Some of you might be asking yourselves, why is it so important to remain friendly with IT support? Efficient IT is increasingly important to any business, and serious IT issues can be completely debilitating to your employees workflows. IT support is there to help cover you from these risks – and is the key to avoiding potential IT disasters.
It’s incredibly important to communicate effectively with your IT support company so they understand you and your devices, and ensure all problems are swiftly corrected.
The experts at Syntax IT Support, London provide you with the tips you need to help maintain a positive working relationship with your IT support company.
The right choice: The first step is important: make sure you choose the right company for your business. This means doing the necessary research into the options at hand before settling for one company entrusted with your tech. Make sure you choose an IT support company that meets the needs of your business, which is also well-reviewed by others. Networking is key – ask your contacts in other businesses which companies they have used and whether their service works well for them.
There are a lot of factors to consider, such as cost, payment plan, location and response time, so don’t just go for the first company you find.
Make a good start: Once you’ve chosen your support company and officially signed, you will be assigned an account manager and a technical contact at the IT support company. The first thing you should do is invite them to your business and show them how things operate, letting them know what your objectives are. Get to know them a little and make sure they know who you are too.
A clear contact: It’s important to establish a clear point of contact for computer support within your business, preferably someone with responsibility or suitable knowledge in IT. This way the support company can make all initial contacts with a representative who fully understands proceedings. This will also help your company form a better, more personal relationship with your IT support, and make them more likely to make you a top priority.
If you run a large business, you may need to appoint more than one person as the IT support contact.
Internal support: Set up a support process within your own business for IT issues, so that the IT support company is only contacted when absolutely necessary (this can be the same person who is the contact for the IT support company). This means that any low risk issues can be dealt with in-house to cut out necessary charges. Of course this is all dependent on your contract and again, if your business is large, this may require more than one person, or possibly a whole IT team.
Keep a log: Plan ahead and keep a log of all of the IT support requests you make. Over time, this will give you a clear picture of how well the IT support company is working for you. Are they responding promptly? Are they sticking to the service level agreement originally decided? And most importantly, are you getting value from your contract?
This is a great way of analysing the company you’ve chosen, and feeds nicely into our last point…
Review your choice: Be sure to review your IT support company regularly. After 3 to 6 months seek feedback from across the business to see what’s working well and what isn’t, and whether it’s time for a change. Just because they were your first choice, it doesn’t mean they have to be your only choice.