The impact of COVID-19 pandemic across the world has resulted in many businesses being handicapped and led to unprecedented implications. It has highlighted the importance of effective and productive continuity planning for business resilience.  

As businesses embark into the new normal of operating in a dynamic and changing environment, many of them are trending into the practice of outsourcing. Companies can scale and expand through IT Outsourcing to effectively manage their infrastructure for operations continuity. It is critical to choose the right and reliable IT Managed Services that you can always count on. In light of this, there are seven simple ways to check that your infrastructure and operations are in good hands. 

1. Reputation and reliability  

Reputation and reliability of the IT partner are the two most important factors that you need to consider before handing over your IT to any service provider. You can check out the providers’ past experiences, their serviced clients and their portfolio. This also helps you to understand if the partner is reliable and has credible experience in handling your operations.  

2.  Good Relationship 

You will want to find someone you can work with. The personality, and professionalism of the customer service and technical engineers for your company will be crucial to success. IT issues require an unflappable, solution orientated, friendly partner, so it is worth taking the time to get to know the providers. 

3.  Response Time & Constant Delivery 

When there is an issue, it is key to your business that it is resolved quickly. IT outsourcing companies with good level of resources and a reach to more locations will be able to send someone to fix your system much faster than the usual. You should look for a partner that can solve your IT issues in the shortest possible time with their wide reach. 

4.  Communication & Collaboration  

Location of the IT outsourcing vendor is not as important as a detailed and frequent communication. A clear plan should be set in place from the beginning, and both your company and the vendor must identify primary and secondary points of contact for different areas of the operations for seamless collaboration. 

5. Knowledge & Technical Competencies 

It might seem obvious, but checking up on the IT knowledge of the outsourced staff is an absolute essential. Analyze their portfolio and see if they are well-versed in your required technologies. You need to understand their technical capabilities and experiences. There’s no harm in treating an enquiry like a zoom interview. Prepare a list of basic and complex IT questions, including things that are likely to come up on a regular basis in your office. 

6. Budget and time of delivery  

Once you have selected the reputed companies based on the reviews and ratings, the next factor is to see their estimated costs and time of delivery. Both of these factors are very essential to your projects as they play a crucial role in the success of your business. The need of the market is on and any company that does not understand the importance of timely delivery is long gone out of the game.  

7. Flexibility and Resourcefulness 

Flexibility and resourcefulness are also important when choosing an IT outsourcing partner for your business. This is especially critical when you and your partner are in different time zones, and are in different locations. The dependency on the partner to be able to source and get some parts or critically required items when in emergency will be key to having the problem fixed at the shortest time. These same elements are still critical even if you are in the same location.