4 Things to Consider When Hiring IT Support
With each major industry advancement in technology, companies must adapt and learn to use new hardware and software to keep up with their competition. As a business owner, training your staff how to utilise new technologies is a daunting task that many business owners rely on IT support to coordinate and execute. However, many businesses don’t have the budget or resources to hire an in-house IT team, and instead rely on a much more cost-effective and secure option — outsourcing IT support to a trusted local partner.
Below we’ll walk you through what to consider when hiring IT support services and what questions you should ask to vet your potential provider. Whoever you hire must have the experience and bandwidth that makes sense for your business.
#1. Your Business Needs
The most crucial consideration when hiring IT support is your business’ needs. What is the size of your operation? Do you have only a few employees or are you supporting a large team? Is the extent of your technology usage a single inventory computer or is it a network of several devices that need to be connected 24/7? Consider the hours you operate and whether you need on-site services as well. Answering these questions will help you form an idea of what level of support you need and when you need it.
24-Hour Support
System issues can happen at any time, day or night. Your IT support needs to be available when you have staff in the office. In addition, if your company operates 24 hours a day or if you run an online store, you may need 24-hour support to ensure you aren’t losing sales overnight.
On-Site Vs. Off-Site Support
A second critical consideration is whether you need on or off-site support. If you have in-house servers and a lot of computer hardware or many connected devices, you will benefit most from having on-site help. On the other hand, if you handle most of your day-to-day business online and don’t have computer equipment that needs maintenance on-site, you may be perfectly well suited without. Off-site support is often much more budget-friendly, as IT personnel do not have to visit your office to provide services.
#2. Experienced IT Support
Top-quality support comes from highly experienced IT professionals. Before hiring an IT company in New Zealand, check out their academic background, working licence, and any other professional certifications to make sure they are qualified to meet your business needs. If you can, do a little research into the clients they service and get an idea of the bandwidth they have to offer.
Be sure to ask how many employees they have. A larger IT company may be better able to support larger enterprises (and more of them, for that matter).. If the IT support firm only has a small number of employees, you might experience delays in services depending on demand.
Reputation
It’s a good idea to check the reputation of the IT support company you plan to hire. As we touched on before, look for reviews online and check their social media profiles to see what current and past customers have to say. Word-of-mouth references will help you determine the quality of services you should expect to receive.
#3. Support Services Offered
Before hiring IT support, visit the company’s website to see exactly what services they offer and compare them to your current and potential future needs. Many companies provide a variety of in-person and virtual support options. Knowing and comparing the available (or unavailable) support services of your shortlisted IT support candidates will help you to quickly strike the ones that don’t meet your needs off your list.
If you’re unsure whether an IT company can meet your needs, call them and ask for details about their services. It would be prudent to ask about the level of IT support included within each plan and if there is a service level agreement (SLA). You should also ask about what the company includes in their plans and if they offer pre-purchase hours at a lower rate.
#4. Cost
Lastly, the cost is a crucial consideration when hiring IT support. You operate within a budget, and the services you hire need to fit within that budget too. Many support companies offer tiered packages for their IT services. Ask questions about what each package includes, the cost per hour of support, and if there are additional fees such as travel or after-hours fees.
Experienced IT Services in Wellington
When you run a business with multiple PCs, data storage requirements, and other IT needs, you should have a team of experienced IT professionals available to help you when you need it the most. At Dynamite IT Solutions, we offer professional IT services in the Wellington area. Contact us today for a quote on one of our popular IT support packages.
Get Expert Local IT Support With Dynamite IT
As a business owner, IT likely isn’t in your wheelhouse. And with a small budget, accounting for an entire IT department may be an expense that just doesn’t make sense for your business.
We get it. That’s why Dynamite IT Solutions makes managing your computer technology simple and cost effective. Dynamite IT offers a wide range of IT support services in Wellington with plans and packages to maximise the performance of your business.
As a Wellington based business ourselves, we understand the needs of local businesses. We have tailored our range of managed products and IT services to take the hassle out of your business infrastructure. Our response time is fast as we are based in Upper Hutt and service the Wellington region including Lower Hutt, Wellington CBD and Porirua City.
Dynamite IT believes in building streamlined IT systems that run so smoothly that you forget they’re there in the background. On top of professional IT systems, we also provide expert IT support to ensure you never feel alone. For a local team that can help with everything from 0800 numbers to web design, we are the IT experts you can trust and rely on – give us a call today.