What is Stopping You From Changing IT Providers? Choosing the right provider with the right solution.
| June 17, 2021- What’s Stopping you from Changing IT Providers – Introduction
- What’s Stopping you from Changing IT Providers – Getting Started
- What’s Stopping you from Changing IT Providers – Evaluating Proposals
In blog 4 of this four-part series, we are going to explore how to choose the right provider to meet your requirements.
What we’ve already covered
In the last blog (Evaluating Proposals), we covered the following models:
- Staff Augmentation
- Break Fix – Hourly or Retainer
- Managed Services – All you can eat
In blog 2 (Getting Started), we covered your digital assets and what is important to you including:
- What can’t we lose?
- What happens if we can’t access it for X amount of time?
- What happens if it’s stolen?
While all providers provide support in case something is lost, stolen, or un-accessible, you must weigh those risks with the proposals you have in front of you. Which features and services of their proposal can mitigate your risk? You can put those into a chart like the example below to help you compare.
| Service/Feature | Provider A | Provider B | Provider C |
| Backups | Cloud backups only | Local, cloud, and cloud copy | Local, cloud, provides testing monthly of backups and can provide business continuity |
| Anti-Virus | Defender | Malwarebytes and Windows defender | Security package with advanced End-Point Protection |
| Service Level Agreement | None provided | Next business day with emergency after hours | 24x7x365 for level 1 and 2 priority incidents |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | None provided or costs extra | Microsoft of Google MFA | Cisco DUO included |
| Password Manager | Costs extra | Included | Included |
| Monitoring | None | Included but pay for responses | Included |
| Roadmap | None | Paid service | Required for onboarding |
As you can see from the chart, you can start to evaluate each proposal based on your own risk assessment in your environment.
Consider Partnerships
After assessing everything we’ve covered in this blog series, the next step should be considering partnering with an IT service provider that can help you manage the risk, security, and business needs of your organization. This does not mean that the provider must specialize in your business or line of business applications but must be able to help you plan, protect and monitor your digital assets.
At Concensus Technologies, we partner with organizations to plan, protect and monitor your digital assets in a co-managed approach or fully managed approach by pairing you with a primary engineer and a customer success manager or virtual CIO. Reach out to our team of experts for a consultation, here.
