What To Expect When Onboarding with an IT Company

Running a business by itself is already a challenging task. Trying to manage other aspects simultaneously, especially anything related to IT, will undoubtedly reduce your business’s overall productivity and profits. Because of these reasons, IT companies, like House of I.T, were founded for the sole purpose of assisting companies with their IT needs.

Onboarding with an IT company may seem like a highly involved process. However, it is not a particularly difficult or time-consuming process. Onboarding with an IT company will involve a series of logical steps; this blog post will cover some of the basics of what you can expect when onboarding.

Information Gathering

 If you have already spoken with and discussed business plans with an IT company, the first immediate thing you can expect is to work with the IT company to gather a variety of information about the company. Here are a few of the things you will need to get information about.

Providing the Primary Point(s) of Contact 

IT companies can help with many things, such as proactive monitoring of network outages. For issues that need to be addressed immediately, it is crucial to establish the best person or people that should be reached out to. This will ensure that someone is immediately contacted in the case of an emergency. 

Providing a List of Employees 

Ensuring you have an up-to-date listing of current employees will allow your IT company to identify their legitimacy as an employee when calling in immediately.

Additionally, this will also assist in risk management, as well as reduce potential phishing attempts. Since your IT company will know who is who inside of your business, they will immediately be able to tell if the employee is legitimate or not. 

Providing a List of Vendors Your Business Uses 

It is vital that you provide your IT company with a list of vendors you are in partnership with, such as internet service providers or telecommunication providers.

Your IT company will be able to immediately reach out to them to troubleshoot or collaborate on any issues or concerns that occur during business operations. 

Providing a List of Frequently Used Applications 

It should be no surprise that countless types of software are out there. Whether your industry is accounting, law, design, or anything else, numerous types of software can help you and your employees stay and improve productivity.

Providing your IT company with a list of applications that your business uses and its vendor, if applicable, will help speed up some of the time needed to probe for information about a piece of software.

Discussing Processes and Best Practices 

Your IT company is there to help make you and your employees' lives easier. However, if you or your employees do not follow proper procedures, this can lead to a slight drop in the efficiency your IT company will be able to provide you.

As a result, it is critical for you and your employees to speak with your IT company to ensure everyone is on the right page. Here are a small handful of things everyone should discuss and make sure they agree upon.

Ensure Everyone Knows the Best Way to Contact Your IT Support Team

Contacting an IT company is done differently depending on whom you work with. Some businesses have dedicated web portals for employees to submit IT support tickets, while others may request for you to send an email or make a call.

Regardless of how your IT company operates, everyone inside your organization must be properly briefed on the best method of communication. Emailing the wrong email, for instance, could result in a request being delayed or not getting done.

Go Over Security and Prevention Measures

The best way to prevent a security-related incident is to be able to identify them before they can become a problem. One wrong click on a URL or private information provided to an unauthorized third party can lead to countless amounts of potential damage to your business.

Take some time and ensure that your employees are educated regarding phishing emails, ransomware attacks, and other social engineering attempts criminals may try. Your IT company can assist you in providing best-practice training for you and your employees.

What to Expect and Do After Onboarding

The amount of time it will take to fully onboard an IT company will largely depend on the size of your business. In other words: the larger the size of your company, the longer it will take for everything to be correctly implemented.

Speaking with your IT company from time to time will be crucial to ensure that everything is communicated correctly between your business and theirs. Determining a period to talk with the leaders of your IT company will be fundamental, such as every six months.

Beyond occasional follow-ups, you will need to ensure that newly hired employees are properly trained on the steps necessary to contact and work with your IT company. Having them not know the proper procedures will inevitably lead to decreased productivity within your organization.

Speak with House of I.T for Superior IT Support

IT support is essential for helping your business save time, money, and frustration on IT-related issues. While larger companies may have the resources to manage IT issues internally, most companies are simply not large enough to warrant a dedicated IT support technician.

Therefore, almost all companies will benefit from outsourcing their IT support to an external IT company. House of I.T has many years of experience helping businesses like yours to save time and money, in addition to optimizing your IT services and goods to be as cost-effective as possible. 

If you have any questions or would like to speak with an expert regarding any of the information presented in this post, we highly encourage you to reach out to us to help clarify any questions you may have. We hope to hear from you soon!