10 Rules for Blissful Outsourced IT Support

Yes, Buying IT Support Sucks. We Get It!

You don’t want to buy it & we don’t particularly like selling it. However it is a fact of life…. for the moment.

Here are some rules to make the IT Support union more fruitful:

• IT Support or your IT Helpdesk can only get you back to where you were. There’s probably no eureka/tadaa/love moment
• IT people come in two flavours. Those that help get you out of the sh*t (Greasy hair, pocket protectors, smell funny) & those that help you do more with your IT (Look like Estate Agents, smell better and are potentially full of sh*t)
• Expect to spend c. £100 per person per month for all IT ‘stuff’ (Hardware, software, training, support, connectivity – If you spread the cost over 3 years)
• Treat your IT Support providers like partners. Let them in on your business plans & buy them a beer every now and then
• If you don’t pay for instant gratification don’t get upset when you don’t get it
• Always co-own domain or any similar login information. It belongs to you, not us/them
• If moving IT Support to a new company, do it for the right reasons and remember the next guys will have to spend some time learning about you, at your expense
• You cannot relinquish all responsibility to IT Support unless you pay them to do so (Having someone functionally responsible from your team reduces time and money, they don’t have to be especially techy)
• Mistakes will be made. It’s how you both deal with them that counts
• Play nicely. Pay their bills on time. They don’t make much money & remember – One flick of the switch at their end and you’re shafted

Spurious musings from Dan

www.theengineroom.co.uk

For IT Support in London