How Do You Choose an Outsourced IT Company?
Sometimes it seems like IT companies are as numerous as coffee shops – one on every corner, offering everything from pumpkin latte to peppermint mocha.
But since I’ve owned and ran an IT company for almost 20 years, I have a few ideas of what I’d consider.
1) What is their financial health? If you are going to hitch your wagon to the stability of another company, then you’d better do your due diligence on them. Who is its management? How long have they been there? Is the company growing? Check newspaper articles, court records and word on the street.
2) What are their security practices like? Do they do background checks on employees? Do they follow standard Information Technology Infrastructure Library practices for IT service management? Have they passed any security audits or assessments?
3) Are they insured? For how much and what type of incidents?
4) How long have they been in business? And are their employees certified and tested? This can be a telling fact in the ever-changing, digital transforming world of IT.
5) Do they service clients like you? Do they handle your size company? Do they know your industry? What are their verticals?
6) What is their customer satisfaction like? Can they show it and prove it?
7) Will they share reference account contacts? Any good business should have a list of satisfied customers for reference.
There are other factors to consider when you choose an IT company, of course, but this checklist might be helpful as a starting point. While no list will ever capture the intangibles you may be looking for in an IT company, this may help you traverse the new digital age – it is a good start. I hope it helps you make an informed decision.
At Applied Tech, we can answer each of these questions – quickly and easily, and in a way that will make you happy.
Thanks for reading. Here’s your medal.
Kurt Sippel
* Kurt Sippel is president of Applied Tech and offers his musings on the changing world of technology in this occasional column.
