One of the most effective ways to secure this early to mid-stage growth is by hiring an effective IT and technology partner. Examples of technology partners include cloud hosting partners, managed IT service providers, cybersecurity partners, managed application hosting providers and many more.

However, despite the different types, they all share similar factors that can define an effective partner – and therefore factors you should consider when choosing one to work with.

Infrastructure Design

One of your primary concerns should be infrastructure design. If you are choosing a cloud hosting partner, you need to consider the literal infrastructure involved. Of particular concern to businesses since the introduction of the law would be data centre location; if they are based in Europe, and you aren’t, you will have to comply with the EU’s GDPR rules.

There are also more obvious factors to consider – namely, you don’t really want to use a data centre built on a fault line or flood plane due to the risk of natural disasters.

Of a more technical concern will be the performance of the cloud and the infrastructure it uses. Is the speed and cybersecurity adequate for your operations? Your partner should implement three security levels, depending on how valuable the data is, to control user access and prevent data loss.

These three levels, low (less vulnerable), medium, and high (more vulnerable) impacts the exposure of cloud security requirements. Depending on what the data in question needs, encryption, multi-tenancy, data privacy, authentication, and authorization are the arsenal of defensive tools that should be at the disposal of your IT provider.

Service Level Agreement

The next thing you want to consider is the Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Don’t forget the fine print – the Service Level Agreement (SLA) is also vitally important. This document puts in words the exact relationship, and the expectations each partner has, including billing, payment terms, service and uptime guarantees, what happens in case of downtime or contractual failure, and many other terms and conditions.

Your cloud network and its infrastructure may span continents, but it is this agreement that ties it all together. The defined level of services should be specific and measurable, so that you know exactly what to expect, and what to do if these expectations are not met.

Backups, Business Continuity, and Disaster Recovery Plans

Hopefully, this is a safety precaution you never have to initiate, but should the worst happen, you should know exactly the policy your IT provider has in terms of storage, recovery and backups. For example, a professional managed IT services partner would typically follow a 3-2-1 approach where three (3) copies of your data are on two (2) different storage media with at least one (1) located off-site. You also want to know how long backups are kept.

Your data may get destroyed, but don’t forget about the hardware it’s all stored in. Your IT provider and the datacentres they use need to have effective disaster recover plans. For many businesses, a significant loss of data would prove a near fatal blow, to business continuity and to reputation, so make sure your last resort plans are watertight.  

What is the technology partner's data replication policy? How would they rebuild your environment after a disaster so that business continues? These are critical questions you must ask.

Support Response Time

The next issue to consider is the support response time. A managed cloud partner, IT services provider, or any other technology partner is an extension of your IT department. You must be able to access them as quickly as if they were a member of your team.

Time to think of the people behind the tech. A managed cloud partner, an IT services provider, or any other tech and IT partner is a business in themselves – and how is this business’s customer service? You are, in effect, their customer.

Are they available to support you, answer questions, or deal with potential issues 24/7? What is the extent of this support? If you call, do you get a human being or an answer machine tone? In this day and age, you may expect several ways to contact them – such as a web-chat system, social media, email, and the traditional phone call too.

Considering the potential impact an issue can have, for business continuity and reputation, you need someone who is responsive, helpful, and most of all – available.

Pricing Policies

Pricing can be a murky area to navigate. Make it a point to understand your technology partner's pricing policies to know what you are paying for and see when you will incur additional charges. Also, concerning pricing, the cost of an IT service is rarely a good indicator of quality. Never be lured by low prices; the best measure is the value for money test.

To make matters more difficult, you need quality, and high prices aren’t a guarantee of that. This makes picking a good partner, or paying the right price for one, particularly difficult.

Custom Solution

Your IT and technology partner must be willing to gain a deep understanding of your business, its goals, and its weaknesses, and must be able to configure a solution to meet these unique requirements. It is this understanding and knowledge that separates IT partners, and managed IT services, from regular IT helpdesks.

It goes without saying that they should not only know your requirements, but be able to serve them. If your needs are unique, complicated, or process-heavy, you want a partner that can cope with the demands.

Experience, Expertise, and Professional Credentials

Finally, you need an IT partner with suitable experience, technical skills and credentials. You want to hire a pro, not just a partner. This expertise must be suitable to every vertical and sector your business works in, or wants to work in – so look for one trusted by customers from a wide range of industries.

As with any purchase, check out the reviews and do your homework. Make sure they are not just technically gifted, but are also trustable, friendly people to work with.

Check out the customer reviews for the opinions of others and conduct your due diligence using search engines and primary sources of information. Perhaps most importantly, remember that the desired technology partner should be an extension of your team – and therefore, both of you must suit each other.