Today, we wrap up our discussion on the 6 Questions to Ask When Researching an IT Provider. The previous questions we covered are:
- What Experience Do You Have in My Industry?
- What is Your Response Time?
- What Services are Actually Covered by the Provider?
- What Will the Transition from My Current IT Company Be Like?
- How Does Your Support Ticket Process Work?
With these questions addressed, we can focus our attention on what could be the most significant topic for your decision:
Question 6: What Security Measures are Available?
Security is essential for IT infrastructure to function as planned. Business data—your own and your clients’—must be protected from active threats out in the world. When considering an IT support provider, it’s crucial to inquire about the types of security measures they offer.
Learn the security measures offered for:
- Your Network Infrastructure: There’s no end to threat actors’ attempts to compromise business networks for financial gain. While some industries are at higher risk for these kinds of attacks than others, no industry can afford to operate without network protection. Consider the costs accrued and employee productivity lost if your network goes down for an hour, a day, or even longer. How exactly will your IT provider monitor and protect your network?
- Your Connected Devices: Comprised of much more than just servers, business networks encompass every connected device used to conduct business functions. Both third-party vendors and employees can have permissions set to access sensitive data and systems via remote workstations, personal laptops, or mobile devices. Remember that all of these endpoints are vulnerable to attack. How does your IT support provider keep you safe? Do they offer monitoring and protection for every device on a network?
- Your Cloud Services: Does your business use the Cloud? You’re not alone. In 2022, 89% of businesses now use multi-Cloud solutions (Flexera 2022 State of the Cloud Report). In addition to data accessibility, ease of data backups is a big reason for the explosive adoption of the Cloud. Backups are a key component of a company’s successful Disaster Recovery Plan when experiencing a cyberattack, natural disaster, or server failure. What security measures does your IT provider offer to keep you safe in the Cloud?
Having discussed the importance of security, you now have a more complete toolkit of questions to use as starting points in your search for the right Managed Services Provider. Please keep in mind that many more questions will present themselves as you take a deeper dive into IT providers.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions! After all, you want to ensure that your business receives the services, experience, migration support, response time, and security it deserves and needs to thrive.
As you research, remember that PCS has you fully covered with friendly, trained professionals and the managed technology services required to ensure network reliability, data security, and 24/7 live support within 30 seconds. We welcome you to contact us with any questions you have.