Have you ever have had a working relationship that ended on a sour note? If you said no, congratulations, you’re a bonafide miracle. Outsourcing has a higher potential of this for many reasons, but unrealistic and unclear expectations are one of the top culprits for failure of relationships between companies and service providers.

Know What You Want

If you are considering outsourcing to a service provider, before you even begin searching for one you need to first know what you want. Simply saying, "I need support", won't cut it. If you expect full network support or just computer support, this needs to be explicit. Keep in mind service providers aren't all the same, so it is important to be clear and concise in your expected deliverable requirements.

Be Realistic

This is geared more towards budget and schedule. You would not believe how many requests are made that state, "I need a fully upgraded network in a week." It's just not going happen. Quality takes time. Work with your service provider to get a time frame that is feasible. Also consider how long you need to do your part as well. If you take 3-5 days to respond to hardware purchase approvals etc. you should include this in the schedule as well.

In terms of budget, if you are looking for full network support by a team of trained technicians including vCIO consulting for you can expect to pay about between $2,500 and $3,000 per month, on average. As with everything else, you will find a single operator that will charge you less, but you will get what you pay for. If you are willing to sacrifice the level of service, availability and expertise, then the lower cost may be a better fit for you.

Create a budget that makes the most sense for what your organization needs. Remember that the average rate covers not just existing expertise but continued training of technicians as well as the tools used to facilitate providing service quickly and remotely.

While the cost can seem more than you expected, consider the cost of hiring and continually training your own tech team on all the different technologies required and having them always be available, without vacation or sick days. When you consider that this is effectively what you get when working with a managed IT services provider, the price does become much more reasonable.

Shop around if you are new to working with managed IT service providers to get a realistic idea of what you should expect. Download our report “16 Important Questions” to get started.