At times, outsourcing an IT consultant for the mission-critical projects can be more cost and time-efficient, than relying on your in-house team.
Be as it may, hiring an outside IT support is a tricky and potentially risky-endeavor. In any case, outsourcing means you’re handling all your operations to a total stranger.
So, what do you to ensure you pick the right consultant?
In the article below, we have outlined the seven critical things that every company or enterprise should consider before hiring outside IT support.
- Project Scope
Before you hire a consultant, you must first understand your needs.
See, hiring an IT consultant is an expensive endeavor.
Though it will offer long-term benefits to your company, you would want to ensure that you’ve a clear picture of what you want and how you want it done.
Knowing what to expect should form the basis of your engagement with the potential IT support.
- Experience
The tech domain is a voracious and industry in which to thrive.
When outsourcing an IT consultant, you would want to pick one with experience. At the very least, you would have an IT support that has been in the industry for a minimum of 2 to 3 years.
Hiring an experienced IT supports is proof that they know their stuff, understand the dynamics of the industry, and more importantly, they’re doing something right for their clients.
For instance, if you consider this Cincinnati IT support company, Titan Tech, they’ve been in business for more than a decade with the original owners still at the help. You can count on IT companies such as these to help you with your IT projects.
- Credentials
When hiring IT support for your business, you would want to have a team that is thoroughly versed in the industry.
You don’t want to have a half-baked company working on your project.
Beyond the academic qualifications, your IT support must also prove they’re certified in IT or anything related to your field.
Certification is proof that the IT Company will operate according to the industry-specific standards regarding quality and ethics.
- Diversity
Unless your company offers highly specialized niche services, you should be better off working with a firm that has expertise in different niches, within the IT domain.
Besides the IP support services, some firms provide other essential services that you may require, such as tech support, computing, data synchronization, data storage and more.
Rather than hiring several firms for each of the tasks, it would be better if all the IT services are handled as a complete IT package.
- Portfolio
The rules of engagement may prohibit disclosure of client identity or specifics of the past projects. However, a reliable firm should offer some type of work samples to show their capabilities.
During a hiring spree, it’s always a good idea to request for references. You can then proceed to speak the former clients who have successfully engaged with the firm on a similar project.
The references should give you a rough idea of what to expect from the company. You can read between the lines and even look for red flags if any.
- Quality
In a domain where there’s cut-throat competition, you would want to hire only the best.
You may want to have someone well-versed in the domain, and they know what they’re doing.
Determine whether the IT support has the traits and qualities you’re looking for through the interview and proposal process.
Ultimately, you want to choose a high-quality firm which can offer expert, and easy to understand technical support.
- Cost
We had earlier mentioned outsourcing IT support is by no means cheap.
Therefore, you will need to compare the prices of the various firms and compare them against hiring your in-house team.
The cheapest is not the best, but expensive does not translate to quality.’ In any case, you would want to strike a balance between cost and quality; find a firm that is within your budget range, but more importantly, one that will satisfy your needs.
Conclusions
The factors listed above are by no means the only factors you should consider when hiring an IT support.
However, they’ll provide you with a guideline on how to undertake the entire process.