With hundreds of choices with IT support providers in Dubai, the range of costs and services is enormous. Equally large is the cost of making the right or wrong choices in this field.
So how do you decide which provider is right for your business and how to ensure you are paying the right amount?
Experience
One of the most important factors in IT is the team’s experience. Not only will this give an idea of ability but it should allow you to align the best provider to your company. When searching for the best IT provider, you should always check their experience. You should be looking for companies that have an idea of working with businesses of similar stature to yours. It is vital that you don’t stop here, working with someone and working with someone successfully are two entirely different things. The best IT providers will be able to give you their clients, the number of years they have worked with them and the references to talk to.
One misleading statement that is often used is the ‘combined experience’ or ‘bench strength’. This statement only suggests the sum of the overall experience of each member. This is often a signal that the company doesn’t have actual experience and is bringing in the numbers of its staff (sometimes even the educational experience) to appear bigger than it is.
Choose a company that has real local experience with companies like yours. Also look for companies that have been established for a long time in Dubai. Companies that have survived the volatility of this market and have retained market stature are often those who are precious to their customers. The advice and support levels of these companies will bring ROI rather than cost to its clients.
Communication
Dubai is one of the most versatile cities in the world and is a mixed pot of cultures and communities. Whilst this puts Dubai as one of the most culturally aware cities, it comes with some difficulties. Communication is one of those. Mix that with the languages and technicalities of the IT industry and this can be completely confusing for a customer.
When considering the cost of your IT support provider, it is vital to assess the quality of their communication. This is not just the spoken or written language but more the ability to communicate beyond tech talk. A truly established IT solutions provider will be able to talk to you in ‘human’ about your requirements and then translate this into the required technical needs.
Huge amounts of money can be wasted in the IT industry if the solutions don’t equal the needs. Make sure your team understands and relays the exact requirements and builds a product that will provide the ideal solution.
Employing a company that relies on its communication strengths may add to the bottom line but the overarching ability to create and provide the correct service will largely outweigh those costs.
Preventative maintenance
Failures in IT hardware and software can be of enormous expense. Data losses alone can disable or shutdown companies. Most of these breakages can be predicted and prevented should the IT support company employ the correct approach.
IT equipment doesn’t just fail randomly. Often a sequence of events will lead to the final result. Employing preventative maintenance software can identify these events and alert your team before it actually happens. This will allow the problem to be rectified and addressed before it actually happens.
Check with your IT support provider what system they use to prevent breakages. The fact that they use this software will bare an additional cost to them, thus to you. The benefit of this, however, could save astronomical amounts of money and your business itself.
The cost of IT services can vary but it is often the systems, the people and the processes that can define the price. The price of the support may appear slightly more at the outset but the quality of the service should repay any difference.
