“I am unique” is something we hear in all aspects of our lives, from our food preferences to gender orientation, to politicians to business cultures. As big of a topic as this may be, when it comes to Business Cultures and Information Technology, every company has it’s own unique needs. Yes, IT issues and resolutions will be relatively consistent no matter what your business is or your culture. However, how things get deployed, priority levels, access and security levels, will all be different. Therefore, as a Managed Service Provider, approaching support in the same way across all clients is not a wise strategy. One size does not fit all for all companies. Therefore, if you are looking at getting support from an outside partner, it is a good idea to identify what you need and what is being offered. Let us review some scenarios:
Types of Support Required
One Time Project
We’ve all been there; there’s a project coming up and you’re panicking because you do not have enough time or resources to complete it. Something that we can do for you is get a detailed quote for the project itself and/or buy a block of time which you can bill against if you have multiple small projects. This ensures that you have more time to complete a project. We also have a dedicated projects team who have the projects expertise to handle any of your needs, giving you more resources to complete your project.
Holiday Coverage
For a lot of us, we do not have a backup when we get sick or go on holidays. To amend this and make things easier for both you and outside organizations, you can purchase a block of time which you can pull against when and as needed. This helps an outside organization manage your environment when you are away and gives you assurance that things are being taken care of so you can relax and recover without worries.
Ongoing Virtual Support
Some environments benefit majorly from virtual assistance, whether that be around networking, on premise/cloud backups, patching, or help desk support. There are a couple of options for support with these needs in mind. Firstly, you can get a fixed contract for these virtual services monthly. Secondly, you can do a Flex IT Support Contract that provides you with set hours per month which can be used as needed. With this option, you can also borrow from the future or delay usage for the future. The idea is to have full flexibility per your needs.
Ongoing Virtual and Onsite Support
This type of support combines virtual support with onsite support for companies whose environments are complex enough and culturally inclined to require onsite support. For these types of needs, you can get a fixed contract for services monthly as per a Modern Workplace Agreement or Service Level Agreement. You also have the option of a Flex IT Support contract, with set hours per month to be used as needed, and the option to borrow from the future or delay usage for the future. Again, our goal is to have full flexibility per your needs.
White Glove Round-the-Clock Support:
You simply need a company to help you with all of it! This may be as simple as wanting some input, or your goal could be to work with a true partner. Modern Workplace or SLA agreements are a great way to ensure these requirements as you set the coverage, expectations, level of IT support, and response times. Once it is in the contract, you can measure the KPIs and keep your vendor’s feet to the fire if need be.
Whatever your needs are, remember, working with a partner is a collaboration, not a takeover! We’re not here to replace your IT team—we’re here to enhance it. If there are skills or expertise your team doesn’t yet have in-house, we’ll step in and supplement. It’s about working together, sharing knowledge, and ensuring your IT runs as efficiently as possible.
If you feel you do not have the level of coverage which suits your unique needs, review the options again with your provider. All things can be shifted. But, if you are looking for alternatives, you do not need to settle for one-size-fits-all IT services when you could have support tailored to your needs. At Shing Digital, we do things differently—and we think you’ll love it.
