How to Plan for Projects with Your Managed IT Service Provider

Technology is constantly evolving, so naturally, your needs will change throughout a managed IT services contract.

The majority of your managed IT services contract will cover your day-to-day needs, including monitoring for problems and managing issues that arise. 

But at some point you’ll need help upgrading solutions within your environment, making IT more efficient, or creating a better business process. The good news is this is all comfortably within the abilities of your managed service provider (MSP).

At The KR Group, we not only complete these types of projects for our customers, but we help them plan for long-term needs and changes as well.

Once you and your MSP are comfortable with how things are going, you can start considering adding on projects.

Not ready to think about projects with your MSP yet? Check out our guide to managed IT services and learn more about this solution.

If you are ready to start working on more than daily maintenance with your MSP, we want to answer some common questions about this aspect of managed IT services:

1. When do you know if you need to consider a project?
2. Is the price of a project included in your contract?
3. How often will you need to budget for a project?
4. What projects should you consider?

Your MSP wants to help you with your IT, and they’ll be more than willing to answer these questions specific to your business.

For now, we have a few answers that apply to almost every managed service customer.

 

How do you know if you need to consider a project?

As we mentioned earlier, projects are generally planned after you and your MSP have acclimated to the contract and baseline IT matters have been handled.

However, a common exception is if your IT environment is extremely outdated. From the beginning of your contract, your MSP will help you bring your environment up-to-date.

This has the benefit of making your IT environment efficient for you to use and your MSP to work with. It also addresses security gaps, so you are less likely to experience an attack.

Once you and your MSP have built a solid framework for your regular services, you can start looking at ways to make your IT environment work better for your business.

Some questions you might want to ask when considering if it’s time to upgrade or expand:

• Can something be changed or added that will increase your return on investment?
• How can you make your IT work more efficiently?
• Are there any systems that cause frustration with your employees?

Your MSP will help you with this process, too. During your quarterly business reviews, your MSP will ask you these questions as well as talk about what they’ve noticed while managing your IT problems.

 

Is the price of a project included in the contract?

Your monthly rate is based on how much it costs to support your active users, so it doesn’t encompass additional projects.

You can expect to pay for time and material for anything outside the scope of your contract. However, your MSP will work with you to plan a project within your budget.

If you need to space out infrastructure replacements to fit within your budget, your MSP should be more than willing to accommodate.

By having your MSP help you with these projects, you do have the extra benefit of saving time since your MSP knows the ins and outs of your IT environment.

 

How often do you need to budget for a project?

Since the cost of a project isn’t incorporated in your contract, you’ll want to budget for these in advance.

The good news is, generally, projects aren’t going to be something you need to always have on your radar.

These projects are meant to bring your IT environment up-to-date with current technology and help your business run efficiently. Over time, companies should plan to leverage IT for profit, reducing risk, or reducing costs.

Again, the exception to this is end-of-life solutions which should be replaced to keep your environment secure.

 

What projects should you be considering?

The answer to this question really depends on what your business’s needs are and how you’re looking to leverage technology.

A couple of common trends we’re seeing customers request include:

 

A.  Cloud migration

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, requests for cloud migrations were increasing

This project allows your employees to access your company’s files and even solutions, such as phones, when they aren’t working in the office.

Now, cloud migrations are a project many businesses are considering.

 

B.   Internet circuits

Another popular project is upgrading internet circuits.

This project allows businesses to have faster internet speeds without a large price increase. If slow internet is affecting productivity (and company morale) this project can help.

 

What projects could your managed IT service provider help you with?

If you’re a new managed services customer, you have some time before you have to start thinking about having your MSP help you with additional projects.

However, it is something to keep in mind as you’re looking to see what an MSP can do for your business.

At The KR Group, our managed services team wants to help make your IT environment work for you. Part of this means monitoring and maintaining your existing infrastructure. But, we also want to share the ways we know you can improve your IT.

This means, once we’ve established our working relationship, we’re ready to help you think about what projects could enhance your IT environment as well as the timing and budget for it.

For more ideas on how your MSP can help you make the most of your IT environment, check out some of our other articles:

• Cybersecurity Training for Your Employees
• Why Should You Buy Hardware from Your Managed IT Service Provider?
• Transitioning Remote Workers Back to the Office with Managed Services