. You should also test your disaster recovery plan with your staff. That is the only way to find out if it works.
As you can imagine, disaster recovery is a complex matter. If you want to know that your plan can protect you, the best option is to have a fully managed disaster data recovery solution from a reliable MSP. 2021 slammed us with a plethora of serious security threats for SMBs, and it’s scary to think of what 2022 might bring.
Ensure the safety of your company now before it is too late! Contact us today, and we will show you how.
