Have you ever taken a look at a proposal from a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and wondered if it covers everything your company needs? Some specifications may need to be gathered during the pre-proposal discovery process – for instance, the type of coverage for specific machines, or which line of business apps will be supported. But if you’ve delivered a final managed IT service plan proposal without two items, there’s a good chance that your provider is being disingenuous.
While keeping these two items off a plan might allow a provider to quote a lower price up-front, you can be sure you’re probably going to see them soon, because most companies need them to operate efficiently and minimize risk. There’s also a good chance that, when these items do land in your contract, they’ll extend the length of your contract, and possibly straddle you between two contracts, making it difficult to leave your current provider.
AntiVirus Support
In order for Managed Service Providers to be able to minimize disruptions and risk, they need to have an antivirus program installed on your corporate network. An antivirus that can be easily administered and updated remotely will help ensure that each of your users is covered by antivirus protection. Without a centrally-administered antivirus, both sides will face unacceptable risk – companies could lose their data, and Managed Service Providers will have to spend countless hours on a recovery (unless that’s not included in their contract).
Offsite Data Backup
Accidents happen, and employees do sometimes become disgruntled. Data is valuable to nearly every company in today’s world, and they need that data backed up offsite in case an unexpected disaster occurs and it’s either lost or stolen from the on-site location.
If data is regularly backed up off-site and a proper disaster recovery plan is in place, restoring data (and access to that data) can take as little as a few hours. If it’s not stored off-site, recovering data from a damaged drive is expensive, time consuming, and far from guaranteed. If your Managed Service Provider hasn’t asked you about offsite back-up, you can be confident that they will at some point during your contract. It’s far better to get those costs before you commit to their service.
To learn more about all of the services we offer in our managed IT service plans, call us at 919.779.0954 or email us at Team_WingSwept@WingSwept.com.