What to look for in an IT company for your small business

When you are looking for small business IT support it can be daunting, especially if your business hasn’t implemented many IT-based solutions in the past. Not to mention that every month or so it seems a new technology is being developed. If this sounds like you, read on to find out exactly how you can go about finding the right company for you.

Price

This factor has more sway than any other in deciding what provider to choose for your small business. Ultimately it doesn’t just boil down to the figure, but value for your money. A provider might charge less but offer more or vice versa. You need to look at what you will get for the money you are being charged. It pays to shop around, as you’ll get a good idea what are the standard fees for what you want and what’s worth paying for.

Referrals

This is a great way of learning about some great companies and what they can provide. Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to find out what IT service providers are worth the cost to hire their services.

Bear in mind when you are looking at referrals online, from friends or colleagues, who the person is who wrote the recommendation. If it is a large company and your is a small business with very little staff you might want to look at whether your needs are similar or very different. Also if you see a review from someone in a different industry that you, for example, if you run a bakery and they run a doctors surgery your IT needs are going to be quite different. This is not to say that these referrals are useless but check whether the recommended company can provide bespoke services to you rather than a one size fits all approach.

What do they specialise in?

Double-check what core products the company in question offers and what their specialist services are. This is important if, for example, your entire office runs on Apple and the service you are considering has only specialists in PCs with Windows software. It’s worth paying a bit extra if you have an IT service provider that completely understands your technology. Also, does the business primarily cater to large businesses? If so they may not be able to or want to give your business the time of day.

Support and availability

Carefully consider the package you are considering for your business, in terms of support after you employ them. If you have an issue that affects the day to day operations of your business will your chosen provider be able to provide all the technical support that you need at no extra charge? And do they have 24-hour tech support? Another thing to consider is do you really need the package they are offering? A 24-hour tech support service is great if you frequently work past regular business hours but if you don’t and won’t be using it, it could be a waste of money. There are many variables to consider when looking for the right provider but when you consider the above factors many of your questions will be answered and you will be much closer to choosing an appropriate small business IT support provider.