Switching to an IT outsourcing provider is not a decision you should take lightly. However, most businesses make this decision often from a dire necessity than choice. Though it is much better to have an in-house IT support structure and team, however, it is always not feasible to get one. There is a lot of pain that associates with changing your IT outsourcing services provider, yet it is not as bad when you consider it to be too costly to maintain an in-house team.
Most of the time, the fact that a provider is incompetent becomes apparent almost immediately after they have provided you the services, but it could also arise partly using the contract in case there is are changes in the business. Worst though is you have signs of not being up to the mark being hidden or you are not even aware of what these signs are.
Finding out in case you have a provider who can bring the best is difficult. You could receive fake reviews and when you ask for a review, you could be duped with a fake answer. The worst case is when you are unable to find the incompetence signs because either they are hidden or the business is not aware even what signs could be. However, once you get the indication that there could be a glitch, you know it is time to switch.
Eight Reasons why you should switch your IT Outsourcing Services provider
If they are not delivering tangible results in business
You must have an IT outsourcing company that provides you with tangible results in business. You must have a provider that gives you a measurable return on your investments. In case they have a strategic consultancy where they are pushing the best of the latest technology and vague terminologies like the cloud if they are barely able to manage your work function, it’s not worth spending your hard-earned money on them.
Also, if the ROI the IT outsourcing company is delivering is rather vague and not strict terms, it could be signs of problems. While you could be more available because of an alternate line they have installed, what truly matters is if they can inform you when it salvaged you from any kind of outage and the amount of cash you could avoid losing because of reduced downtime. In case they can do this, it depicts that they have not just the understanding of your business well to give you all these hard numbers; they are also focused on those metrics that can bring profits to your business and not merely tech for the sake of tech.
For maximum value to your enterprise, your IT Outsourcing company also needs to follow regular improvements like ISO 27001. Without non-stop improvement, the kind of strategic guidance they give will gradually become highly diluted and you would be better off taking on to a new provider.
Figure out if your provider for IT support is delivering measurable metrics remaining cost-neutral
They may not understand your business industry
The current situation with the market is an oversaturation of the generalist IT providers. Maybe they can repair your PC when it breaks down, it’s unlikely that they would be able to implement the practice management system of a law firm or even energizing the lean initiative of a manufacturer with technology.
So that you are provided with effective guidance, your provider will require an understanding of the opportunities and challenges available at this time within your sector. This signifies that they need to attend expos and events in your industry, hosting those events that are relevant to your industry plus speaking in the language of your sector.
The simplest thing is to look at it from a different perspective. If you come from a regulated industry and your IT outsourcing service provider doesn’t understand the nuances of your industry, the fact that they are unaware will stop them from creating answers or solutions that could be implemented. The point is – if they aren’t able to perform something as basic, how will they make those changes that drive value for your customers?
A service provider who doesn’t realize your kind of business is fine to have day-to-day maintenance as that merely needs an understanding of the tech. But, in case of even a small amount of value in business, you would need a provider who will understand your industry. If you understand this aspect, you would be in a position to form a partnership that can motivate true outcomes in business, taking you plus your business to the future.
The IT Outsourcing Service Providers don’t take serious consideration of security
It is alarming to notice the figure that looms of the IT support providers who do not have cyber security. A huge amount of trust factor is required between the IT outsourcing support providers and the clients they serve. Also, in case if a support service isn’t coving their security, it is highly negligent and a trust breach.
In case your IT provider is not adhering to the best practices in security, then you should leave that provider before the disaster hits. Can you imagine the kind of anger you would carry for your IT Outsourcing Company in case they left your data of the client misconfigured allowing the records/data to get stolen and then sold by the criminals? And if that happens with all the clients you have, would you be in a condition of having a secure business?
If you are using an insecure support service provider, it would make you as equally bad as they are in an event of something going wrong. And in an event when your clients are angry with you for the leaking of their data or in case the board demands knowledge of who is the responsible party for ransomware infestation, it would be completely justified to bear the anger.
In case they don’t accept responsibility
Both the IT support provider and the client must have a shared responsibility. The support service provider has the responsibility of understanding the risk profile of the client and must come with the responsibility of acting on the advice that the support company provides and operate to all the standards that are given through the consultancy of the provider.
