How much do you need to understand your business IT to change your IT support supplier?

One question we get asked a lot as IT support providers is around how much visibility an organisation needs of their existing IT arrangements if they are thinking about switching IT support partners. In this blog, we consider how much you need to know.

Do you really need to have a good overview of your IT arrangements before you can switch IT partner? It’s a question we get asked a lot.

And, of course, when you are thinking about changing anything, it’s a good idea to have a good understanding of exactly what you are changing.

Right?

Well, this is less true for your IT estate when switching IT partner than you might think!

That’s because as part of our onboarding process, we always undertake a thorough audit before anything else happens. The audit will include asking you and your existing provider what is in place now.

However, you might be relieved to know that we don’t rely on that information alone.

We also use specialist tools to run a network scan, so we can identify all the devices on your network. This gives us a good overview of everything that is connecting to your network at any given moment in time. And this scan alone usually throws up a few surprises!

We will also speak with your HR team to discover all that we can about your users, what devices they’ve been allocated and what their requirements are.

We’ll also review all the information you have within your business about the contractual arrangements you’ve signed and what software and services you have purchased.

Usually, at the end of this discovery phase, we will have identified at least a few anomalies! The good news is that the information we’ve collected puts us in a good place to begin to start putting those anomalies right and closing any cybersecurity gaps.

So while it might feel necessary (or comforting) to have a good understanding of your IT estate before switching – you’ll probably gain a much better understanding during the switching process!

Our advice?

Don’t let a lack of visibility of your IT estate delay your switch!

If you are having trouble with your existing IT partner, it can have a really serious effect on your staff’s morale and their productivity. It might even put your data, systems or cybersecurity at risk. Worse still, you might be missing out on opportunities because IT is a burden rather than an enabler…

Instead, reach out to a business with a defined onboarding process that includes a full discovery and audit phase and let them provide you with the visibility you need to make the switch to a better service.

Reach out to our team:

Our team is always on hand to assist. You can reach us now on: 0808 164 4142

Or download our free guide - The 2022 IT Services Buyer's Guide.

Further inspiration:

For more ideas and advice about switching IT partners, why not dip into the following articles on our blog:

• Should you have one IT Support Partner – or several?

• 6 Common Worries and Mistakes when Moving From IT Suppliers to an IT Partner – And How to Mitigate them!

• Why the IT Support Partner you choose could be your biggest security risk