Your business computers are a crucial part of your business infrastructure — without technology that works quickly and efficiently, your productivity can plummet. Having a technology partner that you can turn to when you have challenges can make the difference between meeting customer deadlines and potentially missing sales. Internal IT teams can quickly be overwhelmed by requests from users, which creates a backlog of other work that must be waded through before they can move on to activities that will advance the business in the future. Here are a few suggestions about what to keep in mind when you’re looking for computer repair in Mansfield TX for your business.
Computer Repair in Mansfield TX: Finding Your Ideal Partner
From determining whether or not there are minimum monthly charges to the standard time to delivery of services, there are some questions that you’ll certainly want to ask your computer service professionals before deciding to take the plunge on a contract. Nearly every business person has entered into a contract and found out later that there were problems — many of which could have been avoided if you had asked the right questions upfront. The professionals at Corptek have done the research to take the risk out of the equation for you.
Do You Work With My Type Of Business?
Some managed services providers have a specialty in a particular business vertical such as logistics, healthcare and legal, and they have a deep body of knowledge of the tech needs to support these business models. Specialized businesses that deal in personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI) or customer financial data have specific needs in terms of compliance and reporting. If you’re in these verticals, you need to know that your managed services provider will have the specialized knowledge required to service your account and protect you both from a cybersecurity and compliance perspective.
Can You Handle Our Volume?
Few things kill productivity as effectively as slow computer systems. You need to know that your computer repair specialists have experience tuning information systems and networks for ultimate performance. Staff can quickly get frustrated when they’re required to utilize multiple systems or wait for several minutes while their data is saved or a screen changes within a proprietary program. Your new partner for computer repair in Mansfield TX should have demonstrable experience with organizations of your size. Don’t be afraid to ask for names of other organizations that they are working with or for references!
Is Your Computer Repair Work Guaranteed?
One of the first and most important questions is whether or not your potential computer repair partner is able and willing to stand behind their work by offering a guarantee or warranty. While you might think that all work of this type is guaranteed for a certain period of time, specifically asking the question can help you avoid any unpleasantness or additional charges in the future. Your partner should be able to assure you that they have a long history of working with organizations that are similar to yours, and that they will do whatever is needed to provide resolution for your problems.
Are You Familiar With Our Computer Platforms?
While it’s unreasonable to expect a new computer repair partner to know everything about your systems, you do want some assurance that they have expertise that will fit your needs. This goes as deep as determining if current information security procedures will be compatible with their recommended reporting platforms — crucial if you want to have a holistic view of your business’s security posture. Mac versus PC is not the only question that should be asked. You never know, your potential computer repair partner may even be able to provide you with better software and hardware pricing than you’re able to get through direct negotiation with vendors due to their volume purchasing for other clients.
One way you can determine the answer to this question is to ask how many technicians have updated Microsoft certification, for instance. Many hardware and software manufacturers provide certification programs either by the individual technician or the organization. Taking the time to gain these certifications means that the computer repair in Mansfield TX is focusing on ongoing education.
Can You Handle (and Protect!) Our Data Structures?
A good partner will recommend a full assessment to determine the depth and breadth of the information that is being stored within your ecosystem so they understand its state both in transit and at rest. A firm grasp of the data that is in use throughout your organization allows your partner to make the best recommendations for your needs in terms of data storage, movement and security. Many older organizations are staggering under decades of infrastructure that no longer serves their needs and may actually be holding them back. A proactive IT managed services and computer repair partner can make recommendations for updating older data structures and moving services to the cloud if needed.
Do You Have Proactive and Aggressive Security Procedures in Place?
While ransomware appears to be slightly on the decline in 2018 and beyond, there are still plenty of ways that cybercriminals can attempt to gain access to your company’s secure information and intellectual property. The first four months of 2018 found over 260 million records compromised in cybersecurity incidents, with the remainder of the year bringing more of the same with over 1.37 billion records compromised in 2018. This is only across the 308 breaches that were made public and breaches that were discovered. Considering that it can take upwards of six months to identify a breach, this number is likely to climb even higher.
With these frightening statistics, you need to know that your computer partner takes an aggressive stance towards the security of your organization’s information assets. Look for partners who can demonstrate their ongoing activities that support a proactive security posture that they will leverage for your organization. This could be everything from a proprietary security platform to case studies proving how remediation happened quickly in the event of a breach.
The above topics are a few that will help you build your business list for working with a particular managed services provider. A proactive organization will become a true partner — continually looking for ways to benefit your business and create a more cohesive and secure technology infrastructure.
