For most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), acquiring the appropriate technology is essential for ensuring their future growth prospects. Businesses frequently seek our assistance when they have outgrown their existing technology partner and require a more comprehensive and documented strategy to sustain their growth.
Perhaps you have an in-house IT specialist, or you are on a block hour or pay-as-you-go contract with your current provider, and you are experiencing persistent issues that persist despite your efforts. There are certain potential pitfalls associated with both types of contracts, which I will outline below.
The primary issue with relying solely on a single in-house employee for IT support is its lack of scalability. As your business expands, you will require a higher level of support, which exceeds the capabilities of a single individual. Additionally, you may need a greater level of expertise than they possess. This is crucial because the decisions you make now will form the foundation of your business’s future success. Making the right choices at this stage can set you up for success and facilitate your growth rather than hinder it.
A Proactive Account Manager
The problem with block-hour contracts is that they often leave significant gaps in coverage, leading to unexpected costs that exceed your expectations. These costs may include site visits, which were not anticipated in the contract. In such contracts, there is often no incentive for your IT support partner to reduce your overall ticket count. A high ticket count can be beneficial for them as it results in higher payments. They may not prioritize proactive problem-solving and issue prevention, as this would reduce their business from you. Consequently, you end up wasting time and money as the underlying causes of issues remain unaddressed. Consider it this way: it’s like applying a plaster to a bullet hole—it’s certainly not a long-term solution. You’re not addressing the root cause of the problem. A proactive Account Manager would always advise against resorting to this approach.
A proactive account manager is crucial for businesses that purchase IT services or manage their company’s relationship with an IT provider. This individual should be responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive in addressing issues.
A good account manager should be able to identify potential problems or new requirements promptly and provide timely solutions and expert advice. They should also monitor the types of tickets raised, when, how often, and by whom. This information is valuable for proactively tackling issues and understanding how to reduce ticket counts and increase productivity.
In some cases, additional training or support may be necessary to address specific challenges. For example, staff training with a particular app or extra training support for a particular member of staff can help improve efficiency and reduce ticket counts.
An IT provider can also suggest new equipment or upgrades that can solve specific problems.
In our experience, having a dedicated account manager who understands your business is essential for creating and benefiting from proactive IT management. When you choose IT Department as your IT provider, you will work with an account manager who will be in regular contact and always available to help.
Through this account manager relationship, we work on reducing issues proactively. We believe that by addressing the root causes of issues, we can reduce the number of tickets raised, which benefits both us and our clients.
Supporting Your Growth
At IT Department, we are committed to proactively reducing ticket counts for our clients by flagging and addressing recurring issues. We are actively invested in reducing your problems and providing the right solutions.
A good IT support service should not only provide a good relationship with an account manager who understands your business and helps you achieve your goals, but it should also enable your users to reach the support they need when they need it.
When your users encounter an IT issue, they instinctively reach out to someone who can assist them in resolving it. They don’t want their problem to be lost in an automated system where call center staff, lacking the authority to help, merely demand ticket numbers.
That’s precisely why when your team answers the phone at IT Department, they’ll connect with one of our dedicated team members who will promptly assist.
How We’re Different
What sets us apart is our unwavering confidence in the effectiveness of our responsive and proactive support service. We are certain that this service will ensure that your systems are optimized for their intended purpose, instilling confidence in your users regarding the technology they utilise. Consequently, we offer a fixed price for our services, providing you with unrestricted access to all the support you require without the burden of calculating the associated costs.
Should any issues arise, we promptly address them and their underlying causes, preventing them from escalating into more complex problems.
Upon meeting our team, you’ll quickly realize that our approach diverges from the typical IT suppliers. We diligently engage in a thorough onboarding process to comprehend your team’s ethos and business objectives. This alignment ensures that our approach and advice closely resonate with your goals.
Our service is structured on a per-person, per-month basis.
This comprehensive coverage extends to each individual and every device they utilise, eliminating the need to add laptops or desktop computers. Our per-user plan simplifies budgeting, making it straightforward to manage your expenses.
It’s another reason to be confident that we’re doing everything we can to support your business and its success. As your business grows, so do we, so you can be sure your partner is always on the same page.
We’re so confident that our IT support services will be a significant improvement over your current supplier that we’re offering you a 30-day rolling contract for the first 12 months. So, if you’re not satisfied, you can cancel anytime within the first year.
In summary, we offer a responsive helpdesk and great value pricing, and we’re always ready to provide the right recommendations to support your business’s success.
Our immediate recommendation? If you haven’t reviewed your IT support service contract in a while, take some time to do so soon. There are many different service differentials available, and you might find that you can make significant savings while improving service and accessing more proactive support.
Here’s a quick checklist to help you choose an IT support partner:
- Support for the hours you need, including evenings and weekends.
- Fast issue resolution, with an average time of ticket resolution.
- An option for site visits when necessary.
- All-inclusive pricing, so site visits don’t add to the cost.
- A dedicated account manager.
- Proactive investigation of issues to prevent problems.
- Reference stories from satisfied customers.
- Per-user pricing, so users can have any number of devices covered by support.
- Flexibility to cancel the contract at any time, even within the first 12 months.
IT Department offers all these features and more.
Is it time you reached out to see how we compare to your current IT support supplier?
Contact us today to see how we can help you get the most out of your IT.
Are you tired of receiving unexpected bill hikes when things go wrong? Or are you waiting too long for issues to be resolved? If you think your IT support service could be improved, contact IT Department today to start a conversation.
