6 Questions Your Managed Service Provider Should Be Able to Answer On the Spot

UK businesses are increasingly reliant on digital services to conduct their day to day activities. And this has notably increased during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Now more than ever, entrusting your infrastructure to the right managed service provider is a business-critical decision. Get it wrong and you risk your entire business IT infrastructure. 

Get it right and you’ll modernise your internal systems, enhance security and gain access to the latest technologies. All of which frees you and your team to focus on what’s most important; developing your business. 

The question is: how do you choose the right provider?!

With so many MSPs vying for your attention, identifying who’s best qualified to support you can be frankly overwhelming. In this post, we share the 6 questions any MSP worth their salt should be able to answer on the spot so that you can ensure you partner with a pro. 

Spoiler alert: at the Technology Group we’ve nailed them all!

1. How Will You Help Us Reduce Our IT Operation Costs? 

​Your relationship with your MSP should be more than transactional. Instead, they should act as a trusted advisor, showing you how to get the most out of your existing IT infrastructure, as well as recommending new strategies to increase efficiencies. 

Ask potential providers about how they help can you reduce your ongoing IT costs. In their answer, keep an eye out for concrete recommendations. For example, at the Technology Group, we know that we can save our clients up to 80% on their monthly phone bill by switching them to our award-winning 3CX solution. Make sure your MSP can say the same.

2. How Will Your Services Make Us More Competitive?
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In the same vein, your communications provider should know how your existing infrastructure can be improved to make you more competitive. After all- no one’s perfect! Examples include:
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• Making business operations more efficient so there’s more time devoted to strategy and less time devoted to unnecessary administrative tasks. 
• Helping you land more leads and win business by leveraging the latest technology to improve your customer service (think website live chat, social media integrations and full features voice platforms that make sales seamless).

You’ll also want to know how your service provider of choice tracks emerging market trends and adapts their offering to remain competitive. In the digital world, technologies, trends and techniques can change overnight. It’s up to your MSP to ensure that you keep up.  

3. Can You Help Us to Grow?

Whether you’re a startup with big ambitions or already established in your field, you need an IT partner that can keep up with the growing needs of your organisation. If you have plans to expand in the future, ask potential MSPs how they’ve helped past clients scale up. 

They should be able to clearly explain how their solutions can be tailored to support additional users and enterprise features: without you needing to migrate to a new platform. For example, TTG’s hosted telephony solutions can quickly scale from 1 to 10,000 users! And we include advanced contact centre features, so whether you need them or not, you’ve got the tools in place to grow.

4. How Will You Secure our Data and Prevent Cyber Attacks?
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If you only ask one question on this list, make it this one. In 2020, a record-breaking number of cyberattacks were carried out against UK firms and we can only expect this trend to continue into 2021.

Always, always, always ask about the incident and penetration monitoring systems your potential IT service provider uses. It’s the one service where you absolutely cannot settle for less than the best. You need them to be proactive and vigilant, adept at spotting and eliminating potential risks before your operations are disrupted.

Ultimately prevention is always better than the cure. Ask detailed questions about incident response plans and service restoration, as well as finding out how datacenters holding your information are secured. 

Remember- if it all sounds like jargon, the best managed service providers will take the time to bring you up to speed. So never be afraid to ask!

5. Do You Outsource Support?
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Outsourcing is becoming infrequently common in the MSP space, largely due to the cost savings it offers the provider. But if your managed service provider is outsourcing roles, it’s vital that you understand exactly what’s being done externally and who’s doing the work. 

In essence, you’ll need to ask the same questions of the outsourcing company as you will of your MSP. What’s their SLA? How are they protecting your data? How quickly will issues be resolved? 

The last thing you want is to experience an issue and be left scrambling to reach an outsourced support centre when it’s too late. That’s why The Technology Group provides round-the-clock, in-house, UK-based tech support. Get the help you need, as soon as you need it.

6. What Accreditations and Certifications Do You Have?

Accreditations and certifications add weight to an MSP’s reputation. Almost all vendors offer bespoke training so having these accolades demonstrates that your provider has reached a certain level of skill. 

​Also, keep in mind that being a Jack of all trades isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s far better for an IT service provider to focus on one or two solutions in a given category, (like Unified Communications or SIP trunking) and to have multiple advanced certified engineers than it is to sell every product under the sun with a few basic certifications here and there.

Put simply, expertise takes work. And being the best at what you do requires commitment. By specialising in 3CX communication solutions, TTG has achieved 3CX’s coveted Titanium Partner Status, and cemented our status as the number one 3CX partner in Europe! Clients ranging from the NHS to fortune 500 companies trust us with their critical business systems. ​

Does Your Managed Service Provider Have a Clean Sweep?
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Finding a managed service provider you trust with your IT infrastructure takes time, but asking these 6 questions will leave you with a clearer understanding of their capabilities, solutions and ways of working.

Curious about our approach? Our secure, scalable and cost-effective solutions will streamline your business operations, paving the way for you to grow in the future. Get in touch today for your free consultation.