In today’s world of connected IT systems, the risk associated with your important data is heightened. Most small to mid-sized organizations rely on a trusted IT support organization to protect critical information. Our industry uses an umbrella term called “managed service plan” to describe the services that we provide. As I’ve discussed in previous blogs, the coverage details for each vendor’s managed service plan can vary greatly. One very important differentiator is the willingness of the IT vendor to share the risk. Let’s face it, if you pay for a managed service plan and a hacker gets in, wouldn’t you like to have your vendor put a little skin in the game?
Unfortunately, most IT support vendors who provide a managed service plan avoid some key services. If those additional services are rendered, you can expect to receive your regular monthly service fee along with another bill. If your system was hacked for instance, most managed service providers would issue an additional service fee for what is commonly known as ”remediation services” to clean up the virus. This can be a time-consuming and costly service.
If your IT support vendor is confident enough that they have implemented the proper security features, they should back it up by fixing any breaches without additional costs to your organization. Our clients participate in our user security training and meet with us quarterly to review the performance reports and other network metrics, so we demonstrate the confidence we have in our support program by covering any breaches without any additional fees. If you’re not getting that kind of collaborative partnership and risk-sharing from your IT vendor, you should demand it or consider moving on.
If you’d like to hear more about NetCenergy’s approach to managed services, give us a call. We’d love to speak with you.
Authored by Donald Nokes
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.
As President of NetCenergy, Don is responsible for ensuring client satisfaction, overseeing overall performance, and for providing direction to the organization. Prior to co-founding the firm with Dan Charland, Don held senior leadership positions with IT service firms ranging in size from $3 Billion to $10 Million in annual sales.
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.