How to Choose Among the Best IT Solutions Agencies?

The best IT solutions companies are vendors, VARs (value-added resellers), and service providers, all in one. Such companies take up projects and work on it from beginning to end, from conceptualization to installation. The journey is complicated and lengthy, too, and involves a lot of research and support. Reputed IT solutions companies will start by analyzing the client’s business infrastructure and then evaluate the requirements. During the process, the solutions team will also be able to measure the mix of manufacturer’s software and hardware needed to complete specified targets. 

Finally, after the long and complicated journey, it is time to do the software and hardware installations at the client’s office. There are several cases when the term “solution” also refers to continuous service and VAR support. It is essential to mention in this context that turnkey IT solutions companies are different from the rest. In this case, the solution team does not do any customization of the project requirements. Instead, the turnkey team will offer solutions with the minimum consultation. Moreover, there are one or more strong project packages that come with minimal configuration requirements. 

This article will try to help you choose the best amongst hundreds of IT solutions companies. Often, making the correct choice becomes very difficult when you get so many options readily available. So, the following list will help you keep your mind calm and make a final decision. 

Tips for choosing the best IT solutions companies

As mentioned above, we are here to help you. So, we have prepared a compilation of all those details and points that you must keep in mind while choosing IT solutions companies. These are some of the essential tips that will help you make a perfect choice. Remember, you must get solutions to all the following points to make sure that a company will serve you in the best way. 

Location of your servers

When searching for IT solutions companies, the first question you have to ask yourself is about your base. No, here we are not talking about your head office or branches. Instead, we mean the base or location of your servers. The question is fundamental when the company you are looking for has to provide you with VoIP or cloud hosting services. Primarily, the quality of the services the company offers will be based on your servers’ location. Other laws, including GDPR, may also come with data storage implications. This is especially the case if an organization is a part of a high-restriction sector, such as legal or finance. 

Geographical reach

There is no longer a requirement of an IT support team that is mandatorily based around you or even in the same city. However, a problem arises when you move farther, for example, to a different country. In that case, you must first verify whether the IT solutions provider can cover your requirements despite the massive distance gap. 

Levels of IT support

Before starting with the negotiations, you must ask the solutions company regarding the choices and levels of services that they are offering. It is because several similar organizations segregate their services under different categories that they further offer at variable budgets. Of course, all of it depends on your requirements, and most of the time, there is customization available too. the different levels of services mostly include-

• Ad-hoc or pay-as-you-go assistance
• MSS or managed service support
• Break-fix support

Contractual terms and conditions

You must be careful whenever a company claims that they can support you with “everything” without stating the same details. Business owners often believe that an IT company will look after all of their requirements, which is not valid. What happens instead is that either you can register only a specific number of issues in a month, or they charge you for every additional problem. Therefore, it is best to clarify all the terms and conditions that will be part of the futures contract from the beginning of the discussions. Otherwise, you carry the risk of binding yourself into an unsuitable contract. Also, during the discussion, if you feel that things are not going as per your plan, you can surely ask whether the IT company offers other support levels. 

Contractual terms that the company does not cover

Irrespective of whether you feel it is unnecessary to confirm the terms and support levels in the contract, it is highly essential. Asking the IT company to list down all of the services that will fall under the primary contract will help you fix your mind. Moreover, it will give you an idea of what all will not fall under the primary contract. In that case, if you feel that you still want to procure those services, you have to pay for them separately. So, you must also get clarity regarding their hourly or ad-hoc prices for the extra services. 

Specific response timings

You must have an expectation regarding exact response timings from your IT support company whenever you have trouble. Now, the particular timing mostly depends on the level of support that you choose to pay for. Also, response timings are different for various priority support levels. For example, most IT support companies first attend to Tier 1 or highest-priority issues. In this case, the response timing maybe around 15-20 minutes. Then they will move on to the other problems under descending priority levels. Besides, you must be aware of the difference in meanings of resolution time and response time. 

So, if the support team says that they require two hours to get back, ask them whether it is for them to respond to the problem or resolve it altogether. Now, beware when a company offers you short comeback time, saying that they will resolve issues within that timeframe. The truth is that complex IT issues require a necessary span to get fixed, and it cannot happen otherwise. Of course, there must be a deadline, but it should not be unreal! 

From the tips mentioned above, you now know the effectiveness of hiring reasonable IT solutions companies. Making the correct decision will surely benefit your business in several ways in the upcoming days.