Choosing a Managed IT Provider: The Complete Checklist
Choosing the wrong managed IT provider can be worse than having no IT support at all — you end up paying monthly fees for reactive support, long response times, and technology that falls further behind. Use this checklist to evaluate providers.
Technical Capabilities
1. Do they hold industry certifications (BICSI, Cisco, CompTIA, Microsoft)? 2. Can they demonstrate expertise in your specific industry (healthcare, legal, manufacturing)? 3. Do they have experience with your core business applications? 4. Can they support both on-premises and cloud infrastructure? 5. Do they offer 24/7 monitoring, or only business-hours support?
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
6. Are response time guarantees documented in the contract? 7. What is the escalation path when SLAs are not met? 8. Is there a financial penalty (credit) when SLAs are missed? 9. What is the definition of "critical," "high," and "standard" priority? 10. Do they guarantee uptime for systems they manage?
Security & Compliance
11. Do they include endpoint security (EDR) in the base plan? 12. Can they support your compliance requirements (HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC 2)? 13. Do they provide security awareness training for your employees? 14. How do they handle incident response for security breaches? 15. Do they carry cyber liability insurance?
Business Practices
16. Do they provide a dedicated account manager (not just a ticket queue)? 17. How often do they conduct quarterly business reviews (QBRs)? 18. Do they provide a technology roadmap and budget planning? 19. What is the contract term and termination notice period? 20. Do you own your data and configurations if you leave?
Red Flags to Watch For
- No documented SLAs: If response times are not in the contract, they are not guaranteed. - Long-term contracts with auto-renewal: Reputable MSPs earn your business monthly. Avoid 3-year lock-ins. - No on-site support included: Remote-only providers cannot handle cabling, hardware, or physical infrastructure. - No strategic planning: If they only fix things when they break, they are a helpdesk, not a managed IT partner. - No documentation provided: You should receive as-built documentation, network diagrams, and password vaults that you own.
Questions to Ask References
- How quickly do they respond to critical issues — actually, not on paper? - Have they ever proactively identified and prevented a problem? - How are quarterly business reviews — valuable or a formality? - Would you describe them as a vendor or a partner? - Have they ever recommended against a purchase that would benefit them financially?
Summit DNC is a managed IT provider for Southern California businesses. We welcome the checklist approach — we are confident in our certifications, SLAs, and client references. Contact us for a consultation and we will walk through every item on this list.
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