Not all Managed Service Providers are created equal, which means the way they run their support could be completely different than what your organization needs.
In our series on the 6 Questions to Ask When Researching an IT Provider, we’ve previously covered the questions What Experience Do You Have in My Industry?, What is Your Response Time?, What Services are Actually Covered by the Provider?, and What Will the Transition From My Current IT Company Be Like? Today’s question is:
Question 5: How Does Your Support Ticket Process Work?
One of the most overlooked questions to ask an IT support provider involves the support ticket process. That procedure itself can include a few steps, so you might ask:
- How do you open a ticket? The process of opening a support ticket should be fast and simple. Ask your potential Managed Service Provider partner how this task works. What system do they use? Is it a well-known and trusted system or homegrown? Can you open a ticket through an online portal? Can you open a ticket over the phone?
- How are support tickets prioritized? Depending on the size of your company — and the size of your Managed Service Provider's other partners — the team handling support tickets might have many issues to resolve every day. How are these issues prioritized? What system does the MSP partner use to sort through, categorize, and prioritize critical issues? You want to know that your IT issues are being addressed in a timely, organized fashion.
- How are tickets resolved? Ticket resolution is essential to keeping your business running smoothly. Does your MSP partner notify you when they resolve tickets? What happens if you are not happy with the resolution process? Can you reopen the ticket or do you have to create a new one?
At PCS, organizations can easily open a ticket over the phone with our 24/7 LiveLine service as well as through email. Our helpful team of technicians keep you updated on your tickets as well as work to resolve them in a timely manner.
Have questions about our ticket process? Contact us.
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the final question in our series: What Security Measures are Available?