5 Questions to Ask when Appointing an IT Consultancy Firm

So you’re thinking about hiring an IT consultancy firm. Great! We hope it was because our last blog gave you the information you needed! In any case, deciding to appoint an IT consultancy firm was just the first step; before you make the leap, however, you should be asking yourself these 5 key questions…

Will it be cost effective?

We briefly went over this in our last blog post, but possibly the most important question you’ll need to ask is whether or not hiring an IT consultancy firm will be cost effective to your business. What kind of money is the firm asking for? Making sure that the firm’s specialties are right for you is a good starting point in a cost vs. benefit analysis.

Is the firm reliable?

Check to see if a firm has a good track record of helping its clients. Even better, do research beyond the firm’s website; check personal accounts and reviews on forums and message boards on the internet. At the end of the day, you’ll want to hire a company that can get you results when you need them, no ifs, buts or maybes. If that ends up being the case, you’ll only be wasting your budget.

Is hiring within your budget?

Especially a concern if you’re a particularly small business, while it may at first seem like you can afford to hire an IT consultancy firm on paper, how does your budget look in the long run? Let’s say you’re initially happy with the services the firm is offering, can you continue remunerating them for their services? On the other hand, if you’re not entirely satisfied with the work your hired firm is doing, would it be more in line with your budget to scrap them and either do it yourself, or look for services elsewhere?

Do they cover the services you require?

Depending on your business, you may require only very specific services from an IT consultancy firm. In this case, you may want to find a firm that are relevant to the services that you want to offer. Trim the fat if you can, but keep in mind that more specialised consultancy firms can charge more by virtue of professionalism.

Will my data be secure?

This could be the most important question of the lot, and somewhat ties in to the idea of a firm being reliable. The last thing you want is a mass data loss that could cost you your business, and while it’s an IT consultancy firm’s objective to grant you peace of mind, keeping their reliability in mind can significantly reduce this risk. The last thing you need is a 15 year old on work experience permanently deleting your presumably secure cloud-located business plan.