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5 Ways “Cheaper-Priced” IT Firms Hide The TRUE Cost Of Their Services In Their Contracts No two IT services agreements are alike, and unless you are technically savvy, you won’t really know if what you’re being quoted is insufficient, overpriced or even underquoted. If you’re not careful, the “cheapest” or less expensive IT provider can end up costing you a lot more due to carve-outs and hidden fees in their contracts that they will later nickel-and-dime you over, or quoting inadequate solutions that you’ll later need to pay to upgrade. Here are the 5 most common things “cheaper” IT companies leave out of their proposal to make themselves appear cheaper – but those companies are NOT the bargain you might think they are.
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5 Ways “Cheaper-Priced” IT Firms Hide The TRUE Cost Of Their Services In Their Contracts
1 Grossly Inadequate Compliance And Cybersecurity Protections. A ransomware attack is a significant and devastating event for any business; therefore, you must make sure the IT company you’re talking to isn’t just putting a basic (cheap) antivirus software on your network and calling it done. This is by far the one critical area most “cheaper” MSPs leave out. Antivirus is good but woefully insufficient to protect you. In fact, insurance companies are now requiring advanced cyberprotections such as employee cyber awareness training, 2FA (2-factor authentication) and what’s called “advanced endpoint protection” just to get insurance coverage for cyber liability and crime insurance. We provide those standard in our offering, so not only do you greatly reduce your chances of a cyber-attack, but you also avoid being denied an important insurance claim (or denied coverage, period).
2 Inadequate Backup And Disaster Recovery Solutions. Make sure your IT company includes daily backups of your servers and workstations, as well as CLOUD APPLICATIONS such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and other line-of-business applications, such as your CRM data, client data, etc. That’s because online applications do NOT guarantee to back up your data (read the small print in your contract and you’ll be shocked). Further, your backups must be immutable, which means they cannot be corrupted by a hacker. Many insurance companies now require immutable backups to be in place before they insure against a ransomware or similar cyber event that erases data. Be sure to ask your IT company if that’s what they quoted you.
vectorchoice.com
877.468.1230
info@vectorchoice.com
3 Carve-Outs For On-Site And After-Hours Support. This is another area that takes many business owners by surprise: all after-hours and on-site visits might involve an extra fee. Extended and onsite are included in our top packages, so you aren’t nickel-and-dimed for every request, but you need to make sure you understand what is and isn’t included in the service agreement you’re signing.
4 Nonexistent Vendor Liaison And Support. Some IT firms will charge you hourly to resolve issues with your phone system, ISP, security cameras, printers and other devices they didn’t sell you but that still reside on the network (and give you technical problems). As a client of ours, you get all of that INCLUDED, without extra charges.
5 Cheap, Inexperienced Techs And No Dedicated Account Managers. Many smaller MSPs will hire techs under a 1099 agreement or bring in cheaper, less experienced engineers to handle your network and systems. The truth is, the more experienced and knowledgeable a tech is, especially in networking and cybersecurity, the higher their cost. That’s why at Vector Choice, we invest in our people through a dedicated training and certification program. Our engineers continuously sharpen their skills, stay current on the latest threats, and follow proven processes, so you get the expertise of top-tier professionals without sacrificing reliability or security. Further, smaller MSPs can’t afford dedicated account managers, which means you’re depending on the owner of the company (who’s EXTREMELY busy) to pay attention to your account and look for problems brewing and critical updates that need to happen, upgrades and budgeting you need. Good account management includes creating and managing an IT budget, a custom roadmap for your business and review of regulatory compliance and security on a routine basis to make sure nothing is being overlooked. Buyer Beware! In order to truly compare the “cost” of one managed IT services contract to another, you need to make sure you fully understand what IS and ISN’T included in the SLA you are signing up for. It’s VERY easy for one IT services provider to appear far less expensive than another UNTIL you look closely at what you are getting. The SLA should define the following: What services the MSP is providing in clear terms. Guaranteed response time to a problem (both minor and major outages). What fees are extra (like on-site fees, after-hours support, etc.). Contract terms and renewals. Cancellation terms: specifically, how do you get out of the contract if they are not delivering the services promised? Liability protection, both for them and you. Payment terms. But the BEST way to avoid having a problem is to pick the right MSP to begin with.
Cyber Security Protection The Cheap IT Provider
Vector Choice
No NextGen Antivirus.
NextGen Antivirus that can reverse ransomware damage to your files included.
No e-mail security.
Virus, phishing and spam protection for your e-mail accounts included.
No dark web monitoring.
Monitoring the dark web and notification of users when their passwords are exposed included.
No phish testing.
Periodic phish testing and training to be sure your employees can recognize an e-mail scam included.
Disaster Recovery Services The Cheap IT Provider
Vector Choice
No server backups.
Nightly local and off-site server backups included. You cannot restore your server from a disaster without backups.
No e-mail backup.
Daily backups of Office 365 e-mail included. Whether Outlook has a bug and deletes all your e-mails or you realize months after a termination that you need to see an ex-employee’s e-mails, backups are critical.
No OneDrive / SharePoint backup.
Daily backups of OneDrive and SharePoint included. When you delete a file from Office 365, it is permanently removed from their system in a few weeks. It is critical to maintain long-term backups to keep your data safe.
vectorchoice.com
877.468.1230
info@vectorchoice.com
Billable Services The Cheap IT Provider
Vector Choice
Workstation setup BILLABLE.
Setup of a few workstations each month is included. Why pay more for this? All Office 365 administration included. From setting up external e-mail warning banners to configuring
Advanced Office 365 administration
security settings and MFA or block lists, allow lists,
BILLABLE.
shared
mailboxes,
distribution
lists
and
Active
Directory Synchronization, we do not bill extra.
On-site support BILLABLE.
In select service packages, we include on-site support. Some issues are best solved with a technician physically present, so these plans ensure in-person help is available when you need it.
Computers outside warranty BILLABLE.
We strongly advise replacing any computer that is 5 years old, but we will repair what you own if it can be repaired and we will not charge you just because it is past the warranty expiration. (Note: We don’t repair laptop screens.)
Support for 4-year-old laptops BILLABLE.
Support for ALL laptops included. No age discrimination here, as long as it has a current OS.
Vendor Management The Cheap IT Provider Excludes Phones, HVAC, Access Controls, Cameras, Printer, and Copiers
vectorchoice.com
Vector Choice Includes We work with your vendor to resolve computer and network conflicts with their systems and keep you out of the middle.
877.468.1230
info@vectorchoice.com