You may have heard about the benefits of hiring a good IT support company and may be gearing up to look for the right IT support company to assist in your business. However, most of you may not be well-versed with the things you must look for in an IT support services company.
Here is a compiled list of different aspects that you need to look into while picking the best company offering IT support services in Singapore.
1. Local Company
When you opt to work with an outsourced provider, onsite support can prove to be highly beneficial. When you pick an IT company that is local to you, it means that you will get a faster service whenever the need for onsite support arises.
For instance, suppose there is a firewall failure that needs an immediate replacement. If the IT support company you generally rely on is not near you, you will inevitably have to look for a third-party IT service provider. However, if the IT support services were nearby, an engineer could have been dispatched almost immediately to replace the firewall.
2. Specific Domain Experience
These days, there is no dearth of companies that provide IT support services. Hence, you have a wider choice for your company. If you want to narrow down your options, it is best to look for an IT company that specializes in providing services to companies belonging to your industry.
Also, check for a significant amount of industry-specific experience as well. Before picking an IT company, ask them if they have experience in providing IT services to businesses similar to yours.
3. Servers and Workstations Support
Are your servers and workstations functioning on Windows or some other operating system? If they are running on something else, ask the IT support services if they have experience providing services for your operating systems.
For instance, your servers and workstations may be running on Linux or Mac OS if not Windows. If this holds for your company, and you are not planning on switching to Windows shortly, the IT Company you pick must be experienced in providing services for servers and workstations functioning on the specified operating system.
For many people, “Tech” people are generally considered universal. However, their experience is what sets them apart from one another. If the IT company you are leaning on for IT services cannot offer the required support to your infrastructure, you will not get the necessary support that you would require.
4. Company Software Support
Think about which software and applications are most important to your business. After you know this, turn your focus over to your IT support company and ensure that they indeed do have expertise in almost all of the vital software and applications.
If you are a company that has custom applications, you cannot expect an outsourced IT company to know how the software works in the first go. However, the IT company you pick in such a scenario must be capable of triaging and troubleshooting any problems that may arise.
Keep in mind that IT and software development are two entirely different fields. You must not expect your developer to offer IT support services and neither should the IT company be expected to modify or create software. IT company is responsible for monitoring hardware, installing new software, internet support, and providing technical support. Whereas, a software development or software testing company builds new software and applications.
5. Responsiveness
Every IT company will have a different approach when it comes to offering IT support services. Similarly, the response time for each of these IT companies would vary greatly. While picking an IT company, ask for their response time metrics or their SLA (Service Level Agreement) which would include the following.
- The time is taken to respond to issues.
- The time is taken to fix and resolve issues.
- The time is taken when onsite support is requested.
Any company can claim that they are very responsive. However, you will find their real truth by looking into the facts and figures.
6. Support Capabilities
You need to ensure that the IT company you pick is large enough to support your needs. You can gauge this by asking them the following questions.
- How many employees do you have in total?
- How many of them are engineers with technical knowledge?
- How many different departments are there in your company?
- Can you tell us about your support processes?
Apart from this, you must ensure that the IT company is capable of handling the issues that may arise in the future as a result of growth in your business.
Conclusion
If you wish to select the In-House IT or outsource company, you will need to do your homework. If you are looking for the best IT company, you must approach an IT outsourcing company that offers every service and solution relevant to IT support.
