AG Solutions guide
How to choose an IT provider.
A practical checklist for comparing managed IT support, responsibilities and a provider handover.
Start with how your team works.
List the people, devices, applications and premises that need support. Include remote staff and the times when an interruption matters most. This is the basis for comparing scope rather than comparing two prices that cover different things.
Make responsibilities explicit.
Ask who manages accounts, devices, updates, backups and third-party suppliers. Where there is an internal IT team, agree the hand-offs. Confirm what happens outside the support scope and how additional work is authorised.
Agree support hours and priorities.
Explain the business impact of different incidents. Discuss the service hours, response targets and escalation route in the proposed agreement. A monitoring tool and a staffed support desk are different things; understand which is included.
Plan the handover before the switch.
Identify the systems and suppliers involved, who owns the accounts and what documentation is available. Agree an access-transfer process, the timing of any changes and how service continuity will be checked. Keep ownership and recovery routes under your organisation’s control.
Test your recovery plan.
A backup copy and a tested recovery process answer different questions. Discuss what is backed up, who checks it, where copies are held and how a restoration is tested. Agree the practical priorities if multiple systems need to be recovered.
Look beyond the first issue.
Ask how recurring problems will inform maintenance and upgrades. Consider whether software changes or integration work could remove the cause of repeated administration. Choose a scope that can evolve with the work your business does.