Choosing a Technology or Network Support Provider

After 14 years of meeting with potential clients, I have gleaned key points that each firm must ask itself when seeking a matching firm to provide consulting and technology support. This whitepaper summarizes the findings. Where possible, the whitepaper also indicates where my own firm fits in terms of the selection criteria. It is important to note that most of the criteria reinforce the others – no point exists in a vacuum.

One of the first choices to be made is the size of the support organization you wish to work with. The industry includes firms as small as part timers moonlighting from their day jobs to massive multinational companies such as International Business Machine’s Global Services unit. With a bit of levity, we group the size category into Moonlighters, One Man Bands, Local Firms, Regional Firms and Major Players. Note that each category has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The Moonlighters have day jobs in technology but wish to trade their spare time for cash. They usually have limited availability during the day and work on weekends and evenings. They often can’t drop everything and come to help you. If your firm is also very small and your technology needs are basic, the low cost of a Moonlighter might be attractive. With usually no overheads to speak of at all, they can charge very low rates. Quality of work obviously varies with the individual, as does skill set. Some have a lot of skills, and some don’t. They can also be narrow minded because they just don’t get the exposure to a lot of different systems and firms that a true consultancy obtains just by existing in the marketplace. For most businesses with more than a few employees, choosing a Moonlighter becomes problematic, as their inability to react swiftly can result in unacceptable levels of downtime. If they have a big project at work and your systems go down, they might not get to you for days.

The One Man Bands are local firms that have only one employee, but who works full time as a consultant. Sole proprietorships provide support days, nights and weekends. Unlike Moonlighters, they live and die but customer service, so despite there being only one of them, their first priority are their customers. One Man Bands do get to see a lot of different types of firms (unless they specialize in a vertical market, such as legal or medical). Even if they don’t see many different types of firms, they do see many different organizations and different approaches to technology use. Also, they tend to have access to trade publications and may be resellers of software or hardware, giving them access to new technologies. Skills obviously vary, but most individuals with poor skills don’t last long, especially since most business will come to them via word of mouth advertising. Much is made of the limitations of a One Man Band, especially in regards to reliability. At this size, the firm can very easily fail to render service due to illness, vacation, conflicting appointments or financial instability. However, Vectrocon was once a One Man Band, and I served my clients in that capacity until I obtained enough clients to justify expansion. Remember that size does not guarantee reliability. I have seen many larger firms deliver horrible performance, and if you’ve ever worked with a cable or telecom company, I’m sure you can attest to this yourself.

Local Firms tend to have more than one employee and serve only their local geography (typically one city or one contiguous geographical location, such as one or more counties). Essentially, they have all the strengths of a One Man Band, with the added value that there is more than one person to call on in an emergency. However, skills usually vary greatly from individual to individual, so this may not be the boon you think it is. Local Firms should, if operated properly, have more resources than a One Man Band and may be able to field specialists in various technologies.

Regional Firms represent clients in multiple geographies, but usually do not provide true national or international coverage. By “true” coverage, I mean that they do not have offices with a bench staff in most major cities. They usually, however, can provide support via a network of contractors at least in the country that they operate in, if not globally. Regional Firms often are larger than local players, having expanded beyond one market. Vectrocon is currently a Regional Firm, although we are sized as a Local Firm. We provide service in Central New Jersey and the Gold Coast of Florida, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches. We have clients with locations throughout the United States, and many of them are subsidiaries of international companies of varying sizes.

Major Players are in a realm of their own, supporting large projects or outsourcing arrangements. If you have to ask about the services of a Major Player, you don’t need to read this whitepaper any further.

Once you’ve decided which size of firm will best support you, another major question is industry expertise. Is it required that they understand how your firm or industry operates? If you are looking for a firm to help you streamline business processes, the answer is probably yes. If, however, you are more interested in general service, infrastructure support and items particular to technology deployment and support, this probably is not necessary. Vectrocon does most of its work among a wide range of companies, but many are in the financial, manufacturing, medical and legal sectors. We have grown familiar with many software packages that are specialized, but still common among the industry groups. We often use that specific expertise to help clients maximize the use of their software investments, or to advise them on integrating that software with other applications. Obviously, the larger the firm, the more likely they will have a representative with the skills and experience you need. However, small firms that specialize in your industry can be a better fit in some circumstances. Also, sometimes you need more than one firm to help you; a specialist for work with software and a generalist to provide routine support.

