How to Successfully Switch Your Fort Lauderdale IT Services
Technology is the life blood of your business operations. It allows you to communicate internally and with partners. Technology allows you to create, access and share documents, keep track of inventory and finances, and ultimately to run your business. In time you may find that your relationship with your Fort Lauderdale IT Services provider is either not going in the direction you would like or is simply not a fit for financial or service-related reasons. This is especially relevant right now as many companies are finding their IT vendors either lack important skill sets or are simply more expensive than a small business is able to afford.
In our own experience, we have seen many clients switch to User Friendly because their Fort Lauderdale IT Services company wasn’t meeting their unique needs. In some cases it was that their provider was either slow or struggling to help them switch to remote work stations. In other cases, it’s a situation where issues do not get resolved after many attempts which ends up resulting in both lost time and extra fees. Finally, we have and continue to run into situations where the business is getting really oversold and overcharged by a Managed Services Provider for solutions that simply don’t fit their needs or budget.
Of course, the thought of switching your Fort Lauderdale IT Services can be daunting as there is often a lot invested in an IT company and a general fear that switching companies will be disruptive to the business. Truth be told, there are definitely a lot of important considerations that need to be looked at when switching your Fort Lauderdale IT Services and User Friendly knows how important it is to be honest with our clients about this process. Your current IT company normally will have administrative access to everything on your network and consequently access to most of the important information belonging to your business.
While it is very rare to see a Fort Lauderdale IT Services company try to lock a client out of their own network, there are frequently situations where the IT provider is the only party that actually holds administrative rights to certain solutions, particularly if they have been contracted directly through the IT provider and are being billed to your business by your Fort Lauderdale IT Services provider.
The Right Way to Make The Switch
Unless you are dealing with a simple situation or a willing partner in your old IT company, switching IT companies must be done strategically. For those that follow our recommendations, switching IT companies can actually be fairly simple and straightforward. Here’s what we recommend:
- Never cancel your current IT relationship until you have your new IT company in place, and certainly not without a transition plan that you have set up with the new IT provider.
- Be sure that you have administrative access to everything on your network such as all logins, passwords, IP addresses and any login information to 3rd party cloud solutions you may be using, etc. This starts with the request for any information you do not have. Your new IT provider should guide you through a review of what exists, those items you do control or have information on, and finally the items you may not and how to go about requesting them from your old provider. Requesting these items may create some suspicion on the part of your old IT provider but this can usually be worked out if handled with finesse.
- Ask your new IT company to conduct an extensive security assessment to make sure there are no holes or vulnerabilities in your network.
- Once the new IT company is in place and you have gone through a forensic review of all assets and how to gain control of them, your new IT provider should be able to inform when it is ok to cancel with your old IT vendor.
- Once you have a new provider and transition plan in place, be sure to have an all hands meeting with your staff to communicate any new protocols and train them on how to address any IT issues moving forward with your new company.
While switching IT companies may seem scary, there are ways for it to be done with minimal pain provided you are transitioning to a professional and organized Fort Lauderdale IT Services company that understands how best to quarterback that transition. It is always better to take your time and make sure the transition is smooth rather than rush things in an effort to “break up” with your IT company–even if they are clearly not taking proper care of you.
User Friendly Technology Services has dealt with hundreds of transitions from other IT vendors and we will always take the responsible and measured approach so that our new clients businesses deal with little to no interruptions in the process. Are you ready to move away from your current Fort Lauderdale IT Company to find a better, more reasonably priced option? Call us today to find out why hundreds of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton, Weston, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Pembroke Pines, Doral, Sunrise and other South Florida companies have switched to and stayed with User Friendly Technology Services for all their small business IT needs.
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