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Caveat Emptor: 10 Questions to Ask a Managed Service Provider Before You Sign

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@HOSTINGdotcom

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Housekeeping

How do you partner with a customer?

• “Consultative approach”• Support team and structure• Roles and responsibilities• Onboarding process

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Question Number One

How will you interact with my IT team?

• MSP should be reliable and navigable• Provide full visibility• Consistent updates• “Customer to Support” tech ratio

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Question Number Two

Explain the architecture of your cloud-based environments.

• MSPs should have the ability to:• Design and Build• Migrate existing systems• Manage existing systems• Protect your data from disaster

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Question Number Three

Describe your methodology and approach to managing hybrid environments and different

platforms.(e.g., colocation, public cloud, private cloud, dedicated cloud)

• Support Team interactions• Monitoring• Private VLAN• Security and Compliance Needs

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Question Number Four

Describe in detail your approach to migrations and project

management.

• Time-tested methodology• Define risk reduction• Likelihood of budget or timeline overages• Meet with the would-be project manager

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Question Number Five

How will you assist me in managing my environments

moving forward?

• A chance to discover their true capabilities• Services performed on a schedule?• Backups and firewalls fully managed?• Teams incentivized by upsell or customer

satisfaction?

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Question Number Six

How do you manage and evaluate the customer experience?

• Evaluating the customer experience• Steps needed for improvement• Net Promoter Score ranking• Are they really listening?

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Question Number Seven

What do you know about compliance? No, seriously.

• Varieties of answers and expertise• Chief Information Security Officer• On-site compliance experts• Visibility and Recordkeeping

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Question Number Eight

Who are your partners and why did you choose them?

• Partners for all sorts of services• Choosing good partners• Severing bad relationships• Less about money, more about value

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Question Number Nine

How else can you help me?

• Flexibility• Innovation• Tailored Offerings• Look for Creativity• Ask for past examples

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Question Number Ten

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Q&ABill Santos | President, HOSTING

For more information about hiring an MSP, please contact our team at 888.894.4678 or info@hosting.com.