Another key point is coverage. Many firms have asked us over the years if we provide 24 hour a day, seven day a week support. We do not. Very few firms do. It is very expensive to provide that level of support and we have found that when we charged an appropriate amount for it, clients realized they didn’t really need it after all. Think long and hard about the amount of coverage you need. If you have employees or customers who access your systems constantly, by all means consider 24 by 7 support. If, however, you are trying to insure that management can reach someone if they come in on Saturday, either negotiate a best attempt agreement with your vendor, or ask the personnel who are to be affected if it really makes sense to do this.

Personal skills represent an area that most consumers of IT services forget to ask about when selecting a potential IT Support firm. Many firms that we have serviced left their former provider not because of any technical failure or problems with cost, but with a failure of the provider’s staff to work well with the client’s staff. A service provider can deliver excellent support from a purely technical standpoint and fail miserably in servicing the client. If your staff fears or mistrusts technology for any reason, or have had a bad experience with a technology or with how a technology is supported, it is especially critical that you find a firm that has personnel willing and able to assuage their angst. Not all service providers do this, nor do they all position themselves to do so. Many providers work very hard at fixing technical issues, but don’t have the aptitude or the attitude to provide pleasant service designed to assuage fears.

Another key criteria is whether the potential support firm values the same things in technology that you do. If your firm, for example, prefers technologies that have seen widespread use, are skeptical of new technologies or have long upgrade cycles, you are immediately going to have a problem if you select a technology provider that loves the bells and whistles of new technology. Conversely, if you want to be on the cutting edge, or feel that your firm is mired in older technologies and you are looking for a firm that can offer new ideas that carry more risk and reward, don’t expect results from a service provider that prides itself on practicality and ensuring high levels of uptime. To determine where a firm places on the spectrum, ask them about recent projects and what their current clients are doing with technology. If the answer comes in the form of best practices, reducing support calls and eliminating trouble before it happens, the supplier is probably conservative in thinking. Even if they’re doing this using technology you’ve never heard of, they’re still focused on keeping the shop running. If the answer is that new technology was deployed to solve a problem, it intimates that the support firm will be looking to shake up the old ways of doing things instead of just improving upon them. Note that neither of these approaches is “wrong” or “right”. They are simply different ways of thinking and if you are not prepared to think in that manner, your efforts with your new support firm will not go well.

It is also to note that focus is a major point. Make sure that the firm you select really wants to do business with your firm, instead of just wanting to do business. What this means is that you should look for a firm that wants to work with your industry segment, geography and specific technology needs. Be wary of firms that say they normally don’t do this kind of work, but… If the potential support firm tries to make this sound condescending, such as “we normally work with larger firms”, don’t assume that they’re being kind by soliciting your business and have the skills you need. Firms that work with larger businesses rarely appreciate the limited resources of small businesses, and vice-versa.

Finally, look at cost. If the firm has a good reputation and can supply references that will attest to good value, there is little reason to doubt it. If you quote multiple firms, make sure you evaluate on price vs. value. However, if you can’t afford the fees, you can’t afford the fees. You may be able to negotiate a small discount, especially if you are willing to make concessions of your own (extend contract lengths, etc.). Remember that an honest support firm with a solid business will have little negotiating room, as they will have justified their cost to existing clients and should be unwilling to charge less than they believe they are worth.

To sum it all up, when looking for an IT support firm, you need to review a variety of factors, many of which concern how well your organization’s culture matches that of the solution provider. In some ways, the selection process of a support provider for your technology mirrors that of due diligence for a merger. Synergies and price aside, a large question is whether or not a firm can truly combine. When selecting a support provider, technical chops and price are key but obvious points of discussion. What is often less obvious but critical for a good relationship is whether your firm and the solution provider firm can truly work together to manage technology at your firm.

2/12/2009