What should an advice firm ask before choosing an IT provider?

Three beyond the usual: whether they have supported firms through licensee due diligence, what evidence they routinely produce, and who would own your tenant, your domain and your data. The generic questions matter; these are the ones that separate providers for a licensed business.

Evidence is the distinguishing requirement in this sector. In most businesses a provider is judged on whether things work. In advice you also need to demonstrate to a licensee, an insurer and sometimes a client that specific controls are in place, and a provider who cannot produce a dated report showing multi-factor authentication coverage, patch status and restore tests leaves that work with you, usually during the week you have least time for it.

Then the practical questions that reveal how the relationship will feel. Response arrangements for something urgent and what urgent means in their definition. Who answers and whether they are local. What is included monthly versus billed separately, since project work billed hourly on top of a managed fee is where budgets surprise firms. And what onboarding involves, because a changeover badly timed against a reporting period is unpleasant regardless of who runs it.

Two more that firms skip. Ask for two references from advice practices your size and ring them, because in a market this size that is easy and candid. And ask who owns your tenant, your domain and your data, and whether you would hold administrative access, since the answer determines how difficult leaving would be and a good provider hands it over without hesitation. If you would like to ask us those questions, call 1800 456 567.