Most companies find out how good their IT support really is on the worst possible day: when the server stops, the email is hacked or the backup turns out to be empty. These five questions tell you in advance.
1. How quickly do you respond, and is it written down?
“As soon as possible” is not an answer. A good provider agrees response times with you, separately for urgent problems and everyday requests, and puts them in the contract.
2. When did you last restore one of our backups?
A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a backup. Ask when it was last tested, how long a full recovery would take, and whether a copy is kept away from your office and your main systems, where ransomware cannot reach it.
3. Who has our passwords and admin access?
If the answer is “one person at the provider, and it is in their head”, you have a problem. Admin passwords should be stored securely, documented, and handed over to you on request. When someone leaves, their access should be removed the same day.
4. Could someone else take over tomorrow?
Your network, servers, licences and suppliers should be documented well enough that another engineer could take over. Good providers are happy to do this. It protects you, and it shows they have nothing to hide.
5. What do you do before something breaks?
Fixing problems is the minimum. Ask what they do proactively: monitoring of disks, servers and backups, regular updates, security reviews, and advice on what to replace and when. Support that only reacts will always be one step behind.
Bonus: can you help us answer our clients’ security questions?
With NIS2 now in force, more and more large companies ask their suppliers about security. Your IT provider should be able to help you answer.
How we work
We work only with subscription clients, so we know your systems before something goes wrong. Every client gets monitoring, documentation, tested backups and one team that knows their setup.