As more and more organizations begin to realize the benefits to working with a Managed Services Partner, from robust scalability to cost management and data compliance, it becomes crucial to understand their differences. This is because your Managed Services Partner will be the company that carries your business forward for years to come, and it’s a team you’ll interact with on a regular basis. More importantly, the success and continuity of your business will reside in their hands.
So, what should you consider when hiring an MSP? Let’s look at the top five must-haves when vetting your options.
1) Proven experience.
Experience is critical when entrusting essential, ongoing business services to an outside party. It means that company is adaptable and able to foresee potential challenges you might otherwise overlook, minimizing your overall risk. To ensure you are choosing a reputable partner, request references. There is no better way to gauge a company’s level of expertise and customer service than gaining a reference from existing customers.
2) A variety of service offerings.
A one size fits all approach doesn’t quite fit the managed services model. This is because enterprise clients frequently leverage a range of applications from Oracle to SAP and EPIC. The best MSPs will be those who fully understand the dynamics of each application and how to support each one of those efficiently and securely. They’re also the MSPs that will present a variety of service offerings to satisfy those requirements.
Ask your new MSP for a comprehensive list of all services offered. Also, we suggest asking if new or custom services can be made available for special projects or ad-hoc needs.
3)The flexibility to customize offerings.
Each enterprise has its own environment and its own set of goals and objectives. It also has its own combination of hardware and software in place. Those accommodations should always be considered during the planning and design of a company’s managed services.
Meet with your MSP to discuss various scenarios and gauge their response to how flexible they may be with special requests. Each organization has their own specific needs, so every company doesn’t fit into the same managed service offering box. Ensure your MSP will be agile and flexible to design their services around your strategic goals.
4) Security & Compliance
Turning over core business operations or access to your company’s data to a third-party SaaS or cloud computing provider should come with a great deal of assurance. When it comes to the long-term commitment exemplified within a Managed Services Partner, choose the team that doesn’t simply walk the walk but, instead, provides the reassurance that can only be attained through SOC2 compliance. SOC2 compliance is the highest level of security accreditation that a Managed Services Partner can achieve.
Following a comprehensive audit by a third-party, SOC2 compliance status acts as an assurance to our clients that systems and operational procedures are in place to provide optimal security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy
Ask your MSP if they have SOC2 or are in the process of obtaining the certification.
5) A trusted and reliable team.
The Managed Services Partner you choose should be staffed with certified engineers and solution architects who are comfortable in assessing the needs of your environment, hardware, cloud, and applications. That organization should also speak to the quality of their team, which acts as the backbone to the services they’ll provide. So, get to know their organization by requesting a meeting with the staff you’ll be engaging with on a daily basis and make sure you feel comfortable with the team that’s charged with managing your data.
Are you looking for a Managed Services Partner? Would you like to learn more about American Digital? Please reach out to our Director of SAP Solutions, MJ Johnson, at michaelj@americandigital.com.