With lots of companies initerested in shifting some of their IT infrastructure out to managed service providers (MSPs), there’s clearly a lot of benefits, like cost-cutting, in letting someone else deal with the nuts and bolts of your IT services.
However, cloud-based IT management firm Autotask raises an interesting point: bizarre as it might sound, while MSPs are happy to charge you for doing x, y and z, once you sign on the dotted line they often don’t actually give you any insight into their performance.
Mark Banfield, International VP, says: "There are a number of metrics that businesses typically want to know, including how quickly calls are answered, how much time it takes for faults to be fixed and how planned maintenance processes are being addressed.
"Many MSPs claim that providing this level of reporting is in itself quite costly. This is particularly true if they’re using multiple systems for booking helpdesk calls and tickets, site visits and service level agreements."
However, the tools now exist for businesses to keep an eye on exactly what their provider is doing for them, adds Banfield, who thinks businesses should make such insight a requirement before they sign their services away.
He explains: "Whichever IT service provider you choose, they must be able to deliver the detail that will help your business grow."
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