Modern business relies on IT to function. Our workdays are becoming more saturated by technology as time goes on, and, as this reliance grows, manual processes are becoming a thing of the past.
Businesses rely on their IT to allow them to carry out their work processes to the highest possible standard. Now that IT is one of the most important parts of your business, it is essential that it is managed, maintained, and given the ability to evolve along with the technology of the times.
Your current IT provider may be doing a good job – we do have to admit that not all are bad – but, either way, it is essential that you regularly review your provider and make a decision that is best for your business.
The consequences of poor IT support
The damage that Downtime, poor performance, or misaligned configurations can cause has the power to debilitate your business permanently – most business owners don’t know how damaging these issues can be. Time wasting and interruptions – whether by your entire work process or just a small part – cost money, so efficiency is integral. Staff that suffer as a result of frequent IT delays or outages may become frustrated and restless, and this factor will eventually be reflected in their attitude towards work, all adding up to a very unhappy, unproductive, and, in turn, unsuccessful workplace.
When customers become aware of poor IT management you have a real problem. There are a multitude of scenarios that could unfold involving IT that could severely damage the customer experience. The cost – both financially and to the reputation of the organisation – can be enormous if poorly managed IT causes delays to production or delivery.
Customers – quite rightly – will just shop elsewhere if the service that you are providing is frequently not as advertised or not quite up to standard, regardless of your personal relationships with them. Customer experience arguably trumps any other business function that leads to success – if you make the customer feel wanted, give them what you promised promptly, and to a high standard, you could have a customer for life.
Why do people make the switch from their current provider?
Often, the reason for a switch isn’t due to a relationship breakdown between the business and the provider but is simply because a relationship never existed in the first place! After all, any good working relationship needs to be developed and nurtured. However, switching provider isn’t as common as you might think, mainly because business owners seem to think that switching is a very long, drawn-out, difficult process – but they couldn’t be more wrong.
Regardless of the difficulty of the task, changing to another provider when necessary is integral to your business, as unsatisfactory support is never good enough. Here are some of the most common reasons for business owners leaving their current providers.
A lack of communication
A lack of communication is often the most common reason why business owners decide to consider switching their IT support. Traditionally, tech minded people aren’t the best communicators on a personal level – they write a good email, but when it comes to talking person to person they usually struggle. This doesn’t take away from the outstanding job they do finding fixes and implementing new technologies within your business, but it just simply isn’t good enough to fail when it comes to communicating with the businesses that they are supposed to be supporting, on every level. This lack of communication causes problems – as the client you don’t get your expectations met that were agreed on when you signed the contract, and the provider will be failing you because they haven’t got the communication skills to adequately explain their actions. A personal relationship, clarity, and understanding through effective communication is essential for the day to day running of the business all the way up to integral IT management decisions and future road mapping.
No foresight
Some IT providers support the past but are completely oblivious to the current state of IT across the board, meaning they won’t be able to help your company develop and evolve with IT going forward. Don’t misunderstand – support is integral, but their job can’t stop there – focusing solely on the past will leave you hopelessly behind your competition in a very short time if they are utilising future technologies and you aren’t.
Lack of knowledge
As we said, most IT providers have tech geniuses running your account, but, for all the tech savvy that they possess, most have no clue how to apply the technologies in an industry-specific setting. At the very minimum, you as the client expect your provider to provide a service (hence the name) – if your IT partner doesn’t tailor the technological services and applications to the way you choose to run your workflow then they are doing you a severe disservice. If they don’t establish a knowledge of your business, team, workflow requirements, and – arguably most importantly – the compliance requirements of your organisation it will result in a relationship that simply does not work.
Insurance style support
Some providers go out of their way to provide as little support as they possibly can – you could almost call it an ethos of some companies to react to an issue once it has already become apparent as opposed to acting proactively in the first place. A provider should seek out potential problems and opportunities in a proactive way, and they know this – they simply hope that you aren’t sure what you are supposed to be getting from the service.
We have covered what the wrong provider will deliver. In the following article we will explore what the right provider will do and what we at Cache4 can do to better your IT landscape.
Tailored IT support
At Cache4 we provide tailored IT services for businesses. We communicate with your in-house representative about the current operational difficulties you are experiencing, and work with you to find a tech solution that can remedy those difficulties. Our team of experts use their years of experience in exploring roadmaps for future development of your IT landscape to ensure that your success isn’t merely temporary but a major asset in the future growth and development of your business. Get in touch today, have a chat, and find out what we can do for you.
