Quality Relationship With Your IT Company Is Critical to Business Success

Key Points:

Trust is the social glue that holds business relationships together.
Businesses that trust and love their IT companies spend less time and energy protecting themselves from exploitation and can achieve better economic results.
To get the best value from your IT partner, your company needs to reevaluate your current relationship with your IT company.
If your IT company offers excellent services, is reliable, and runs everything smoothly, focus on enhancing the bonds in your relationship.
If anything is a miss, call for an open conversation to address the issue. If unresolvable, consider getting a new vendor.

An external partner you work with impacts your business’s short- and long-term success. The relationship can make you stronger and wiser about your future or blind you to the opportunities right before you. That’s not any different with your IT company.

Your IT partner is responsible for ensuring your tech solutions run smoothly, protecting your data, and helping you keep up with the rapidly changing tech world. The vendor can help you scale up your business to greater levels or pull you down, making you vulnerable by guiding you through ineffective decision-making.

Don’t Grow Complacent: Reevaluate Your Relationship’s Value

When dealing with external partners, you should not be complacent by allowing your relationship with your IT company to continue without assessing its real value. Assess and identify if your relationship is at risk of being taken for granted and demand your IT partner to step up their game.

More often, business relationships tend to grow complacent and impact your ability to spot and seize opportunities. Sometimes the relationship faces challenges due to failure to evolve as the business grows.

When assessing your business, you should reevaluate why you continue to conduct business with your IT company. Examine if your IT service provider:

Adds real value to your business
Delivers all the tech solutions your business requires
You could be taking your relationship for granted
Evolves with your business needs
Has your best interest at the forefront

If not, finding the right tech company and building a reliable relationship can be a huge and worthwhile investment.

Why A Reliable Business Relationship with Your IT Company Can Help You Succeed

Building a trusting relationship with your IT company gives you the superpower to command results through your vision. With a reliable tech partner, your business stands to gain:

1. Reliable Technology Solutions to Drive Your Business Goals

Nearly all companies need additional expertise in their digital transformation journey. However, the cost and pace of scaling up the old tech discourage many small and medium-sized businesses.

The right IT vendor can deliver efficient and reliable technology solutions such as:

On-demand IT expertise
Faster adoption of new technologies
Tech support
Cybersecurity solutions
Data backup and production

In return, you’ll free up resources and renew your focus on core business matters to drive better success.

2. 24/7/365 Support to Help Customers Whenever Issues Arise

When you have an online infrastructure enabling customers to interact with your business 24/7, you must consider how you’ll be there for them when they have an issue. Nearly 60% of consumers say that having access to 24/7 support influences which companies they choose to work with.

Your company can benefit from a tech partner that helps you deliver 24/7/365 support to assist customers whenever they need help. Ever-available customer support can give you a competitive edge in your market since 50% of customer support teams are only available during business hours from Monday to Friday.

3. Expert Advice and Guidance on What Tech to Invest In

Modern technology has infiltrated nearly all facets of modern life, changing how businesses operate. As a business leader, it’s easy to get confused about what IT solutions to invest in, how to customize existing technology, and how to utilize the full potential of your business technology.

A great IT partner can guide you to tech solutions that streamline your business operations and advice on which modern tech to adopt and what to ignore.

4. Improved Security Posture

Your business’ security posture is critical to every stakeholder, including:

Clients
Customers
Partners
Regulatory bodies
Employees

All stakeholders consider how you secure the data that your business handles. No one wants to associate with a company that can’t secure the data,

You need an MSP with the capability to secure your data and systems, reducing the risk of devastating cyber-attacks and data breaches.

5. Increased Productivity

Strategic outsourcing with the right IT company can help you increase productivity from different points of view. However, at its core, the right tech partner will free up more time and allow your team to excel at what it does by streamlining tech infrastructure with your business’s daily activities.

Your IT partner should handle the overly tedious or time-consuming tasks, allowing your in-house employees more time to focus on strategic initiatives. A trusted IT company will help streamline your technology systems, resulting in improved productivity and reduced downtime.

Fix A Relationship Gone Sour with Your IT Company

As with any other relationship, business relationships are dependent on trust. However, sometimes, deadlines aren’t met, deals fall through, or results don’t meet expectations. Shortcomings such as these can lead to resentment, but that doesn’t mean you should end your relationship with your MSP.

Depending on your differences, you can repair the relationship by:

Assessing your relationship’s value
Establishing who is wrong
Establishing open communication channels to discuss issues
Solving pending issues

You can repair even the most stained relationship. A negative relationship turned positive can grow to be very strong.

Find a New IT Partner if Your Issues Are Unsolvable

Firing your tech partner is never easy, and the process can be messy. However, when your IT partner continually fails to meet expectations even after trying to communicate and mend the relationship, never hesitate to fire them and find a new partner.

Some of the issues that can make you consider breaking up with your IT vendor include:

Lack of integrity
Lack of attention to your business
Major security event
Repeated tech mistakes
Poor communication or responsiveness
Lack of technical skills
Lack of familiarity with your event

Whenever you feel complete dissatisfaction, you should fire your current IT partner, hire a new one, and start a new relationship based on trust and respect.

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