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The way of doing business today has gotten more complex due to technological advancements. Because of the pandemic, a new normal has been established, and companies have to shift from face-to-face methods to e-commerce.

Establishing a business name and marketing your brand online is the new trend in doing business. Companies worldwide have found the need for the services of IT companies, such as GoComputek IT, and personnel that can help them prosper on the World Wide Web.  Of course, the more established an IT company is, the better and more advanced its services will be.

You must seriously consider automating for your firm to stand out from the competition. Whether you’re a startup or may have previously established your brand in the market, it’s the new normal. But, your need for an IT service provider shouldn’t be more than your need for safety precautions, especially from cybercrime and other cyber security issues. Thus, it’s best to ensure that your IT provider is not a fly-by-night business and can program your company’s business intelligence activities.

An extensive background check is necessary, including looking into their organizational chart. Cybercrimes are real and most feared by the online community. You need to know who’s working for you and be confident that they’ll not cause you trouble. You need to check and ask them questions to assess the services they’ll provide. Such queries include:

1. What Are The Services You Can Offer?

Make it a point to verify that your IT services provider can implement the most recent advancements in both the software and hardware sectors. Verifying their identity and capacities is also an effective way of protecting your organization from online threats, such as malware, viruses, and other types of data encroachment.

You need to know how well they can protect you from hackers. They should also ensure the safety of your sensitive and protected company data. These include business information exclusive to your company, especially trade secrets or production formulas.

The IT provider should be able to provide a high-end security feature to help you advance in the field of business competition. They should also comply with government data security rules and other data privacy regulations. You don’t want your business implicated in government security breach issues. 

2. Who Are The Clients You Can Name As References?

Asking for several references should be standard practice. It’s common knowledge that there’s no better indicator of a company’s capacity to deliver than word-of-mouth recommendations, especially for service providers. You’re under no obligation to call all of these references, but they can give you an idea of your prospect’s work system and ethics.

It’s also one of the ways to verify the legitimacy of the IT service company without directly asking them for identity papers. Some firms also want to know the capitalization range of the provider’s clients to gauge their probable cost of services. It includes some details of how effective the services they provide are.

By checking them out with the references they provide, you’ll also know how long they’ve been in the business, and whether or not they comprise the team of experts you want to hire.

3. What Is Your Guaranteed Response Time?

What’s your guaranteed response time, or how soon can you respond?  These are questions that you need to ask an IT firm before you hire them.  IT support is the very reason why you need their services. Every issue you have must be addressed timely and effectively to avoid incurring more costs and problems along the way. 

Your IT support’s response time is the amount of time that passes from when an issue was first reported to them until an IT specialist begins working to address the problem. How fast the problem is resolved is the support’s resolution time.

Whenever there’s a problem with your IT network or systems, you must receive a prompt and fair response from the support unit you hired. This response time also depends on how ready you are to spend on the level or kind of service you require. 

However, keep in mind that a guaranteed response time is only a guarantee or a promise. It’s like a promise that the support staff won’t ignore you and will start doing something about your situation upon notice. That’s why you need to ensure that the service company you hire is able and capable of responding to your IT needs.

Also, be aware of businesses that claim they can handle issues or resolve your IT problems within a specific time frame. It’s almost always an empty promise. It’s because responding to an IT hurdle or difficulty takes much longer than initially thought.

4. Can You Dedicate An IT Support Staff For Us?

Sometimes, it’s easier to talk and relate your problems to known and specific IT staff. It’s advantageous to both parties as this will help with the recognition of system performance and problem history. Resolution time then will become shorter. IT personnel for your business can easily make time for all your computer repair concerns, including data recovery, hard drive replacement, and remote PC repair.

This question will also trigger some information about the IT firm’s office location, the number of staff, and the capabilities of each to answer potential issues. It’s one of those pieces of information you need to check the skills, expertise, and experiences of their IT staff that’ll benefit your business.

5. What Are Your Disaster Recovery Measures?

It may not happen to you, but some businesses have experienced their automation system breaking down due to the inaccurate solutions provided by their respective IT firms. If this happens to you, somebody has to shoulder the cost of time and effort that needs to be spent to resolve the problems.

Most reputable IT companies have insurance to cover these types of losses. So, you must know if insurance or assurance companies protect your proposed support firm to provide them with funds when problems in the line of business arise. 

To Wrap It Up

Questions to ask an IT company vary. These depend mainly upon your needs and system requirements. Some businesses would even require language or system platform requirements. It’s like checking an IT firm’s programs and systems to develop and analyze company system requirements. You can use the pointers here to give you additional input on what questions you can ask your prospective IT company, so you’ll be able to verify if they fit your needs.