A study by American Express showed that 90% of Americans made purchasing decisions based on the customer service they received from a provider. Unfortunately, we all deal with not-so-positive experiences every now and then when it comes to service companies. However, finding a new provider that may better suit your IT needs is a huge step. Usherwood understands how daunting a decision it can be to move away from a provider to a new one, and the fear of how much work it could be to make the switch.
In our forty-seven years of business, we've assisted countless clients with transitioning from their old IT provider. The most challenging part of the transition is taking that first step to deciding you need a change for the better of your business. But what steps should you take when ultimately deciding to switch providers? Don't worry; in this article, we will walk you through it.
The Steps of Switching Providers
Determining What is Making You Unhappy and Happy
Switching providers always starts with not being satisfied with something pertaining to your current provider. It's essential to understand what isn't working for you at your current provider and if you're willing to look into fixing those inquiries elsewhere.
Reaching Out to New Potential Providers
With many things, you shouldn’t close yourself to potentially making changes. It's good to explore your options to decide which provider is best for your company's needs. Reach out to multiple organizations, and describe your situation and what you're looking for. Once you discover a few that may work, narrow in on the one provider you could picture working with and see if your guidelines sync.
Deciding Whether to be Transparent with the Current Provider
Although it may seem awkward, it's genuinely up to you whether you want to be transparent with your current provider about switching. It may ultimately depend on your relationship with them. If you have a poor relationship, you should wait until a new provider is lined up in advance in case the old provider stops supporting you before you can complete the transition process. However, if you have a relatively decent relationship, let them know your plans so everyone can work together to make the transition smooth.
Getting Established with Your New Provider
Your new provider should take over your systems in an orderly fashion and help you coordinate plans, budgets, etc., to improve your business's network. It will be a process of getting things ultimately transitioned. Still, you and your new provider can collaborate and establish what works for both of you in meeting your organization's goals. By the end of it all, hopefully, your new provider will make you feel good about your decision to come on board with them.
Growing Pains Are Natural
If you're leaving a provider you've been with for years, it's natural for uncertainty and bumps in the road when looking to transition to someone new. You have no idea what to expect from a new provider. That’s why the onboarding process can be crucial to you. It allows insight into what to expect from the IT provider you are considering. Listed below is an example of what the onboarding process at Usherwood looks like and what our clients can expect.
Usherwood maps out the steps we need to take and determines what needs to be done to get your business to where it wants to be. We strive to make our clients feel comfortable in the switching process. We know how strenuous it can be coming from one provider to another, especially if your experience with the last provider was less than satisfactory. We want to make sure the transition process brings positivity to your business.
It’s important for your provider to be upfront and transparent about what they can offer you. It’s one of the first steps to building trust. With a new provider, it's time to establish a relationship and get to know one another. It may take a bit for your new provider to get a feel for your company's ticket volume or how certain users prefer to be reached out to, and that's okay. Taking the step to choose improvement over familiarity is a huge one. With the right provider, it will prove to be the right choice.
Usherwood Helps with the Transition
We understand a lot of fear can come from change but be assured that helping companies make the switch from a previous provider is something we have performed many times before for clients. The process is overall the passing and processing of information from the old provider to the new provider. Usherwood takes care of this for you with our Odyssey Process, in which we conduct a seven-step process architecture to secure, optimize, and stabilize your network infrastructure.
To access your company's systems, we are the ones to reach out to the old provider to receive the correct information. The transition is a straightforward process that is a matter of simply receiving access to your business's systems and planning out how to manage them once we have performed a Discovery. Afterward, we organize a strategic plan with you, the client, so you have an idea of how we’re going to help you fulfill your company’s goals, and the road to accomplishing that.
There could be several reasons why a company would want to switch its IT provider. Perhaps their network was broken into with their current provider, or their company is growing and needs to bring in more resources. Maybe even their IT director is retiring, and they now require an outsourced firm to take over. Sometimes it could even narrow down to simply having a poor customer experience with their current IT provider and wanting to find one who offers complete transparency and consistent quality service.
Whether it be a change in dynamic due to merging with another organization, or your business experiencing changes in compliance, your company deserves to feel secure in the IT provider you work with.