For growing organisations, finding the right level of IT support can be something of a headache. Having to outsource help every time a laptop gets a virus or the server running your customer database makes strange noises can be time-consuming and unreliable, while committing to an in-house team may be an overstretch.

Managed IT support can be a happy medium – one that allows you to ramp up and down, safe in the knowledge that you can call on help whenever it’s needed. But how can you find the right fit? After all, finding the right partner can be the difference between a smooth, safe IT environment and hours of unexpected downtime. Here, Rich Nelson, technical architect at Probrand, outlines six questions to ask your prospective IT support partner.

1. What IT resources do you cover?

Get the support provider to specify exactly what they cover. Are printers and other peripheral devices included in the contract, for example? What about printers and storage devices attached directly to the network? How about software applications? Equally, make sure that they explain any limitations on service, so that both parties are clear. That way, no one will call the company to replace a laser printer cartridge only to be told that it isn’t part of the contract.

2. What levels of support do you offer and how much do they cost?

A provider might offer different levels of support based on different customer needs. This could include break-fix support where you pay for things on an hourly or fixed-cost basis, or managed support where a company watches your systems and carries out preventative maintenance to stop unplanned outages. Hourly break-fix support might work for companies with small numbers of relatively new machines and an educated workforce where downtime doesn’t matter that much, but in the long term, managed support will be the cheapest, most convenient option for many.

3. How do you anticipate problems?

If your prospective support company provides proactive, managed support, then how does that work? Do they provide remote monitoring services that watch for problems on your equipment? Do they send someone out to conduct preventative maintenance checks on your gear or use metrics like mean time between failure (MTBF) to estimate when equipment might need looking at?

4. What are your response times?

How quickly can the company respond to a problem? This doesn’t just mean acknowledging receipt of the ticket; it means getting back to you with a fix. Think about the different kinds of IT support interaction that you might need. These go beyond a simple support telephone call from an engineer, to encompass software fixes. Does the support provider offer remote access so that they can log into an affected machine and fix a software problem quickly?

Also consider how they deal with hardware failures. Some may only offer a break-fix option, taking equipment away and returning it repaired within a certain timeframe. Others offer a swap-out service, where they replace a device with a new one to minimise customer downtime. This is more common with managed service contracts that include some form of hardware leasing.

5. What is your process for logging and handling support tickets?

Ask what the support experience will be like. How do you log your tickets, and what happens after that? Like anything, this experience can vary. Some smaller companies might rely on phone-based problem reporting with manually managed tickets. Others offer more streamlined workflows, attaching a unique ID to each supported machine that the customer can enter as part of a problem ticket through a self-service portal. Look for a provider that has processes in place to follow up and ensure that a fix has worked, and that the problem hasn’t recurred. This should be a part of their standard process.

By getting clarity on these questions, you’ll be able to enter a partnership with more peace of mind. The more thorough this conversation is now, the more protected you’ll feel later. No one wants any nasty surprises when an emergency occurs, and the best IT support providers will work with you to help ensure that emergencies are a thing of the past.