How to Hire an IT Specialist

If your business is suffering from lackluster or even nonexistent IT support, it can really affect your bottom line. It might be time to hire an IT professional. But how to find the right IT specialist?

Add to Overhead or Hire Remote Support

The age-old question for many growing businesses…Instead of opting for an in-person IT professional, small and midsized businesses (SMBs) often hire a remote IT management company like IT Resources to get the job done. There is no one-size fits all option when it comes to choosing a managed IT service provider, every company is unique and you have to choose what is best for your needs and your growing business.  

Here are tips to hire the ideal remote Managed Service Provider (MSP) to suit your business’s changing needs:

What Skills Does Your IT Company Have?

There are many niches and specialties in the IT world, so it is a good idea to analyze what needs your business has, and what role you need IT support to fill. Like most hires, for remote support you’ll want to consider both will and skill.  

While you should look for technical expertise and examples of their experience when hiring an MSP, here are some other skills you want to look out for in an IT management company:

• Passion and drive. Choose a company that cares about how technology can help move your business forward. The best IT professionals stay up to date with the latest tech trends and are excited about the impact we have on your SMB. Ask: What how do they stay up to date on what’s new in IT?

• Communication. Your remote IT manager will need to be able to effectively communicate and collaborate with others in your business. From resolving day-to-day IT problems to more complex and in-depth fixes, excellent verbal and written communication is key to success. An IT professional that can’t take complex topics and communicate them in a way that non-tech employees can understand is not the one that you are looking for. With IT Resources, you won’t have to deal with “techsplaining”!  

• Empathy. Oftentimes interactions with IT professionals are charged with emotion. Your ideal IT specialist should be able to understand and empathize with the stress of these technical issues and be able to reassure and build confidence with their audience that they are working towards fixing the issue.  

• Proactiveness. Of course when picking an MSP, ask: is the remote IT Management company that you want to hire available to you at all times? Meaning, in the event of a cyber-attack, technical malfunction, or disaster, will you be able to call on them for technical support and restoration of data?  

Think proactively not just reactively…Will they make IT recommendations that make sense for your unique business? IT Resources are true consultants to help you protect and grow your company.

For SMB’s, any kind of disruption in the business day can negatively affect profitability. If you don’t already have a support structure in place to mitigate any technical problems that might arise, now is the time to hire an IT management service!  Contact IT Resources today!

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Questions to Ask a Potential IT Support Team

When hiring a remote managed IT company, here are some questions to ask:

• Ask about their home network. This gives you greater insight as to how passionate and knowledgeable they are about all things tech. Most IT professionals aren’t satisfied with a typical home network. Many IT professionals choose to install a “homelab,” which might have a robust firewall, server, switches, backups, and devices that go above what the average person might have in their home network. This allows experimentation with various technologies that they could implement for your business in the future!  

• How would you explain (a type of technology or problem) in simple to understand terms? The ability to communicate complex IT issues to non-tech people is a must. This is important not only for your own understanding, but your employees and possibly your clients as well.  

• Is technical knowledge or customer service the priority? Both are important so your Managed IT specialist should have the right balance between their tech sills and communication (people) skills.  

On average small businesses spend 6.9% of their overall revenue on IT support.

Establish a Budget Before Hiring an IT Professional

A well-developed IT budget provides a focused roadmap for your IT professional to follow once onboard. When creating the IT budget, keep in mind the size of your business and the unique needs that it might have. Do you need help backing up important files and creating a disaster strategy? Server management? IT support for you and your employees?

You should also focus on both short-term and long-term technology needs. If you fail to have an IT budget in place, you may find yourself spending a lot of money on impulsive IT purchases that you might not actually need.  

Assess all of your IT requirements including hardware, licenses, software, and your business objectives. Finding a knowledgeable IT management company like IT Resources in Tampa, FL can help you with this process by creating an unbiased assessment of your technical needs.  

Questions to ask about your IT budget:

• What laptops are we going to buy for employees?
• What cloud-services do we need and use? How much do they cost?
• What are we spending per year on G Suite or Office 365?
• When was our server purchased? When does it’s warranty expire?  
• Is there any outdated hardware that needs to be updated?
• How much does our antivirus technology cost?  
• How much does our data backup and recovery solution cost?  
• Can we outsource our IT management? How much does this cost?

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Call On IT Resources for Your IT Management Needs

There are many things to keep in mind and consider before choosing the right IT specialist for your business. You might be wondering if you should hire an IT professional or outsource to a managed IT company. If hiring an in-house IT professional is cost prohibitive to your SMB, managed IT services from IT Resources can fill those gaps, and keep your business running smoothly.

Every company is unique, and we can create managed IT services to fit your specific needs. We are here to help! Contact us online or call (813) 908-8080, ext. 101 for an IT management consultation today!

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