Choosing a managed services provider (MSP) can be a long, time-consuming process. Understandably, you want to carefully select the best provider for your needs. However, this can’t come at the expense of countless business hours. Using a comprehensive managed IT services checklist is key to streamlining the process without compromising your criteria.
“Finding an MSP that offers transparent pricing and comprehensive services can save businesses money and valuable time and resources. By leveraging professional expertise, you can focus on driving business growth rather than worrying about IT hassles.” – Jason Harlam, Business Development Manager, Technology Advisory Group.
The challenges that come with choosing an MSP are increasingly complicated by the quickly evolving tech landscape. Hardware obsolescence usually occurs within 3 to 5 years, while software can become obsolete as quickly as within 18 to 36 months. As a result, how to choose a managed IT provider will evolve just as fast.
This article’s goal is to help you create a managed IT services checklist that stays relatively evergreen. It’s impossible to predict how technology will evolve, so our key criteria will focus on how you can find an MSP who can grow alongside you.
How to Create Your Ideal Managed IT Services Checklist
1. Define Your Business Objectives
Defining your business objectives is the first and most crucial step in creating your ideal managed IT services checklist. Start by outlining both short-term and long-term business goals and identify the specific IT functions that are critical to achieving these goals. For example, if your business is growth-focused, you may prioritize scalable cloud services.
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2. Categorize Your IT Service Needs
Separate your day-to-day IT operations from the strategic initiatives that drive long-term success. By distinguishing between the two, you can allocate time, budget, and personnel more effectively. Having it separated on your checklist can also help you pinpoint your key priorities.
Different MSPs provide different services. While having access to a range of services is helpful, there may be certain ones that are non-negotiable and others that are “nice-to-have.” This chart gives you a quick overview of how you may want to categorize common IT services.
| Service | Low Priority | Medium Priority | High Priority |
| Cybersecurity | N/A | N/A | High for all businesses due to the constant risk of breaches and ransomware |
| Cloud Services | If your business operates without significant remote needs | When expanding with remote teams or requiring real-time data access | High when scaling, offering remote services, or needing global collaboration |
| Data Backup & Disaster Recovery Planning | If your business has limited or non-critical data | When handling moderate amounts of customer or business data | High for all businesses to prevent data loss, especially with sensitive information |
| IT Consulting | When your business has a stable, unchanging IT setup | If you’re planning for future tech investments or upgrades | High when undergoing digital transformation or innovation initiatives |
| Network Monitoring | N/A | N/A | High for all businesses to ensure uptime, prevent outages, and detect issues early |
3. Determine Criteria for Scalability
When selecting an MSP, you need to assess their ability to scale their services alongside your business. Your managed services qualifying questions should address areas like infrastructure, staffing, and future-proof technologies.
Try using the following benchmarks to guide your scalability evaluation.
- Infrastructure Growth: The MSP should demonstrate the ability to plan, design, and implement infrastructure expansion tailored to your long-term growth objectives. This includes strategically scaling servers, storage, and bandwidth in alignment with projected business needs, ensuring your IT environment remains robust and future-ready.
- Workforce Scaling: They should demonstrate the ability to increase staff dedicated to your account as your IT demands increase.
- Tech Adaptation: They should be able to rapidly integrate new technologies that become essential for your operations.
- Cost Efficiency: Scaling should not lead to massive cost increases. Review pricing models to ensure they offer scalability without excessive costs.
4. Establish Flexibility Requirements
Your MSP should offer customizable service plans that fit your specific needs. That’s because technological flexibility is crucial to maintaining your competitive advantage. Assess how easily they can adjust their services, such as upgrading your service tier, providing extra resources during busy periods, or supporting industry-specific tools.
The MSP should also have flexible service level agreements (SLAs) that allow you to modify or add services as your needs change.
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5. Detail Support & Response Expectations
Fast, reliable support is a top priority when choosing an MSP. CloudSecureTech notes that 82% of customers expect their IT issues to be resolved in the first support call. This high demand for quick resolution makes it essential to choose an MSP that provides guaranteed response time and multi-channel customer service.
So, make sure to define clear expectations around support response times and availability.
6. Specify Your Security & Compliance Requirements
Every industry has specific security and compliance requirements that must be met to protect sensitive information and avoid penalties. Rather than focusing on broad compliance frameworks, list the exact measures your company needs to meet industry regulations.
These could include data encryption at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication, access controls, and real-time logging of all network activities. Also, specify how often your systems should be audited to ensure you find an MSP who can help with this process.
7. Establish Clear Pricing Guidelines
To avoid surprise costs, establish clear pricing guidelines from the start. MSP pricing structures can vary, so it’s important to understand which model works best for your business. Once you have chosen which pricing strategy fits your needs, specify that your team members should favor MSPs that offer that structure.
Consider the following pricing structures.
| Pricing Structure | How It Works | When to Favor It |
| Fixed Monthly Fee | A set monthly fee for a specified range of services, regardless of actual usage | Best for businesses that need predictable costs and prefer long-term planning |
| Pay-As-You-Go | Charges based on actual usage of services, allowing flexibility but can lead to variable costs | Ideal for businesses with seasonal or fluctuating IT needs |
| Tiered Pricing | Different service levels with corresponding prices, with more comprehensive services in higher tiers | Suitable for growing businesses that want to scale their services over time without over-committing upfront |
8. Add a Future Compatibility Section
As technology evolves, your MSP must be able to integrate new tools and innovations without disrupting your operations. Ask about their relationships with tech vendors and how often they adopt emerging technologies.
60% of employers view adaptability as the most important skill this decade. You need to apply this same standard to your potential MSP, not just your potential employees. An MSP that can quickly adopt new technologies will keep your business competitive and prevent outdated systems from holding you back.
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Now You Know Which Managed Services Questions to Ask, It’s Time to Start Looking
Creating your ideal managed IT services checklist is key to creating a managed IT services questionnaire that covers all of your bases. Once you know what to mark off on your checklist, you can use these points to guide the questions you may ask during discovery calls.
If you’re ready to get started, consider contacting Technology Advisory Group (TAG). We are an adaptable MSP based in Rhode Island who can help your organization adapt to a rapidly changing business environment.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help.
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