If you are in need of professional IT services in Philadelphia, you have plenty of possibilities. In a city as large as Philly, it isn’t hard to find an IT provider. However, it pays to be picky and find the company that provides what you truly need. It might take a little more time to evaluate those candidates, but it’s worth the trouble in the long run. When you are evaluating a potential IT service provider, you can use these criteria to judge whatever facts you may find.
1. Good Reviews And Testimonials
IT is a service-based industry, so reviews and testimonials are very important. Any company that has left a trail of satisfied customers behind them is probably a good option. A company that has a string of bad reviews probably isn’t so good. While this should be obvious, many people fail to do basic background research when dealing with a new company.
When reading reviews, you should read a lot of them. You won’t get a complete picture by reading one or two of them. You see, any single review might be illegitimate for a variety of reasons. Sometimes competing companies will “review bomb” each other, just because it’s an easy way to attack the competition. Some others will create fake positive reviews for themselves. Finally, you have reviews that do come from legitimate customers, but which are not legitimate complaints. So, read a lot of reviews and try to get a general picture of the situation, as opposed to trusting one or a few particular reviews.
2. Responsiveness
It is very important to have an IT provider that will respond quickly. When you need their help, you are likely to need it badly. When your business IT resources go down, it can grind business to a halt. That means lost business, and lost revenue that you could have made. The longer your resources are down, the more expensive it gets. You need someone who will handle those IT emergencies with maximum efficiency.
When you contact an IT company, don’t talk to them right away. Come up with an excuse to get off the line and request a callback. If they actually call you back, that tells you that they are more responsive than most. You can probably come up with some other creative ways to test their responsiveness. Bottom line: They should demonstrate their responsiveness before you become a client, not after.
3. Good Equipment Policies
When you are checking out an IT provider, it never hurts to ask if they provide any equipment as part of your plan. Many companies will upgrade your existing IT resources. This may be included as part of your monthly services (meaning that it’s basically free), or your IT provider might add a small equipment charge to your next month’s bill.
Either way, this is a good idea to get new tech resources for free or cheaply. They should also provide plenty of advice regarding equipment upgrades. Even if they are not willing or able to provide equipment, they should be willing to help you in upgrading your existing tech. A company that offers no help on hardware is likely not worth your money.
4. 24-Hour Monitoring
Monitoring is one of the best benefits that you can obtain from an IT service company. It is probably the most effective defense against all forms of cyberattacks. At the very least, it is probably the most versatile defense because it can potentially stop any conceivable attack. This is the case because all cyberattacks involve alterations to your system, your settings, or your data. That usually involves a download and/or an upload, which can be seen in the network traffic logs. If anything (like malware) is installed, that will also create a change that can be seen.
Unless you are dealing with a truly world-class hacker, file, and network monitoring offers an easy way to catch the intruder in the act and expel them before any damage is done. For these reasons, you should always look for an IT company that offers 24-hour monitoring of your network and your most important files. If someone tries to tamper with those things, an immediate response is essential, and that is only possible with 24-hour surveillance.
5. Well-Vetted Employees
There are lots of people out there who will claim to be IT experts, but you don’t want to employ low-tier people. If you are going to pay an IT company for the use of its contracted workers, you need to make sure those employees will be of sufficient quality. In particular, you want to ask about their qualifications, education, and any relevant certifications that they may have. If they are unwilling or unable to prove the legitimacy of their employees, that IT company is probably not the right one.
We should clarify something here: Don’t expect them to give you information regarding every single tech that they employ. That would be ridiculous and time-consuming, so instead just demand that evidence for the techs who will be assigned to your company. Those are the only ones that will really affect your operations, anyway. In the end, the goal is to find a company that does a good job of vetting its employees.
Conclusion
Although it’s a little harder to quantify, we should also mention the crucial factor of honesty. When your IT provider makes a claim, you should expect them to make good on that claim. If they make a promise, it needs to be kept. Remember that you are looking to make a long-term business deal with these people, so there needs to be a relationship of trust. It can be hard to build such trust, but that is why you should only employ reputable companies in the first place. If you are looking for a reputable IT company that offers a full range of services, you should consider calling PCH Technologies at (856) 754-7500.