As a Managed Service Provider, we often get the common question- what do you do?

And truly- that’s a question anyone looking to outsource their IT to.

And as an IT provider, we want to challenge you to think differently about what it is your IT provider should be doing for you.

It may sound strange, but most people engage/buy Managed IT the wrong way. Here are three things that you should be thinking about, and asking about, that will help you actually get an ROI on your investment.

1. Support

Most IT companies will say things like-

• We respond this fast
• We’ve closed this many tickets
• We are here to support your issues.

Frankly, when people are looking for an IT provider, this is the pain point they are trying to fix. Maybe who they are currently working with isn’t doing it fast enough or well enough…There’s a consistent problem and they’re at a point where they need to do something different.

Those things are important. But instead of looking for an IT provider who closes all your tickets, start asking questions about they are doing to reduce the number of issues you have. And then how they handle an issue with care, compassion, kindness and speed when an issue occurs.

2. Cybersecurity

It’s the biggest thing on business owner’s minds when it comes to technology these days.

Instead of saying cybersecurity- we say “making a customer a hard target.” An IT provider’s job is to make our customers a really hard target and then minimize the damage and recover quickly in the event that something does happen.

3. Leverage

This is the piece that differentiates the great companies from the good companies.

How do you use technology to gain leverage in your company?

IT providers know a lot about technology. But they should know and understand your business too. By investing and spending time knowing your business so they can help you utilize technology to be more efficient. To be more effective. To close more deals. To onboard new customers faster.

A great IT provider doesn’t just answer the question “what do you do?” with “support and cybersecurity”.

A great IT Provider answers the question “what do you do?” with “Reduce the number of issues you have, make you a really hard target, and helping you find the places where technology isn’t functioning properly- workflow, process, the way you operate as a business- and helping you gain leverage over all these assets (that you are already spending money on and using) and use it better, faster, more efficiently to be even stronger and even more successful.”