How to Choose an IT Provider

Many managed service providers still approach business IT with a break/fix mentality. Often, this is offered as a “managed IT solution”. The intent is good, but the method is not the most effective as it is geared to firefighting; something breaks, they fix it- managing your IT by reacting when something goes wrong.

Responding with a fix when something breaks is of course a necessary piece of supporting your IT, however it is only one part of a much larger picture. This purely reactive method leaves your organization in a constantly reactive state, unable to use your technology as a strategic tool.

Our Answer:

CIO Solutions employs a holistic approach to your IT. We proactively anticipate and resolve issues through consistent monitoring and maintenance, implement updates to optimize your solutions, map out your immediate and long-term IT strategy with technology experts, and offer consistent and reliable support for any IT issues that arise daily.

If the team is too small, you will frequently have to wait for support because resources are busy with other clients. Small teams are limited in their knowledge (a single engineer cannot know everything about every technology).

In today’s world, IT engineers need to have some level of specialization. When those experts pool their knowledge with other experts, it creates a team that can design and implement the most comprehensive and effective solutions.

Our Answer:

CIO Solutions clients benefit from the collective expertise of over 50 technical resources who are experts in their specialized role. Our organization is strategically designed to enable innovation, collaboration, and execution of quality solutions.

With dedicated technology directors charting the innovation of our solutions, specialized teams mapping out the processes for execution, projects teams implementing new technology, and support teams dedicated to customer service needs, our team is not only diverse in skill and experience, but divided in a way that maximizes the benefit of these resources to our clients.

Often, large IT firms will branch into new regions by setting up a satellite office in your area. This may be fine until your hardware needs physical attention. If that happens, you want to know that there is a capable team nearby who can show up and fix the problems, not just a salesperson or single resource stationed in your area.

Our Answer:

One of the concerns that businesses often have when considering working with a multi-regional IT provider like CIO Solutions is: will you have enough resources in my area to properly support my business?

We are proud of our three full offices servicing Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara.

Each office includes the resources necessary to effectively support clients: project engineers, support agents, and field technicians who are nearby and ready to serve your business in person.

If they have strong, lasting relationships with customers whose needs are like yours, there is a good chance they can satisfy your needs.

With IT providers, the longevity and quality of the relationship is important. You want a partner who understands your industry and who can facilitate the continuing needs and growth of businesses like yours.

Our Answer

Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara are community-centered cities. In these regions, reputation is everything and CIO is proud that most of our new business comes from client referrals.

We have long-standing relationships with a diverse range of businesses in different sizes and industries across the Central Coast and Central Valley of California.

Most IT providers have a small staff of technicians who provide support and consulting as needs arise. They may do this via remotely accessing your computers and servers or visiting your office.

The support and consulting structures in place tend to be geared toward quick fixes that produce incomplete resolutions. If a support system is too simple, issues will consistently reoccur because the root cause does not get resolved. Likewise, hasty consulting will produce fragmented and inconsistent IT solutions.

In the constantly evolving world of IT, the organizational structure of an IT provider needs to be constantly reevaluated and adapted to ensure effective outcomes.

Our Answer:

We regularly evaluate our organizational structures to ensure that our processes maximize consistency and reliability of service.

CIO has developed a world-class help desk with technically proficient, experienced and helpful agents who are experts in managing and maintaining IT networks. This team is organized into dedicated roles that are structured to work together to address all possible support needs whether that’s complex resolutions unique to your environment, quick fix issues, or onsite assistance.

Our Strategic Client Services Team is responsible for the technical consulting and guidance of our clients. This team is comprised of vCIOs (dedicated technical consultants assigned to each client) and Account Managers (who also work within the support structure).

We organize our teams in a way that maximizes expertise while facilitating collaboration across teams. CIO Solutions not only has the resources needed to resolve any issue, but the processes in place to deliver consistent and effective services.

The sales process can tell you a lot about how the provider views their relationship with you as a client. Is the focus more transaction focused, or collaborative with an emphasis on the developing a partnership?

The values of the company and their view of their relationship with clients will help you determine your fit. Entering into a partnership without ensuring the right fit and cultural match can create negative energy and be toxic for both organizations’ employee culture.

Our Answer:

It is much more important to us that customers end up with the right match than to simply win business that isn’t a good fit.

90% of our customer relationships last more than 7 years and many longer than 15.

We consider our relationships “partnerships” and dislike the term “vendor relationship” which tends to marginalize the value derived from each party.