8 Tips for Hiring an External IT Support Technician/Services Provider for Your Business

IT budgets are evolving across businesses of all sizes and sectors. 2020’s unique challenges have made it so that trend has spiked even further as companies race to embrace the work from home model.

If you’re considering bringing on an IT contractor to help your company with its technology needs, good on you. The hurdle you’ll have to cross to achieve that end will be successfully filtering through all of the contractor options available to you.

When you’re hiring an IT support technician or team of technicians, you’ll want to weigh what they offer against 8 key factors. Curious to know what those factors are?

Keep reading to find out!

1. Table of Contents

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   Weigh Years Working in IT

Whether you’re hiring an internal IT employee or a managed IT services firm, you’ll want to see how long the people you’re bringing on have been working in IT.

Looking at managed IT services contractors specifically, the years the firm you’re bringing on has been in business is telling of the quality of their services. If they’ve managed to work successfully for years, it’s probably because they’ve provided customers with outstanding results which have kept those customers coming back time and again.

This isn’t to suggest that new IT firms aren’t worth engaging. You’re certainly more secure by investing in experience though.

2. Pay Attention to Niche

IT support professionals all know the basics of IT. Few though know how IT relates to your line of business specifically. That’s something worth pursuing.

As you search for professionals in the world of managed IT, pay special attention to those that advertise their expertise in your industry. You’ll find that by engaging these types of IT pros, they’ll be able to hit the ground running a lot faster at your company and be able to opine on how you can improve your corporate practices.

3. Explore Availability

When your company is experiencing an IT crisis, waiting for your support team to be available the following Monday at 9 am may not be an option. That’s why we advocate that people prioritize IT providers that make themselves available around the clock.

Most IT service providers do offer emergency hours. While some charge a premium for those service calls, others may offer an emergency hours budget you can call on monthly as part of your standard service agreement.

4. Assess Flexibility

As your company grows, you’ll want your IT support technician solution to grow with you. The same is true inversely.

The beauty of managed IT service providers is that many have large teams of people at the ready to handle accounts. If the weight of your account increases, more team members can be assigned to it to meet demand. If weight lessens, people can be pulled off and your monthly rate should reflect that lowered attention.

Not all IT service’s flexibility works that way so talk to your provider to see how they go about taking care of business’ evolving needs.

5. Be Critical of Cost Savings

If you’re bringing on an external IT provider, you need to weigh what they’re bringing to the table versus what an internal employee would. In most cases, the external IT support technician option will be the better one. It’s worth checking to know for sure though.

Ask yourself, “When I look at the salary, vacation time, health benefits, and sick leave I’d have to provide an employee, does the output they’d give in exchange for that compensation outweigh what I’d pay/get from the external contractor I’m considering?”

If the answer to that question is no, you can hire your contractor with confidence!

6. Explore References

The IT professionals you’re considering bringing into your company aren’t going to advertise their shortcomings. That’s why references are important.

References are (hopefully) impartial accounts from other people/businesses an IT company has worked with in the past. By assessing those entities’ experiences, you should be able to deduce what to expect if you choose to proceed with hiring a provider.

References can be found online via online reviews in most cases. If there are no online reviews available for the provider you’re hiring, ask them for references directly.

7. Ask About On-Site Support

A common trend in the managed IT space is focusing on remote support. This allows IT pros to manage the companies they help from anywhere in the world.

While a remote support workflow can be functional for day to day tasks, when it comes to bigger issues, you’ll likely want somebody onsite. Does the IT professional/organization you’re considering offer onsite support?

If they don’t under any circumstances, we recommend finding a more flexible helper.

8. Listen to Your Gut

Hiring IT support is a big deal. The person/organization you bring on will not only be your go-to when it comes to solving issues but will be your partner in scaling your company around technological innovations.

Given that importance, you’ll want to make sure your IT solution is one you get along with. Look for that standout comradeship when interviewing your options and listen to your gut when you find something/someone you vibe with.

An IT Support Technician Investment Today Will Brighten Your Tomorrow

Investing in IT has become increasingly commonplace. If you haven’t jumped on that bandwagon yet, you’re falling behind.

We hope that our write-up on qualities to look for in an IT support technician, firm, employee, or contractor makes your search for solutions simpler.

If you’d like more guidance on this topic or others pertaining to business, consider browsing more of the content on our blog!