For most growing businesses in Toronto and beyond, it eventually becomes essential to create a dedicated IT support function either internally or using an outsourced provider. For many businesses, creating an IT department can be too expensive, complex and time-consuming, which is where an outsourced provider can add a lot of value. However, not all IT support providers are equal, so in this piece, we offer a checklist of important things to look out for in an IT support provider.
Responsive IT Helpdesk
A great IT support provider will be able to resolve technical issues promptly, minimizing downtime and enabling your team to do what they do best. They will be able to help with things such as internet downtime and application errors, troubleshooting them and creating root-cause solutions. Take care to ensure competitive response times are offered by your provider, and that their helpdesk is well positioned to support your IT environment’s unique systems, apps and vendors.
Local On-Site Support
Depending on the nature of your business and its needs, a local company may wish to get on-site IT support in Toronto, if for example the business manages some on-premises servers and devices. In these cases, ensuring the provider can offer on-site support will often be essential.
Third-Party Vendor Partnerships
IT support providers often have vendor relationships with companies such as Microsoft, Google, and many more. By choosing a provider that is fluent with the vendor solutions that you’re using, you increase the chances of receiving the best support possible. These vendor relationships not only demonstrate their expertise with the products and services you are using, but also ensure your business benefits from competitively priced solutions as well as special discounted rates.
Cybersecurity Support
The number and sophistication of cyber threats is continuing to rise, and increasingly, consumers, regulators and partners expect businesses to implement cyber security measures. Ensure that a potential provider meets this criterion, and will be able to secure your web traffic, prevent unauthorized access to your data and systems, and empower your users with cyber security best practices. By checking this item off, your provider will be able to empower your cyber security, as well as your compliance and reputation.
Compliance Support
Work with an MSP that can help your IT systems comply with relevant industry and regional regulations with the help of technology. The provider should be able to help you to align your people, processes and technology together, making monitoring and demonstrating compliance easier for your business.
Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Support
A business that loses its data and systems without a backup, can experience severe operational, financial, reputational and legal consequences, so having a data backup and recovery solution in place is increasingly a must today. Check to ensure that a potential IT services provider is able to deliver this service for your business, ensuring that should you ever need it, your data and systems can be restored promptly.
Tailored Services and Contracts
For a business to get the most value from a service, it will almost certainly need to be tailored to fit its unique size, context and requirements. Choose an IT support provider that can tailor their offering to your business, as not only does this show a commitment to delivering value, but it also ensures you gain maximum return on investment.
Skills & Certifications
Skills and certifications serve as useful forms of social proof that the provider has the expertise needed to provide the best service to your business. Look out for certifications and competencies that are relevant to your needs and requirements.
Uptime/Issue Response Guarantee
A quality IT support provider will offer uptime guarantees and clearly define their issue response times in a Service Level Agreement (SLA). This not only gives a benchmark for measuring their performance, that can be used to hold them accountable, but also helps you to identify the most competitive offerings in this area for your search for the best IT support provider.
Final Thoughts: Finding the right IT Services in Toronto
By finding an IT support provider that satisfies these requirements for your business, you can better ensure that they will deliver the most value. Whether you need IT support in Toronto, the wider Ontario province, or elsewhere, looking out for these green flags will help you. Look out for social proof, talk to different providers, ensure that their expertise aligns with your IT environment, and create a shortlist of providers that are well-positioned to help your business get the most out of its technology. With the right IT support provider, you can capitalize on the benefits and opportunities that technology can offer to your business and ensure that your technology investments yield maximum return on investment.
Proud To Deliver Game-Changing IT Support in Toronto: Trust VBS
Our IT services help businesses in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham and Richmond Hill transform technology into an empowering asset for their success and profitable growth. Our expert team of friendly IT Support & Cybersecurity specialists keeps your day-to-day IT running efficiently and smoothly, while empowering your strategic success and Cybersecurity. With a unique offering that configures and integrates CRM capabilities with your existing tools and workflows, we help businesses to sharpen their competitive edge.
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