Welcome to my CBLog, where I’ll be sharing my career insights, experiences, and thoughts on Information Technology consulting and Managed Service Providers. My goal is to educate and build trust with my readers, demonstrating my ability to deliver world-class services. In this introductory post, I’ll touch on some of the key topics I plan to cover.
Docs or I.T. Didn’t Happen
Documentation is essential in building trust that goes beyond personal relationships and informal agreements. Clear, professional documentation is a powerful indicator of confidence and competence. Design documentation should clearly state the end goal, while project deliverables should accurately reflect the implemented hardware and software. Monitoring and maintenance reports should also be verifiable for accuracy.
Effective IT services depend on clarity and consistency, with documentation serving as the definitive guide for both. For instance, a documented user creation process ensures that IT staff can quickly and accurately set up new users without the need for follow-up requests.
In the fast-paced world of IT, where team members frequently come and go, documentation is vital for knowledge transfer. Whether onboarding a new team member or replacing an outgoing one, thorough documentation ensures that knowledge is transferred accurately and efficiently.
Proper documentation also enhances operational efficiency, which in turn lowers costs. End users benefit from self-service help documentation, reducing the volume of service ticket requests. Accurate service documentation enables help desk and field technicians to resolve issues quickly without escalating to senior staff or incurring costly support calls with vendors.
IT Service Providers must provide accurate documentation so that customers can properly understand and evaluate the services they receive. A monthly bill alone is not enough; documentation is the only reliable means for customers to hold their IT Service Provider accountable.
Stan for Standards and QA
Documentation is the cornerstone of IT Service Providers, followed closely by quality assurance and standardization. Quality Assurance is the result of well-documented processes being subjected to oversight, while standardization leads to clear, concise documentation, lower operating costs, and, when necessary, industry certifications.
A great IT Service Provider works with their customer to understand business goals and industry requirements, which then define the standards for services, applications, and end-user support. These standards should be documented in terms of SLAs, response times, and user responsibilities.
Standardization not only reduces costs but also improves reliability and security. A standard implementation of a well-known service makes it easier to find and hire staff with the necessary skills.
For IT Management, Quality Assurance measures how well the infrastructure operates, how accurately it was documented, and how consistently it is maintained. Ensuring that the infrastructure meets security and compliance requirements may require third-party audits for objectivity and accuracy.
Make I.T. Work NOW
A significant issue in the IT industry is the pressure to make things work immediately, often at the expense of standardization, documentation, and quality control. This approach was the primary cause of the 2024 global IT outages triggered by a faulty update to the Crowdstrike Falcon endpoint protection software.
Simply purchasing hardware and setting up a service is the bare minimum an IT Service Provider can offer. A great Managed Service Provider, however, will:
- Address industry and business standards
- Produce documentation and service baselines
- Monitor services and provide incident reports
- Submit to quality assurance audits
I.T. Costs, Not Builds
One of the common misconceptions about IT is that it is merely a cost to a business rather than a driver of business. This view is especially prevalent in small and medium businesses that rely on a break-fix and pay-per-incident IT model. It’s also present in larger businesses that neglect quality assurance audits.
Break-fix providers, with their “no upfront cost” models, do not benefit from standardization or documentation, and thus, they are more of a cost than a benefit to the business. Only home users, individuals, or small B2C companies with fewer than a dozen employees should depend on a break-fix model.
When discussing IT Management costs, it’s important to separate cybersecurity into its own budget or within a broader organizational security budget. Cybersecurity should not be lumped in with IT Management due to their conflicting needs: IT Management seeks a streamlined environment with minimal barriers to data movement, while cybersecurity demands stringent standards and practices to ensure that data movement is secure, authenticated, and authorized.
Where Will I.T. Management Be Tomorrow?
The IT infrastructure of tomorrow will be selected by people, implemented and documented largely by AI, and then audited by people for quality assurance. IT Management will shift from a primarily team leadership role to a publishing role, where human team members focus on business oversight, code review, and quality assurance.
The nature of labor in Information Technology may change significantly, moving from front-line roles with end users to more code-based roles focused on creating and maintaining AI tools.
Evaluating I.T. Service Providers
During my tenure with various managed service providers, I have witnessed both the great and the ghastly—good work and terrible mistakes alike. Through roles in technical sales and project delivery, I’ve guided customers on what constitutes quality, whether in a Service Level Agreement (SLA), cost, responsiveness, or adherence to documented standards. With more than twenty years of experience, I firmly believe that received documentation is the only sure way to assess the fitness of an infrastructure project, service, or application.
SLA and Functional Uptime: Relying solely on SLA or uptime as a metric to measure a service provider is insufficient. Given the reliability of server operating systems and hardware today, achieving 99.999% uptime is not particularly challenging with the right backup systems in place. However, this metric alone doesn’t reveal the full picture—for instance, whether your data is stored in a secure facility or left vulnerable in an inadequately protected environment.
Response Time and Resolution Quality: While response time to service requests is important, the quality of the resolution matters more. It’s crucial to examine whether solutions are driven by thorough documentation, self-service options, and other cost-effective methods, rather than repeated break-fix interventions where the same issues continually resurface.
Cost Evaluation: A fair cost should be negotiated, and an exceptionally low cost should be scrutinized. History teaches us that “you get what you pay for.” A low cost may ultimately result in an underperforming system, unpredictable outcomes, or a cycle of repetitive service requests.
Standardization and Documentation Over Personal Reliance: It’s essential not to rely on the expert who started the project to be there when it ends. Personal relationships and handshake agreements may offer short-term comfort, but they can’t replace the value of robust documentation, standardization, and the ability to seamlessly replace personnel. A well-documented process ensures that even if key individuals leave, the continuity and quality of service remain unaffected. This approach not only safeguards your operations but also ensures that your IT services are scalable and resilient.
The Importance of Documentation: Truly successful IT and Managed Services hinge on documented standards, policies, and procedures, all of which should be tested and audited by a trusted third party. A “good enough” IT company will keep your servers running, but a great Managed Service Provider will adhere to industry standards, maintain comprehensive documentation, and ensure all procedures are regularly audited.
Thank You for Reading
I hope this post has provided valuable insights into how to audit, assess, and collaborate with an IT service provider. If you found this helpful, you might also be interested in my next post, “Top Questions to Ask About Your I.T. Today (So Your Business Can Be Ready for Tomorrow)“, where I dive deeper into essential questions every business should ask their IT service provider.
Be sure to check out my other articles as well, covering a range of topics in IT consulting and managed services. Stay tuned for more insights and strategies to help you navigate the ever-changing landscape of information technology.