Imagine this scenario; you’re a small business selling a niche but popular product online and over the phone. Things are going well, your revenue and sales are increasing on a monthly basis and you’re on course for hitting target. Then your computer network and telephone system goes down.

You can’t take sales, you can’t fulfil existing orders and your customers can’t contact you. Your reputation, sales and profits are tumbling. What do you do?

If you’ve relied on someone in-house to set up and manage your IT infrastructure you’ll immediately get them to look into the problem. Chances are, though, that your in-house technical support person isn’t all that technical and can’t find the problem. Every minute that goes buy is potentially a lost sale.

Panic sets in and you start ringing round IT companies asking for quotes. The prices you’re given seem huge and you face a dilemma – let your in-house guy try to work it out or pay potentially thousands to get your system back up and running quickly.

It’s a nightmare situation that could have been avoided if you had chosen to outsource IT support. Businesses, small ones in particular, tend to view outsourced IT support as an optional expense, often choosing to rely on someone with a bit of know-how from within the company. They only realise their mistake when things go wrong.

The benefits of outsourced small business IT support are clear though. Instant, twenty four hour emergency support, round the clock maintenance to keep downtime to a minimum and easy access to hardware and software procurement and installation for when you’re ready to expand.

Weighed up against the cost of lost sales and expensive call out charges should your computer network fail, outsourced IT support is a sensible if not essential business cost.

So now that you’ve made the decision to safeguard your network and profitability how do you choose the right IT support company?

Reputation is a strong indicator, so talk to your suppliers and other companies you do business with and ask them who provides their computer maintenance and how happy they are with the service. If you’re a small business, speak to companies of a similar size as this will be a much better indication of service levels.

Once you have a shortlist of three or four IT consultancies contact them and ask them to quote based around your requirements. It is important to know at this point exactly what level of service and support you require so you can get an accurate quote. If you’re not sure though, don’t be afraid to ask for advice based on your business objectives.

Having met with the IT companies on your shortlist you will now have a much better idea of who you will find easy to work with and this is essential as having an IT support company is a partnership. Narrow your list down to a final two companies and then consider prices.

Don’t just go for the cheapest though. Carefully check exactly what levels of support and maintenance you get for your money. Not all ‘packages’ will be the same. Always go with the one that provides the most value for money at a level of support you are comfortable with.

With all this sorted out you can concentrate on your core business, safe in the knowledge that you’re very unlikely to ever miss a sale or lose a customer due to computer network or telecommunications problems.

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Efuse, a specialist IT support company.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: it support, network support, it services, network services