MSP Evaluation

Managed Service Provider Evaluation

MSPs are the backbone of IT support for small businesses.  The model makes perfect sense, why hire a full IT staff when you really only need them for some projects here and there, and limited day to day support.  Think about it, to get that kind of range in an internal department, you're going to have a Helpdesk role, an Infrastructure role, and an Applications role.  Sometimes all three are the same person, but that leads to burnout and eventual turnover.

Instead, hire an MSP that has, already on staff, a team of Helpdesk, a team of Infrastructure engineers, a team of App engineers, and a team of Security engineers.  With an honest MSP, you're getting the best of all worlds.

Honest MSPs

Wait... what was that about an "honest" MSP?  It's simple really, is your MSP looking out for your business, or theirs?   Services aren't free, so there's no shame in a provider having a pricing table, it's why they're in business*, to make money. Just like any other business partnership, a level of trust is required between the provider and the customer. 

Some questions to ask about your MSP's service
  • Do my regular reports always have the exact same content, with some numbers changed?  Was it obvious they copy-pasted last month's report, or did a save-as and rename with this month?   If so...
    • What does this report really tell you?  Anything?  Have you ever made a business decision based on one of these reports?  If not, is it just BS filler work to make it look like they're providing value?
  • Is my MSP regularly but not aggressively proposing improvements to my environment?
    • Are any of these improvements no-cost changes?  
    • Are most of these improvements expensive systemic upgrades?
    • Have I, or anyone in my company, asked for any of these improvements?
  • When I have a problem, does the MSP take ownership and follow the problem to resolution?
    • Does your MSP point fingers at other software or systems you might run in your environment?
    • When your MSP and those systems do run into conflict, does the MSP work with the system vendor to resolve the issues, or do you?

All three of these topics are areas where a good and honest MSP will provide great value, while a shady MSP will nickel and dime you to death. 

Reporting

Everyone talks about the reports they provide, but do these reports actually tell you anything?  I briefly worked for an MSP that had me catching up six months worth of customer status reports.  First off, giant red flag.  Being a week or so late on a scheduled report is one thing, but months?  For multiple customers?  Ooof!   When I was shown the content of these reports, and how to generate them, I immediately understood why the customers were not complaining about not getting them.  They showed absolutely NOTHING of value to the business.  It just showed things like how full the C drive was on a handful of servers, and things like that.   As a business owner, I don't ever want to know the status of my server drives.  I expect the MSP to see it filling long before it's a problem, and do something about it proactively.

Environment Improvements

This one's easy.  An MSP can propose improvements that make your environment safer, more reliable, basically better. They can also propose improvements that provide a little bit of value to you, but have really tasty sales margins.  Simply ask yourself, and ask your MSP, what is in it for them if you approve an upgrade project?   

Problem Ownership

You pay your MSP to handle your technology.  Are you getting value from that payment while sitting on the phone with a vendor that is ultimately going to ask you technical questions the MSP is going to need to answer anyway?   Shouldn't the MSP be the one on the phone?   Yes, they absolutely should, and I bet if you ask your MSP technician directly, they'll express annoyance if they're not on that initial call with the vendor.   MSP management doesn't want that tech on that call though; especially if it's not "billable hours."

There are some really good MSPs out there, one of which I trust enough to refer my customers to when they're a good fit for that type of service.   There also some really bad ones out there.

Don't know how to tell the difference, or think you might have a shady MSP?   I can help here - let's get into a Zoom and just chat about what how things have been with your provider.   Through this conversational approach, we can identify pain points, and then determine if they're just part of doing business, of if your MSP needs a kick in the butt.  

 

*You'll sometimes see MSPs claim that they are in the business because they're passionate about technology.  That might be what prompted them to start the MSP in the first place, but don't buy this altruistic sentiment, it's mostly BS.