A company’s technology system proceeds from a vision. How is that vision defined?

There are myriads of solutions that do the same things but may address them in different ways. How does your business select the best solution? Is there an agenda? If there isn’t, there should most certainly be. Whether the agenda is spearheaded by an IT Director or Managed Services Provider (MSP) this isn’t the Wild West so it should never be a free-for-all. 

Although the ability for various technologies to integrate with each other is a consideration that must be made, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. Some sort of standard should be adhered to for the sake of production efficiency and support. In the case of an MSP with a vision that is heavily dependent on a defined standard, that standard shouldn’t be so rigid as to force an immediate change for a client.

For example, an MSP may approach email, multifactor authentication (MFA), antispam, firewalling, etc. in a highly specific way. However, in the transition to a new MSP with their own significantly different recipe their approach will obviously be different. Does the difference create a burden on your business? Are you being asked or forced to make a change? Mind you, none of this is applicable to technologies that can be quickly transitioned and are not under an agreement of some kind.

I can recall times when an MSP transition takes place, and the new provider has no experience with some technologies that were previously implemented so support for them was either removed from the agreement or the technical elements were left in place until the agreement expired and they could be renewed with something the MSP had more familiarity with. I can also recall times where the new support provider forced the change with the financial burden being born by the company needing support. As you can imagine, the financial burden has an impact on productivity also.

As I stated previously, having an agenda is necessary. Your MSP must have a standard by which they operate. However, that standard shouldn’t preclude them from managing or supporting technologies they have little to no familiarity with. If they lack the experience, then they should be willing to walk away before engaging you with an agreement for the sake of both parties.
Standardization is a single element that a good MSP should possess. However, that standardization can’t exist solely for selfish purposes. It needs to account for the fact that no one size shoe fits all. The MSP’s business and the capabilities of its staff should reflect that. A good MSP should possess a broad level of experience that exceeds the limits of its standardized technology stack.
Auxzillium has always been innovative so as technology changes, our technology stack must change too. While our capabilities continue to grow vertically our experience remains broad horizontally and it’s incumbent on us for the sake of our clients to employ staff meeting those demands.