In case one of the party isn’t completing the responsibilities they have, in such a case possibilities of a breakdown are more. In an event of something going wrong, clients remain obliged to prove the method using which they adopted the advice of the provider and operated to some level. The providers have the responsibility to explain what led to the things going wrong, how they plan on fixing, and how preventive methods would be taken in the future.
In case of things going wrong, they would come to blame you or sign that it is not something they are supposed to take care of, or even refuse on offering solutions all along insisting that fault is someone else, you need to find some other IT outsourcing partner.
The focus is on contractual details
All the excellent support service providers know that if their clients remain successful, they too are successful. So, in case you often hear “we can’t serve you this as this was not a part of the contract” it indicates that they are either incompetent or not interested in supporting the business.
Of course, in case you signed in for a specific contract without certain services included, then expecting those services is not professional. However, if they have a purely transactional relationship rather than an amicable partnership, it indicates that you need to switch.
For all edge cases, a really good provider would lean by you and assist you with the issue as they understand the significance and importance of building a relationship with you. Providers abiding by strict contractual facts are most of the time ones who merely see your business as one source of monthly revenue that is recurring rather than as one partner and hence, this help would just be an additional expense.
You are far ahead of them
In case your business goes through one period where rapid growth happens, it could be too big a task for your existing IT outsourcing service partner to tackle your business. Since the alternative is rather making your business stagnant, it is a poignant decision to change your support.
It is not easy to measure if you are better than your provider. In case you are in confusion whether you have outgrown your provider, check the following indications:
- They are lagging on tickets and are rather beginning to miss the SLAs
- Your staffs aren’t confident about the support you chose
- The IT outsourcing partner is not helping you with further IT strategies and is only concerned about fixing problems
- The strategic guidance they offer looks into things from a rather narrow viewpoint
In case you are observing any of these features, likely, your provider is not efficiently able to manage your business requirements. In such an event, it is time you switch.
They are using technical jargons
It is rather easy for businesses lacking the technical expertise to get awed by the terminologies and jargon used by these IT outsourcing services. If it is only big jargons they are throwing at, it is best to look elsewhere.
A good tech provider would always be upgraded and skilled with new hardware and software. Your IT provider should ideally come skilled with both understanding the latest of tech and nuances of your sector. If they are aware of the unique risks plus rewards that associate your business, they would be in a much better position to deal with them and create rather optimized solutions.
You are not learning
In case your IT support provider isn’t extending support to help you grow and understand IT, in case they aren’t challenging you enough, or in case they are not better at tech knowledge than you, it is better to take a better provider. Innovation comes only when you challenge your status quo and hence, in case your support provider is not getting new ideas or even thinking of methods through which they could help you exploit opportunities in your industry, chances are you will stagnate.
Final note – Conclusion
Unfortunately, 69% of the businesses alter their support each year. This brings serious concerns as, without a long-term association, it is not possible to receive genuine results and proper strategies from their IT outsourcing companies. The relationship between your business and the IT service needs to be forged while becoming partners. However, this statistic indicates that support providers are not doing substantially to create worth for the clients.
In case you think it’s time you reviewed your provider, it’s suggested you pick a new partner who can engage for the long term. Consider the following before you picked on a new partner – service scope, sector focus, and location.
Service – scope
Your provider should be able to define itself as what sort of IT support. In case your provider defines the support as fixing things while they break, they are then not worth your money or time. In case they define it as that of keeping the systems always in high performance and running, you may as well consider them. But, in case they define it like things on the move, always showing peak performance and are backed using an ongoing strategy, you have won a jackpot.
Sector focus
This factor holds a much higher significance while choosing a provider. With a plethora of generalists existing in the market, in case a provider focuses on the sector you are in, you need to give them real-time consideration. The special experience and knowledge they possess make them better suitable to help your business plus their connections with your sector people may come with further benefits.
Location
This was one of the most significant factors to locate. However, modern service providers can any time fix the issues remotely. What’s better, having your IT guys come by each day to find if anything is broken is a clear sign that your IT outsourcing services partner lacks in capabilities of proactive monitoring and maintenance, instead of giving any positive indications. While it is rather wise to have an IT outsourcing company that is local so that an engineer could be sent in an emergency, you don’t need to limit your business to mere providers in your city, town, or country.
