Why switch your IT partner?

Your IT and technology systems are crucial to your success as a business in the modern world. But every bit as important as the technology itself is the partner you’ve chosen to support it. The right partner will help you pick out the best solution, implement it in your business and be on hand with ongoing support and strategy to help you meet your business goals.  

But not all IT partners are made equal. Some IT partners may put on a good show at first, getting you set up with the right technology and initially offering good support, before slowly becoming more distant and letting the standards of service slip. 

It’s not even always the partner’s fault. Talented staff can move on, businesses can be acquired by bigger players, technology companies can bump up their prices. Perhaps your own requirements have changed, and your partner isn’t capable of delivering the advanced service and rapid support your growing business needs.  

Whatever challenges you’re dealing with, it’s important to remember that you’re not stuck with your current IT provider. In this article, we’ll break down the signs it could be time to make the switch as well as what you should be looking for in your next partner.

Signs it’s time to move 

Especially when you’ve been with the same IT partner for a long time, it can be easy to become blind to the issues they’re causing your business. But a sub-par partner can quickly start to pull you back rather than push you forward, so you need to know the signs to look out for that the partner’s not giving you the support you deserve. 

Response times are too long 

Most of the time, IT issues need to be dealt with swiftly to avoid causing more issues or significant disruption to your business. So, if your partner is taking too long to respond to your messages or isn’t fixing your issues as fast as you’d like, that can be a serious problem. This can come down to your partner not prioritising you, or not having the capacity to respond in time.  

Either way, you shouldn’t settle for someone who can’t give you the help you need.   

Your staff aren’t satisfied 

One of the easiest ways of knowing how good of a job your current IT partner is doing is with a simple check of how happy your staff are with the level of support and contact they’re getting – after all, they’re the ones doing the most interaction with them day in, day out.  

If there’s a feeling of general discontent and frustration at the level of support, delays in communication or dismissiveness, that’s a surefire sign to start looking for a new partner.  

Your partner doesn’t put you first 

When working with an IT partner, you should be expecting, unsurprisingly, a partnership. But all too often, it can feel as though partners only focus on giving their best service to their top marquee clients, leaving everyone else feeling left out and stuck with a second-rate level of service.  

What you need is a partner that you can trust to support all of their customers with consistently great support, not just the big names.    

Your partner can’t keep up with you 

Sometimes, the opposite can be true and instead of your partner being too big for you, you start to outgrow their capabilities. Perhaps when you first got started with them, they were able to support you with all your needs and were always able to respond to any issues you had.  

But now your business is rapidly growing, your IT needs are getting more complicated and you need more frequent and advanced support, and they’re simply not able to keep up with your demands.  

It no longer makes financial sense 

Some IT partners will entice new customers in with amazing introductory offers and then, after this initial period is over, jack up the prices to the point where it no longer seems like such great value.  

Or perhaps they’ve just decided to significantly raise their prices across the board, leaving you looking for better bang for your buck.  

If your contract is approaching the end, then you’ll need to quickly check what’s coming next. 

What to look for in a partner 

Picking the IT partner is a crucial decision for your business – after all, the right one can make or break how efficiently and effectively you work. But with lots of options out there, it’s not always easy to know who’d going to be the best pick to serve your unique business needs.  

Here’s how to spot the right partner to work with. 

Right fit – technologically and culturally 

The best IT partners aren’t just external contractors that you occasionally get in – they work as an extension of your team. In the same sort of way that you’d expect a new employee to fit into the feel of your company, your partner has got to fit into your culture and the way you work.  

That’s why, at Thinc, we don’t just deal with our clients’ issues through our ticketing system – we encourage them to pick up the phone so we can get to the heart of it together. 

Broader strategic expertise 

To drive you forward, an IT partner needs to not only get you set up with the right tech, but also be hand-in-hand with broader advice on how to make the most of that technology to meet your business goals.  

Look for partners that have expertise not only in the technology they offer, but also in business and finance so they can come up with a solution that can help you tackle the specific problems your business faces.  

Trusted by others 

It’s all well and good for a company to tell you they offer great service but generally, it’s better to hear it from their own customers. Make sure your partner has a strong selection of case studies showcasing how they’ve worked with businesses like yours – even better if they’re in your vertical or using the same solution as you.  

Retention rates are also a positive sign that they’re offering great service, and their customers are happy to stay with them year on year.  

They’ve got the numbers to back it up 

Choosing the right partner is about finding someone with whom you’ll succeed in the long term – that’s partly about the fit, but if they can provide evidence of the quality of their service, even better. 

At Thinc we’re proud of our talented support, consultancy and account management teams for the way they put our clients’ people first every day. The numbers prove it. 

• 98.2% of our clients regard our support as good or awesome 

• Response rates at 95-97% of our agreed level of service 

• Satisfaction scores of 98-99% for first-line support across managed services, Sage and SAP 

• 99% client retention 

Why choose Thinc as your IT partner? 

At Thinc, we pride ourselves on not just being the reactive ‘IT guys’ that you call when something’s gone wrong. We always take the time to get to know you, the systems you rely on, and the unique challenges you face. That way, we can come up with tailored solutions that will help empower your staff to work better and unlock that next level of growth.  

Unlike a lot of IT partners, we don’t just focus on providing one solution – instead, we’ve got experts in a range of offerings, to give you a complete holistic setup for your business.  That way we’re able to work as a true partner for your company and not just get you set up with some tech, but also give the strategic advice and support to help you succeed.  

We’ll get you set up with some of the most advanced business applications, including Sage Intacct, Sage 200 and SAP Business One, as well as the cloud hosting, cyber security and managed IT services you need to thrive as a business.