Nice timed article from TroySoft ahead of our technology showcase event this week on the subject of the things to look for in an IT partner.
Choosing an IT Partner is a crucial step in getting your new recruitment business up and running.
The first thing to decide is whether you want to have all of your IT systems in-house, with any servers located in your own office, or whether you prefer to employ a specialist hosting company who have their own data centre where your servers will be in a secure environment.
Having all of the IT equipment in-house means that you are in control of it. This also means that if you fall out with your IT maintenance company, you can bring in another specialist to take over support of the existing equipment.
By using an off-site hosting company, they will more easily be able to keep your applications and data on up to date servers with the latest versions of Microsoft software. This does, however, mean that changing suppliers becomes more difficult, as you need to obtain backups of all of your data and physically move it to another location.
If your software is fully web based, then you can, of course, access it from anywhere where you have an Internet connection. If you have more conventional desktop applications, then a further layer of system software is required to allow ubiquitous access; having your IT hosted off-site implicitly involves this functionality.
Once you have decided which of the above scenarios is best suited to your particular situation, it is then necessary to find a suitable partner.
It is often worth considering the IT supplier used at a previous job. They should have a professional attitude and ensure that your affairs are not fed back to your previous employer. This approach gives you the opportunity to work with people that you may have dealt with in the past and formed an accurate opinion of.
If that is not a suitable option, then speaking to any friends who have responsibility for IT in their workplace can be of great benefit. There are a great many IT companies in existence, and it is important to find people who are both experienced and reliable.
Other points to consider are:
- Do they offer competitive pricing for the services offered?
- How long has the company been operating?
- Are suitable references available?
- Are they familiar with the specific technologies your solution requires?
- What are their operating hours and do they meet your requirements?
- Is there an out-of-hours service in emergencies?
- Do they have sufficient staff, or will you be dependent on one specialist?
