Why You Should Talk to an Independent IT Consultant Before Choosing an MSP
Independent IT consultants partner directly with small and medium sized business owners to sharply reduce SaaS and cloud subscription bloat, manage projects from start to finish, and directly work on your IT infrastructure. Did you know that hiring an independent IT consultant can also prevent you from choosing the wrong MSP for your business?
Managed Service Providers vs. Consultants
As a business owner, you likely wear many hats: management, accounting, human resources, marketing, operations, and IT. As your business grows, you may choose to delegate some of your responsibilities: Bob might take on marketing, Deborah might be great with accounting, and Jim manages the rest of your team. In most small businesses, owners rarely have enough left over in the budget to hire an in-house IT person at $60,000-70,000 per year. Most small to medium sized businesses choose to use a Managed Services Provider (MSP) or a consultant to help them get the most out of their IT investment.
An MSP is full-service partner who sells their services with a “Service Level Agreement” or SLA. Having an SLA in place guarantees that a technician will respond to all issues within a specified timeframe, depending on severity. For example, an SLA might specify a 15 minute response time for critical issues affecting multiple users, with a 1-to-4-hour target resolution time. Managed IT agreements typically exceed $20,000 per year for the business client, but are priced quite predictably at $150-250 per user, per month. To help offset some of the cost, most MSPs offer “all you can eat” ticket resolution on standard tickets, with emergency/weekend tickets still being charged as billable. Terms vary, but a good MSP will specify those terms in your agreement.
A consultant, on the other hand, is more like a technology advisor. Some consultants offer flat-rate services, others charge by the hour. Prices vary, but tend to standardize somewhere around the $125-150 per hour range. A great consultant will assess your business needs and pain points, make recommendations and action plans, and act as a project manager to help accomplish the IT goals outlined in your action plan. Most business owners choose to hire a consultant during IT projects (such as purchasing a new server or adding a POS system), where planning and execution are critical to the success or failure of the project. However, consultants do much more than just basic project management.
Go Independent.
If you’re considering an MSP based on the word of their consultants, you should consider a second opinion– talk to an independent IT consultant before you sign the paperwork. Think of an independent consultant as a partner who stops you from making an expensive mistake. We don’t work for the MSP. Rather, we can read and analyze the contract proposals, terms and conditions, and SLA to make sure you don’t get locked into a raw deal. Some MSPs promise world-class service on their website and deliver overworked entry-level technicians with fresh certifications and little or no real-world experience. We aren’t afraid to ask tough questions, review a scope-of-work document line for line, or seek out an MSP’s current clients to verify that the testimonials online are still true.
When you call Kraken, you won’t be speaking to a sales manager or a “solutions consultant” whose main job is closing monthly seat retainers. You’ll be connected directly to the real, independent consultant featured on our site.
From the first discovery interview to final sign-off, you’ll be working with a real system architect. We design, build and test secure infrastructure out of pure passion, backed by two decades of real-world experience. You won’t be routed through sales reps or account managers. And we don’t filter through decision-makers who refuse to interface directly with you. We offer direct access, straight answers, and objective guidance from an advisor who can help you make the best decision for your business IT budget.
One 15-Minute Conversation Can Save Years of Frustration
If you’ve got an MSP proposal sitting on your desk right now, give us a call before you sign and we will review your Statement of Work, Service Level Agreement, and Network Design documents with you over the phone– with absolutely no cost or obligation.
Need a closer look? We can also schedule a comprehensive engineering audit that includes an on-site evaluation and an exhaustive review of your entire proposal package.