In our previous article we explored the effects that poor IT management can have on a business and the importance of good support and service by your provider. In the following article we will explore the service you should be receiving and explain what Cache4 offers as part of our IT support service.
There are thousands of IT providers on the market that claim to have the necessary skills and competencies to offer a service that is satisfactory to your requirements – but the word ‘claim’ is the key word here. With so many providers available, and all of them making such bold claims, deciding on the right provider that ticks all the boxes for you can be a really difficult task.
Let’s list some of the features you need to look out for in prospective IT companies to ensure they are offering the right service which is catered to the way you do business.
What should you be looking for?
The way in which the helpdesk is structured can make all the difference to the quality of the service that is provided. Providers will either operate with a call answering style service, which will simply log a ticket for you and note some of the details – depending on the individual’s technical prowess and experience they may then begin to triage your issue. Some other providers will man their phones with technicians who can immediately begin a triage and, in some cases, bring a solution to your problem during that first phone call.
A good provider will identify the severity of the issue you are having and then, once having done that, work cohesively with the technical team to ensure they act accordingly. Providers often have a ranking system for your problems based on their technicians’ experience – depending on the severity of your issue, it will be assigned to the appropriate engineer (with has the technical prowess to attempt a fix).
Without the correct system for the outlining of the severity of your issue, you could face serious delays while your problem works its way around the company, from engineer to engineer, until it comes under the control of the right person.
– Industry knowledge
Your provider has a duty to know your industry well. First, because every business has compliance requirements they must adhere to and ensuring you abide by them is essential, but secondly and most importantly knowing the small tricks of the trade and insider knowledge that simply can’t be bought – this is earned by working in the industry for an extended period.
Computing is computing no matter what industry the system is in but possessing industry knowledge will give your provider a keen edge over the competition when it comes to choosing the right fix for an issue and the right IT additions going forward.
– People
Having some sort of personal relationship is beneficial – learning your point of contact, who will be managing your account, and establishing a semi friendly relationship with them is important. You must assess whether this relationship is possible – bearing in mind there may be some people we are unable to communicate effectively with, for whatever reason. At the very least you need to be getting what you expect from the service with the help of your point of contact – your relationship with them can be the difference between a successfully run, forward thinking, adaptable system, and one that simply isn’t up to scratch.
– Reporting
The right provider will keep you in the loop with periodic IT health reports about your business. There should be a reporting process about the service they are providing and some sort of road mapping that can be referenced regarding the successes that the plan is evoking. The information that these reports reveal is invaluable, as it will not only allow you to assess the quality of the relationship you and your provider have, but also allow you to take charge of your IT systems (even with just a limited level of knowledge) as the reports will give you the opportunity to plan in a non-technical way.
– Communication
The most important factor of all is communication – without it you don’t stand a chance of building a system that can operate well both now and into the future. You should know who can escalate your issue, what their plans for the future of your IT landscape are, and how their support team are going to keep you updated on the changes to your IT.
– Operational hours
The provider you choose must operate in hours that compliment your business – there’s no point in requesting assistance on a Saturday night when your provider only offers help Monday to Friday. Don’t presume that your operational hours coincide with theirs – you must know for certain or else your organisation could suffer.
Now, let’s explore what we at Cache4 can offer you in conjunction with what we have explored in these two articles. We think you will be impressed with the service we provide.
Cache4 – The way IT support should look Understanding you
At Cache4 we understand that, as a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. Our goal is to help reduce your operational and technical burdens in whatever ways we can by implementing and tailoring technology as the driver to move your business forward.
Through our extensive experience we have realised that all business goals and challenges can be boiled down to three key areas:
1.How can we provide a better service to our customers?
2.How can we be more productive?
And the most important of all –
3.How can we increase revenue and profit?
We understand that achieving these goals will be no easy task but, again, through our experience, we have established that there are two sure fire ways of achieving them, and they are:
- Improving Output
- Reducing cost.
We hear you saying ‘well, obviously, of course these are the ways of achieving success’ – the real trick is knowing how to achieve these in your organisation with as little risk as possible.
- Improving Output
To increase productivity in your organisation you need to decrease risk, downtime, gaps in productivity, workflow complexity, and ultimately ensure that your team are happy and have the tools they need to perform their tasks as effectively as possible.
- Reducing cost
To reduce cost, you may need to reduce the range of tools and services you use, find better value alternatives, and/ or control the cost per head as you grow.
Once having achieved all this, the profit will take care of itself.
We have spent time asking ourselves questions about our service, and ‘how do we overcome the operational and commercial challenges of our clients’ is one of the biggest and most difficult to answer. But we have an answer, in the form of more questions:
Workflow – Where is there any friction or complexity in your working processes?
Money – Where is there unnecessary cost or loss to the business?
People – Where is there existing or potential for reputational and moral damage?
For it to be possible for us to answer these questions, we take time to get to know you and your business both operationally and personally. Our goal is to know your business as well as you do and prove to you that we are invested in its prolonged success and growth.
To comprehensively tackle your operational, commercial and compliance challenges, in order to drive your customer service, efficiency and profit, we have designed our service proposition to address, support and enhance the four dimensions which are always critical in business. Our approach centres on applying the best digitised workflow, personalised to you, by harnessing the most effective utilisation of technology.
We refer to this as our 4D approach.
Our 4-dimensional approach
- Technology
We aim to enable you to perform optimally by keeping you ahead of your customers’ expectations and above your competition, with the support of the right technology tools.
- Protection
Mitigating the threat and risks of interruption to your business operations is integral, with comprehensive procedural and technical controls that help maintain business continuity throughout all scenarios.
- People
Your teams will be incensed to become and remain productive, effective, and motivated to achieve more, while improving their wellbeing and job satisfaction with jargon-free support and education that is tailored to their needs.
- Communication
Fast and effective communication will be maintained, internally and externally of your business, with reliable and affordable digital communication and internet connectivity services.
So, we’ve spoken about the way we offer ourselves and our approach but haven’t told you what the services actually are. Let’s take a look now.
Our services
For your organisation to be a success you need an efficient, productive, and modern workforce – making this possible involves you taking advantage of as many digitised workflows, tools, and services within reach. At Cache4, we deliver tried, tested, and trusted technology infrastructure products and services that can empower your business.
Just what you need – right?
Well, let’s explore the services we offer to be sure we achieve that.
IT Support IT Security
Our proactive and reactive support is tailored to the needs of your team and infrastructure.
IT Security
Your data will be protected against cyber threats and remain ahead of compliance obligations.
The Cloud
Your team will be empowered with the right tools to support them wherever they need to work.
VoIP & Internet
Costs can be reduced and efficiency increased by modernising your internet connectivity and telephony.
We’re Cache4 IT Solutions
We hope that these articles have opened your eyes to what your current provider isn’t doing and have perhaps pointed you in the direction of Cache4 for all your future IT services.
Get in contact with us today for a personalised consultation and find out what we can do for you.
