Managed Service Provider in Sacramento

How to choose the right managed service provider in Sacramento?

It’s easy enough to find a managed service provider in Sacramento. The challenge is to choose the right managed service provider in Sacramento. With that in mind, here are some tips.

What You See MSP?

Start by making a list of all managed service providers in Sacramento

Double-check your headline results with a look at the managed service provider’s contact details to make sure that they have an actual physical location in Sacramento. This is an easy way to eliminate managed service providers who aren’t actually in Sacramento (or even near Sacramento) but have designed their web pages so they appear in local search results. 

Have a quick check of their service offering to check they can meet your needs and wants

To do this, you’ll need a list of your needs and wants, preferably with the latter ranked in order of priority. It’s usually best to complete this exercise before you start looking at what managed service providers can offer. This will force you to focus on what your company really needs and wants rather than risking you being distracted by “shiny object syndrome” and deciding you want services just because you see them on offer. You can always create a separate list for anything you find interesting to be discussed later.

Contact the remaining companies to request general details about their service

By this point, your initial list of possible should have been narrowed down quite a bit. The remaining companies should both be in Sacramento and be capable of doing whatever you need to do. Now you need a clearer idea of their service offering. In particular, you want to know about their pricing options (and what’s included in them) and the practicalities of their services, for example how you would contact them, SLAs, response times and metrics by which all of these are measured, standard operating procedures, warranties and guarantees and so forth.

This would also be a good moment to highlight any specific “lines in the sand” you may have. For example, if you are looking for a managed service provider in Sacramento because you want the option to have on-site support, then make sure you check that a company offers that. While it’s fair to say that a managed service provider in the Sacramento area will probably offer on-site support to its local customers, it’s not guaranteed so it’s wise to check.

Narrow your list down to a maximum of 10 potential candidates and carry out initial vetting

In simple terms, carry out initial, basic, hygiene checks to find out how long the company has been in business and what appears to be the likelihood of them staying in business. You don’t have to delve into details at this point, just do some quick checks to see if there are any obvious red flags. 

Harsh as this may sound, the younger a company is, the more thorough you will need to be about vetting it. There are two reasons for this, firstly younger companies tend to be more vulnerable to financial shocks. The second is that, bluntly, anyone can set themselves up as a managed service provider in Sacramento and put together a website which looks good. You need to be sure that any potential managed service partner in Sacramento can walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Put in a request for proposal with at most 10 companies

At this point 10 is a limit not a target. If there really are 10 companies you think could be a good fit, then it’s absolutely fine to contact them all, but don’t feel you have to. Apart from anything else, responding to an RFP takes time and if you’re asking for one just because you feel you need to make up numbers, then basically you’re taking up someone else’s valuable time for nothing.

Pick up to five candidates to interview

Similar comments apply here only arguably even more so. By this point, any of the remaining candidates should be capable of fulfilling your needs and wants. Technically this is an opportunity to fine-tune the details of the potential contract. This is indeed important, but it’s just as important that the human fit is right too and that might not be so obvious. For example, if you’re a “young, fun” start-up, you might initially think that you’d like a managed service provider in Sacramento which is in a similar position, but actually, you might find it much more reassuring to work with an established company which can keep your systems stable while you grow.

If you’re looking for a managed service provider in Sacramento, click here now to contact Aperio.IT.

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