Planning

Planning is an integral part of managed hosting – make sure you are prepared and know what to look for.

Planning is the first step in the process of outsourcing your IT infrastructure and support.  Having a managed services provider you can trust and help you through the process is important – First National Technology Solutions is that partner.

You have decided on a hosting provider – now what?

You have done all of the research, gone through the contract negotiations and decided on a hosting provider – now what can you expect?  Here are just a few tips to help you through the next steps of outsourcing your IT infrastructure.  

Why is planning is so important to IT outsourcing?

• Project plan detailing how the migration will occur
• Identify all required tasks, milestones and timelines for the project
• Sets expectations and service levels so you know what to expect

What should I expect from my managed services provider?

• A dedicated project manager serving as a single point of contact through the process
• Ask for a discovery exercise to identify application interdependencies, data flows and network connectivity requirements.
• Sign off on the plan before any technical building occurs so there are no surprises

Outsourcing Dos – Tips to keep in mind if you are outsourcing your IT environment

• Visibility and Transparency - With an outsourcing relationship, you want to ensure you have visibility into your environment but also transparency with the pricing metrics, service levels and any other cost drivers. 
• Cost drivers – up or down – As part of the contract, transparency on all of the components within your environment and line-item pricing is important so you understand how your pricing may change based on additions or reductions in capacity.
• Access to service and technical support – How responsive is your hosting provider to your questions and needs?  What access to their technical resources will you have when you are a customer? Those are some questions you should ask when looking for a partner.

To download step-by-step guide to IT outsourcing, see our white paper on Outsourcing Dos.

IT planning is just the beginning to building a relationship with your managed services provider.  Your managed services provider should be a true extension of your IT – don’t expect anything less.