Choosing the Right IT Company Building a successful partnership with a service provider takes skill in hiring and proper management of the relationship.
By Ledrue Bolder Jr.
Hiring and managing a service provider takes much of the same work as hiring and managing an employee. When hiring an IT partner, make sure your criteria are met by interviewing them and ensuring the fit is compatible. Keep in mind that your intuition is often as important as logic. Use the following questions as your guide:
Do the quality, integrity and honesty of this organization impress you?
Do you feel you can openly discuss concerns?
Does this company show the leadership skills you believe are essential to business success?
Is there anything about this company that bugs you?
Would you be willing to be a reference for them?
After you have addressed the emotional side of your decision, consider the more technical and business criteria for choosing the right IT partner:
Does their technical experience match your needs?
Do they understand your business?
Will their solution fit?
Do they speak your language (not techie)?
Do they provide options, including more then one solution that works within your budget?
Will they complement or hinder your internal IT resources?
Are they too busy for you?
Do they understand their responsibilities?
What is their fee structure?
Do they listen?
Do they understand that you are the boss?
Managing Your IT Company Managing service providers is not an effortless task and requires much attention from you. Do not assign them to a project and walk away. Remember, you are the boss, and you are in charge of the project. The outcome of the project is your responsibility, and it will affect your clients. So when managing your IT partner:
Assign a point person in your company
Establish expectations
Communicate regularly
Obtain staff buy-in
Give yourself an out (i.e., have a backup company)
Keep an eye on security and liability
Make the project sustainable
Finish the project on your own terms
Build a relationship
Ensure they understand that you are the boss!
Have a Backup To save you from a headache and even worse-the loss of a client-select two IT companies, a primary and a backup. This ensures the job will be completed in case your primary company fails to perform. Be sure to let the backup company know they are a backup. This will keep you on their radar in case they need to be called, so they can be prepared at a moment's notice.
Make It Legal But Keep It Simple Big, legal documents complicate the process of contracting with an IT company. Many small IT companies don't have a staff of lawyers waiting to pounce on every question mark, semi-colon and period of a contract. To make it a win-win situation, keep "best business practices" in mind. This ensures that the contract is well-intended, well-understood, binding, to the point and simple. Ensure the following are addressed in the contract:
Services to be performed by the company
Payment terms
Frequency of invoices and level of detail
Term of agreement
Terminating the agreement
Independent company status
Intellectual property ownership
Company's materials
Confidentiality
Warranties
Liability
Unexpected or Uncontroable events
Taxes
Contract changes
Dispute resolution
Other general provisions
Talk it Up Communication is the key to any successful working relationship. Keep communications open with regularly scheduled meetings-discussing the progress of the job and any concerns and issues that might arise. Make sure the company knows your budget and the availability of in-house resources. Your resources will be a valuable source of input when tailoring a solution to your budget. This also will help them submit options that may be outside of your current budget, but that you might consider for the future or even to be handled in-house. Great communication ensures that projects stay on track and all goals are being met, and that the budget is kept intact.
Final Word Expect from the IT company exactly what you would expect from any relationship: respect, profitability, growth, fulfillment of the promise, mutual benefit and trust.
You will be investing a lot of time and money into the process of hiring an IT company, so make sure you're ready for the recruiting process. Fair treatment and good business practices are the keys to your recruiting success. Take good care of your IT partner because, in turn, they will take good care of you.
Ledrue Bolder, Jr. is the CEO of B2 Technology Company, LLC, which provides a full line of information technology services and products to businesses. You can contact him at www.b2techs.com, (816) 229-8313 or .
