IT managed services can go a long way to helping not just your cash flow, but also your bottom line and even the long-term health of your business. To make the most of these benefits, however, you need to team up with one of the best IT managed service companies in Sacramento. Here’s how to go about finding them.
1. Check their actual location
If you’re looking for the best IT managed services companies in Sacramento, then presumably you want them to be in Sacramento or at least near Sacramento. In other words, check that a managed services company has an actual physical presence in the Sacramento area, rather than just selling services into the Sacramento area.
2. Check their availability and response times
As an absolute minimum, you’re going to need to be able to get a hold of your IT managed services partner during your business hours. In principle, if you only work 9-5, then it’s fine if their front-line staff only do the same, in practice, it’s generally far preferable if a potential IT managed service provider has extended opening hours. The idea is to work with a partner who is contactable 24/7. That will reassure you of knowing that they will, literally, always be available whenever you need them.
For the sake of completeness, some “back-end” staff such as network technicals and cybersecurity professionals will need to be available on a 24/7 basis. Even if your office is closed and all your regular computers are powered down, someone will still need to monitor your network.
You might also prefer that certain maintenance tasks are completed outside of your core business hours to avoid any slowdown in your network. Similarly, if you are going to have your IT managed services partner undertake security testing on your network, then you usually want this to be done at a time when it won’t inconvenience your core staff.
Response times will also depend partly on availability and in this case, you’ll need to think about the availability of senior staff as well as first-line staff. These days it’s very common for frontline helpdesks to have extended opening hours 24/7 is far from usual. Senior staff, however, are not necessarily going to work much beyond standard office hours, although they may well be on-call. If this is the case, then you’ll need to find out what their response time would be.
Response times will also typically depend on your agreed SLA, which, in turn, is likely to depend on your price plan. This is something you’ll need to discuss at the pre-contract stage, but it’s worth keeping in mind as you look for a potential IT managed services partner in Sacramento.
3. Check if they can provide on-site support
This may not be relevant to everyone, but if you are specifically looking for the best IT managed services companies in Sacramento, then that’s probably because you’re located in or near Sacramento and are at least considering the possibility that it might be helpful to have on-site support. If this is the case, then it’s a good idea to double-check with a potential IT managed service provider that they will come out to your premises to your premises if need be.
4. Check which vendors they can support
You can probably take it as read that a managed IT services company will be able to support all major vendors (e.g. Microsoft, Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and so forth), but they may not support niche vendors and Apple can be a bit of a gray area. It’s popular with private individuals and freelancers but it has limited popularity in the enterprise world. If you’re in an industry which relies on Apple products, then you need to check this.
5. Check if they can help you with planning
In addition to performing proactive maintenance and regular back-ups, the best IT managed services companies in Sacramento will also help you to plan other IT-related business areas. Two of the most common ones are disaster recovery and technology planning.
Disaster recovery is essential for modern businesses, especially ones located in areas that have a history of natural disasters such as wildfires. These do not necessarily have to occur in the immediate vicinity to be a threat. They can disable the infrastructure on which businesses depend.
Technology planning can help businesses make the most of emerging technologies without bursting their budgets and can be of particular benefit to SMBs as it can help to level the playing field with the “big guys”.
If you’re looking for one of the best IT managed services companies in Sacramento, click here now to contact Aperio.IT.
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