A high-quality managed service plan will include a component that addresses your firm’s information technology strategy. Many managed service providers refer to this as virtual CIO (vCIO) services. It’s important to understand the actual role and services that should be included in an IT strategy regardless of the terms they use to define that portion of their coverage.
What does an IT strategy look like?
To truly leverage your investment in a managed service plan, the following services should be included:
- An initial comprehensive assessment of your firm’s current technology.
- Some level of engagement with your leadership team to understand your mission and your business goals.
- The formulation of your firm’s strategic IT goals.
- A three to five year projection of your IT budget.
- An analysis and reconfiguration of the operational processes that support business goals through the use of technology.
- Planning for and managing technology changes, including upgrades and updates of software and hardware.
One of the most critical components of your relationship with an MSP should be consistent and regular meetings with your leadership team. This meeting should include your MSP strategists and engineers to review the past period’s performance, discuss the technology roadmap, and evaluate the IT budget for the next three to five years. However, if your organization already has an in-house IT team that deals with various software updates and tech advancements, you might not see any point in outsourcing work to an MSP. So, if you want to see some substantial progress in your work efficiency in terms of technology, you can have a meeting with the likes of Syte Consulting Group or similar consultancies, who can advise your IT team on various Enterprise Resource Planning strategies that your business could use.
What services should your MSP offer?
This type of strategic analysis and business planning should be a required element offered by your MSP. Unfortunately, this is another MSP service component where your expectations and what is delivered can be wildly different. You need to ensure that the it support companies Denver (or elsewhere) you’re looking at have personnel with the requisite skills and experience not just in technology, but also in business practices. Your MSP should be:
- A resource that is highly available to you and any department managers who have questions regarding how information technology can be leveraged to improve the performance of their department.
- A resource which is focused on fully understanding the mission and the goals of your organization and will act as an engaged and purposeful professional service that brings ideas and pragmatic IT options to the table.
- A resource with a clear understanding of your industry and the commitment to stay current with technology trends that impact your organization. The ability to link technology to your business objectives is a must.
- A resource with a thorough understanding of IT project planning and management.
- A resource who fully understands that IT must support your business, not the other way around
- Finally, your MSP must provide a resource with experience in budgeting who can provide your organization with a current, well-planned, three to five year IT budget. This plan must be discussed and optimized at each business review based on changes within the business, industry, and IT developments. With proper planning, you are assured to optimize the value of your IT investments.
These skills may not be available as a single IT hire, but a professional and committed managed services provider must supply these services. This is the key to maintaining a close, effective, and profitable relationship with your IT partner.
For more information regarding business and IT strategic planning services, please give us a call.
Authored by Donald Nokes
As President of NetCenergy, Don Nokes is responsible for ensuring client satisfaction, and overseeing company performance and direction. Prior to co-founding the firm with Dan Charland in 2003, Don held senior leadership positions with IT service firms ranging in size from $3 Billion to $10 Million in annual sales.
Nick Eckman joined NetCenergy in 2016 from an international gaming company. Nick’s experience with supervising and implementing secure, fiber and copper wire infrastructure services provides our clients with a team of highly trained and experienced technicians. In addition to the skills required to manage our infrastructure services department, Nick brings a very experienced and focused approach to project management and is a stickler for accurate documentation for every project designed and built by his team.
Peter Lachapelle joined NetCenergy in 2015 and is responsible for leading all of NetCenergy’s operations and accounting functions. Each department within NetCenergy reports through Lachapelle. He brings his years of experience to maintain a pragmatic, efficient, client-focused team at NetCenergy. Lachapelle joined NetCenergy after completing a 27-year career with a Rhode Island, federally-charted bank which culminated in his senior management position as COO and CFO for the bank.
Peter Nelson has 25+ years of technology and management experience and has been with NetCenergy since inception. Peter serves as the VP of Engineering at NetCenergy. His role consists of managing the engineering staff, driving the companies technology strategy, and ensuring NetCenergy keeps up to date on new technologies and solutions.
As a Founding Partner, Dan is a result oriented individual who is always focusing on what is best for his client. He understands that business applications empower an organization and that technology must support those critical business applications. Dan’s technology career started in 1990 at EMC Corporation. Through the years, he has represented technology and consulting services for several organizations until 2003, when he and Don Nokes founded NetCenergy.
With decades of hands-on HR experience, Margery Ahearn is our Director of Human Resources, overseeing all hiring of new positions for NetCenergy with a careful eye on sourcing technology savvy engineers and skilled office-based professionals who fit our company culture, understand our commitment to our clients, and bring their time and talents to our team. Margery has both a BA and MBA in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.