If your company’s core business is not information technology (IT) you probably are either working too hard at IT or letting your core business suffer.
This is when you call in the cavalry—those people who do have IT as their core business. And we do mean call in: not just be there on the other end of the phone providing help.
Oh, sure, that service works for the most part. Heck, our company, 3T Pro, even offers that service. However, even with our smallest clients (fewer than 5 users) we do have a technical service specialist who meets up with their assigned clients on a regular basis—in person. That’s right—they actually go to the client’s office and spend some time with them and their IT issue and equipment.
And that leads us to this list, where this post began: what makes for a world-class technology provider? Consider that they:
- Look at your relationship as a strategic partnership and not a transaction.
- Make the effort to understand your business, how you conduct business and how you interact with your customers.
- Have a “solutions” orientation—that is, they examine the situation and provide the best alternatives (solutions) to it. They don’t believe in “one size fits all.”
- Know when they fit with you and when they don’t. It’s about the relationship, not equipment.
- Understand the technology landscape and the latest and greatest in alternatives. They are in the IT business, after all.
- Make themselves available and accessible.
Choosing an IT partner is not to be taken lightly. They are right there with your other trusted advisors: CPA, banker, attorney, marketing consultant, operations consultant.
If you choose this partner carefully, you will be rewarded with cost-effective, professional support for a long time to come.