When San Diego business leaders are looking for an IT Consulting Company, they often find it challenging to identify the most important criteria for assessing an IT Consulting Company. Here are five questions you should ask any IT Consulting Firm and understand how important each is to your organization.
1) What is the expected response time when we need to reach an IT technician?
For some organizations, it is critical to get help immediately. Others are more comfortable with a 2-hour to 24-hour response time. You also want to be clear about whether there is assistance available during nights and weekends. You do not want to be surprised to find out there is no weekend support when you are working over a weekend for a big presentation.
2) How are issues tracked?
If the IT Consulting Company does not have an internal tracking system to keep on top of all outstanding issues, you may find that you have to follow-up with them to get more complicated issues resolved.
3) Who from your organization can contact the IT Consulting Company?
Some support providers take calls from anyone in your organization. Others require that all contact is through a single individual from your company. While using a single contact gives you more control over your organization’s contact with the IT company, it can slow down the response time.
4) Is the IT Consulting Company a reseller for any hardware or software providers?
Many IT companies find a brand of hardware and/or software they like and become a reseller. While it may be a very good product, it makes the IT company biased when making a recommendation, because they make a profit when selling that specific brand. Other companies choose to not resell any specific brands, so that they can always choose the right product for the specific situation.
5) Can the IT Consulting Company communicate in a non-technical way?
This is not a direct question for the IT company; it is something you should pay attention to during the assessment and quoting process. Some IT consulting companies use a lot of technical jargon. If you do not have a very technical person in your organization to work with them, it can be difficult to clearly communicate with them. They may not fully comprehend your needs and you may not fully understand, and be comfortable with, their recommendations.
When you are assessing IT Consulting Companies, we hope you at least consider using Skyriver IT. However, regardless of who you choose, we want you understand the right questions to ask, so that you can find the right IT Consulting Company for your organization.
