How to Find IT Support in London

Are you a new London-based business? Have you just moved your existing business to the area? Or are you looking to change to a different IT support company? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, we can help you to find the right IT support for your business in London.

Finding external IT support for a new business or in a new area can be a daunting task for any business owner. So, we have ideas to help you get the best support for your business as quickly and easily as possible.

What Can IT Support Offer?

External IT support is the preferred option for a high number of companies throughout the UK as business costs rise. This is because external IT support companies offer the services of an internal IT department for a fee, but the fee you pay is likely to be significantly less than paying annual salaries for full-time IT staff on site.

You can choose the level of support that your company needs, whether this is one-off support to implement a new IT system or ongoing support when needed. A company such as EC-MSP, which has provided IT support to numerous companies over the two decades they have operated in London, they have the experience to ensure that you get exactly what you need.

Deciding What You Need

If you are unsure of the level of IT support your business needs, then it can be helpful to speak to IT support companies before beginning to look at which company you will choose. Speaking to an IT support company directly will ensure that you are working from accurate information when getting cost estimates and choosing which company is the right one for your business needs.

It is best to set up an initial inquiry with one or more IT support companies that will work in your area. Getting information from a couple of sources means you can be sure of the information you are getting, and you are not being told what would be beneficial to the company you are enquiring with. If you have had IT support previously or you already know what your needs are, you can skip this step.

Internal or External?

Next, it is best to decide if you need internal or external IT support to help maintain your business. If you have a very small business, is it necessary to be paying a full-time salary each month for IT support? If you feel that this is unnecessary, then external IT support could be the best option for your business.

With most external providers of IT support, you will pay a contract fee for the package of services you need the IT company to provide. This will retain their services for when you need to use them. You will be given contact details that you can use in the event of an IT issue, and the external company will then deal with the issue for you.

Services Offered

The services offered by IT support companies in London may vary depending on the company you choose. However, as standard, they will usually include; a helpline that you can contact in the event of an IT issue. Some issues may be able to be resolved via telephone, so this will usually be the first point of contact.

If needed, engineers will be sent to your place of business to resolve the issues that cannot be resolved over the telephone. Included in your contract with be all of the service level agreements confirming how quickly you can expect each step to happen and how long the company will take on average to resolve the issues experienced.

Additionally, you can take out the services of an IT support company to help to manage a change within your company’s IT infrastructure. If you are planning to move from one IT system to another or to roll out a company-wide upgrade and feel that you need support for just this change. An external IT support service will be able to manage this change for you to ensure that it runs smoothly and there is as little impact on the day-to-day running of your company as possible.

Price

The price of the package you purchase will depend on which services you are taking out with the IT support services. It will also be impacted by how that company charges. If they charge per device supported, this can increase the cost as one employee may have multiple devices that require support. We recommend that when looking at pricing, you choose a company that charges based on the number of staff, not devices.

In our experience, you will always get what you pay for with an IT support company, so while it is always best to get the best value for your money, this should be considered. Finding the package that works for you and the price that works for you may need to be balanced, but there is no benefit for your business if you only pay for half of what you actually need for the business.

Companies

We always recommend that you look at well-established companies that have end-user reviews available on independent websites. Alternatively, if you have a trusted source that provides a recommendation, we would also look at that favorably. Ensure that the company that you are hiring can deliver what they have promised, and always ensure that they will cover call-outs to all premises that you have before signing a contract.

We highly recommend reading through a significant amount of customer reviews before making your final decision on an IT support service. This will minimize the chance of any surprises after signing a contract. We recommend that you always check the service level agreement for the time and services offered before signing also. If the company looks excellent, but their service agreement is to send an engineer to your business within 7-10 days, this could be a significant loss of revenue for your business.

If you are unsure of what their service level agreement is or how it will be implemented, then we advise you to discuss this in full as early as possible.