If your business isn’t satisfied with your current computer guy, and still dealing with slow PCs, crashes, and other issues, it’s time to start shopping around for an IT consultant you can trust. 

If you are a business owner in Bel Air, check out these tips for questions to ask your next potential IT person.

Cost is Important, but Value is Better

It’s easy to compare two contracts if you only look at the dollar signs, but you can’t just depend on the pricing to tell you the whole story. Sure, you tend to get what you pay for, but that doesn’t mean you want your entire IT budget to end up in the pockets of a computer firm that doesn’t have your success in their best interests.

In our experience, there are cases where a computer consultant will charge a whole lot but, at the end of the day, they aren’t really doing anything to help improve your business processes. They might provide great support and prevent issues, but if you are spending a ton of money each month, there really should be a return. Keeping the lights on is definitely important, but the very nature of IT is to make businesses more effective.

What we’ve usually found is that IT companies that charge a whole lot either hope to get as much out of the partnership as quickly as possible, or they really don’t have their ducks in a row. They don’t automate their own processes to save time and keep their costs affordable, and give them more room to help businesses get to the next level, as they are too busy chasing down updates, swapping out power supplies, and handling problems.

Then, there are the lowest-priced options. While you definitely need to respect the scrappy start-up trying to do more for less, it is just not sustainable. You don’t want to be the organization that gives your IT company its fundamental life lessons. Again, you get what you pay for, and the cost of an IT service in Bel Air doesn’t represent the quality and growth your business might experience.

Ask Your IT Person These Questions

If you are shopping around for an IT consultant in the Bel Air area, go ahead and ask them these questions and see how confident they are.

Is General Tech Support Covered Under the Agreement?

If you are paying a monthly fee, does that also include allowing your staff to pick up the phone and ask an IT question without racking up a bill? Do they have a tier that covers that?

Is There After Hours Support?

Not all businesses need this, but if your organization tends to work outside of normal business hours, is there support when you actually need it? If you are putting on a presentation at 7 PM and something goes wrong, is there someone you can call?

How Do You Ensure My Data is Protected?

The short answer to this question should be “every way possible.” It’s good to get some clarification though. No company data should ever exist in just one place. That means all of your data needs to be stored on a centralized server that is backed up to another device, and that device in turn is backed up to an off-site location in the cloud. On top of that, your backups are checked regularly, and even thoroughly tested. Few businesses can afford to operate after losing all of their data, so this is absolutely crucial.

How Often Will We Meet to Discuss Our IT Roadmap?

While the frequency will change a little from business to business, it is important to press for regular IT roadmap meetings and business reviews. One, you want to give your organization and management time to air concerns and discuss potential ways to improve productivity through technology, while also allowing your IT consultant to address potential future needs.

How Are You Actively Protecting My Network?

While the answer to this question is going to vary, you really need to understand that bare-minimum protections aren’t going to be enough for most organizations. If your IT consultant ends the answer with “we run antivirus every night” or “you have a firewall,” then this is what we are talking about. 

Cybersecurity has become an increasingly important part of an organization’s IT. Gone are the days where antivirus and firewalls are enough. A good IT consultant will walk you through a very thorough list of processes starting from the ground up. This might include things like “well we make sure that nobody has permission to anything they shouldn’t, we enforce strong password policies on your network, we make sure your users are using 2FA, and we make sure devices used for work have policies pushed to them to keep them safe.” 

If your Bel Air organization needs to meet specific regulatory compliances, then you definitely need someone competent when it comes to data protection and IT security.

We’re Bel Air’s IT Experts

Dresner Group has been serving the Bel Air region from our Baltimore location, but with our new office in Bel Air, we’re the perfect fit for businesses that need the white-glove treatment when it comes to their IT.

If you feel like things could be better in that department, give us a call at (410) 531-6727 and ask how we can fix it for you!