Choosing an MSP

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Even when a small business can afford to support a modest IT staff, the technicians in such departments are necessarily jacks-of-all-trades - and this means that they may not be experts in the finer points of security and other essential functions. Accordingly, MSPs, or managed service providers, have proven be a major boon to small and medium-sized enterprises. As a subset of ASPs (application service providers), MSPs offer management, monitoring and network administration services, all delivered online.

As the MSP market continues to grow, many hosting companies have moved into this hot area - and so, as you select your MSP, many of the questions that you ask should be those that you would ask any other host. Will your data be secure? Is the solution scaleable? However, there are also several concerns specific to the MSP industry.

The Service Level Agreement

Your Service Level Agreement, or SLA, is essential to your relationship with your MSP. The SLA sets out the terms of the MSP’s service, and also outlines penalties that the MSP will face if it fails to deliver on those terms. A good Service Level Agreement should provide three stipulations: the MSP’s mean time to respond (MTTR) to a security threat; time to address a customer’s service change request; and time to validate and taste the change. Of these, the first is probably the most important, and many MSPs are able to offer MTTRs as low as 15 minutes. Your SLA should also promise an availability level for your site, which should be at least 99 percent.

When it comes to value-added service offerings, there is a great deal of variety. Some MSPs limit their activities to 24-hour remote monitoring, and do not offer their clients any additional help in remedying problems, or in assessing potential bottlenecks. On the other hand, many MSPs offer a wide variety of professional services, including diagnostic consulting and help desk.

Applications

Does the MSP make use of the latest software? It is the MSP’s responsibility to purchase and employ industry-standard applications; if the software is out of date, this is reason for concern. As well, beware of homegrown management tools! Most MSPs support their operations with established third-party management tools, but a few use applications that have been designed in-house to piggyback on Simple Network Management Protocol. Some MSPs argue that this customized software is better suited to remote management, but if this is your MSP’s position, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. What specific advantages does the homegrown app offer over leading-edge tools like ipMonitor or IPSentry?

The Contract

Like many other outsourced solutions, MSPs offer a monthly subscription-based pricing model, on as “pay-as-you-go” basis. The price per month is usually determined by several factors, including the number of agents installed, the number of monitored components, and the number of services that the client is subscribing to. In most cases, service setup is also factored into the price.

When dealing with an MSP for the first time, is usually best not to sign a contract for more than a year - and certainly for more than two. By controlling the length of the contract, you will protect yourself from long-term service failure, and minimize internal IT risks. In order to encourage clients to sign longer-term contracts, many MSPs offer a “no-risk” model, which allows enterprises to pull out of a contract without penalty during the first 90 days. If your MSP doesn’t immediately offer you a “no-risk” contract, ask for one - you might be surprised.

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