Are you a small business in London?

Are you looking for an IT support company?

Then you probably have a bunch of questions. Well, I am here to answer your questions and to help put you in touch with local IT support companies that can serve your specific needs.

You can fill in the form below to get 3 quotes from hgih quality IT support companies in your area, (no spam ever - promise!) or read on for advice...

Full name:
Email: (So I can contact you to clarify requirments if needed)
Telephone: (So the IT company can contact you)
Your Location: (e.g. London, Glasgow or North Wales)
Estimated Budget: (e.g. £5,000 p.a.)
Description: (About 4-5 sentences e.g. your industry, IT uses, number of people, software you use, hardware you use, any networks, printers, mobile phones, internet connection etc)

A little about me…

I am not an “IT guy”. Well, I used to be, a long time ago, but that was software engineering, which is kind of like comparing a psychologist to an optician! Now many years and an MBA later, I am an investment banker working for a small firm of specialists in London, and, apart from doing deals all day (raising money or selling companies), I sort of have a fuzzy responsibility to “take care of IT”, as there are only 10 of us and, going back to my software engineering past, I am the most techy of the bunch.

Taking care of IT involves little more than liasing with our IT support firm. I think a lot of people “take care of IT” in this way. This shouldn’t be painful, but boy, this particular IT company was a hassle - less a ‘trusted partner’ and more a ‘disappering act’. After progressively poor customer service, descending into arguments over the phone, I decided to switch IT support provider. I was dreading it, as I thought it would be really painful and time consuming. But actually it wasn’t that painful and I learned a few things along the way that would have been really helpful for me to know, so I have written them below for your benefit. I hope you find it helpful. Do let me know!

Do I really need them?
No, not all companies really need them. You might be big enough to have your own in-house IT staff. Or you might be too small to justify the cost. But, as a rough guide, you would need an IT support company if:

• there are 4-5 or more of you, as then you start to require networking facilities for shared printers, and a central file store and central email facilities, (for example an architect’s practice)
• you start to have specific requirements like data backup or you use mobile devices like BlackBerries, (for example a small legal or accounting firm)
• you simply cannot afford to have things go wrong, and if they do, you need things up running as soon as possible, (for example a doctor’s or dentists surgery)
• you are growing so fast that you just don’t have time to fix IT issues when they go wrong, (for example a mail order company)

Will they be expensive?
These are not charities and they need to make a profit, so they can become expensive if you are not careful. But there are some reasons why, if you need an IT support company, an outside supplier – rather than hiring an IT guy directly - is the way to go:

• shared costs: you can share the costs of the IT staff and resources with other customers, giving you a much better deal
• a range of expertise: an outside firm will have staff with different skills on tap. You are unlikely to get this range in 1 person if you hire them directly, and if you do, they will be too expensive!
• flexible payment plans: you can often start with a pay-as-you-go plan, paying only for the times you actually call on the support company and then move to a fixed fee plan

Will they be reliable?
This is impossible to tell for sure before you hire the IT support company (as with any service, like a car mechanic), but there are some things you can do and should do to help determine reliability:

• ask for client references and call these clients for testimonials. It is better the closer that business is to the kind of business yours is and the enthusiasm they show for the IT support company. See below in ‘How do I chose between them?’ for some great questions to ask a client reference
• get break clauses in the contract. These allow you cancel a contract if you are not happy. Often a contract will have a probationary period anyway, so you can cancel in the period right away. Contracts will generally have a yearly renewal as well, but if you don’t want to wait out the year, a break clause can get you out of the contract.
• What’s your gut feel of the sales person and others you meet from the IT support company. Do they come across as professional? Do they come across as too professional ie too hard-sales-like? This can be bad as this may mean they want to grow too quickly, and your quality of service could suffer as a result.

Is it difficult to switch, if I already have one?
I thought it would be really painful when I switched IT provider. All the login details, all the hardware specs etc etc. I could have filled (and did fill!) 15 pages of details, so surely a bunch of new guys couldn’t just come in and take over, just like that. Well, there are a few of reasons why it really isn’t as difficult as it seems:

• The IT support teams have standard software that they run on your network to analyse your systems, diagnose its health and pick up most (but not all) of the necessary details
• it would be very unusual for your old IT support provider to refuse to give you or your new IT guys any remaining details (like passwords etc) as this is frowned upon in the profession. But it pays to leave the contract amicably, even if they have offered poor support to date, as you don’t want them to make life difficult. Regardless, remember that any details of your systems belongs to YOU and you have a legal right to get them.
• the new IT support firm will likely have seen it all before 100 times – both the take on of a new client like you and most of the hardware, software and associated problems and bugs etc. So actually, if they are half competent, they should be able to hit the ground running

How do I chose between them?
I don’t think this needs to be rocket science. I think you can get all tangled up and get analysis-paralysis, but actually, there are a bunch of common sense and catch-all questions you would want to ask the IT support sales person and the client references when you talk to them.

1. What kind of experience do you have with my type of company/industry? Actually, IT support needn’t be that industry specific. Practices and software and hardware changes a bit between industries, but most small companies are pretty similar. However, I found asking this question and getting a my-industry-specific answer was comforting and was good for asking for client references later.
2. How long have you been going / how many clients do you have? Any more than a couple of years and a couple of dozen clients should be fine. By that point they will have developed their own internal processes to be relatively efficient.
3. How many clients does each account manager handle? Any more than a couple dozen is getting too much for the account manager to handle and still provide a proactive quality of service.
4. How quickly are you growing? Hard to be specific, but a good answer would be growing at around 10-15% a year. Any faster and quality of service could and often does suffer. Any slower and you would have to ask why?
5. What is the process going forward? A bad answer will be a vague reference to signing you up and them coming in ‘to do their thing’. A good answer will be around signing dates, chats with engineers, handover dates, handover requirements and probationary periods
6. What I want is the equivalent of an IT director – how can you assure me you will act like that? A bad answer will be obvious speel about how your interests will be their top priority. A good answer will be a definite schedule of communication when you can both raise potential issues and new ideas.

Where do I start looking?
Yes, it can be daunting. You type something like “IT support, London” into Google and it comes back with so many results that you don’t know where to start and you are no better off (is clicking the top result or a sponsored link really a good place to start? Remember what I said above about IT firms little too aggressive around sales).

But help is at hand. Simply enter your contact details and brief IT support requirements into the form below and I will pass your request on to a few select, reputable IT support providers. They will contact you if they feel they can be of service and it saves you a lot of running around. You can both then take it from there as they wow you with their tech skills and you wow them back with your new-found expertise and tough questions!

Please fill in this form to get started. Up to 3 quality IT companies in your area will contact you shortly to discuss your requirements. I promise never to spam you!

Full name:
Email: (So I can contact you to clarify requirments if needed)
Telephone: (So the IT company can contact you)
Your Location: (e.g. London, Glasgow or North Wales)
Estimated Budget: (e.g. £5,000 p.a.)
Description: (About 4-5 sentences e.g. your industry, IT uses, number of people, software you use, hardware you use, any networks, printers, mobile phones, internet connection etc)

Happy hunting!

Max Crosswell