Who Do I Work With When I Work With An IT Service Provider?

One of the biggest challenges that business owners have about signing on with an IT service provider is knowing that they’re going to need to let go of the reins when it comes to taking care of their IT. After all, IT plays such a huge part in today’s business landscape that it can be a bit unnerving to know that someone outside of your organization will be handling it. That, of course, leads to one of the most frequent questions we hear - who, exactly, will I be working with?

When you’re running the show internally you know who’s handling what and when (for the most part), but when you’re working with an IT partner things can feel a bit too far removed. Take a look at the various roles involved in providing stellar IT service so that you can get a feel for who you’ll be working with when you hand things over.

IT Service Provider Team Member - Sales Consultant

The first person you’ll be dealing at the start and throughout your IT journey is most likely someone in the sales department. Different organizations have different titles for these job roles (business development manager, sales representative, sales engineer, etc.). But their main job function is consistent: to figure out what your business needs are and suggest the perfect solution for your organization.

In some organizations these folks may be purely sales oriented, but at iuvo Technologies our sales team members have technical backgrounds as well, therefore enabling them to identify ways to make your business and IT better and make recommendations accordingly.

IT Service Provider Team Member - Account Manager

The next person you’ll most likely have contact with, once you sign on with your IT service provider of choice, is your Account Manager. This person typically acts as a liaison between you (the client) and the vendor on business issues, such as billing and contract negotiations. In many cases, this is also the person you’ll speak to if you want to change the level of service you’re getting or begin discussions about large-scale projects that may be on the horizon.

On their side of things, the Account Manager is often responsible for working internally with your organization to schedule resources and assist you with getting equipment purchased. Ideally, they’ll act as a one-person conduit for all of your business needs, including - in some cases - being the person that you contact when you need to request support by submitting a ticket. This will help to streamline operations so that you don’t have to speak with 5 different people to get one single task accomplished.

At iuvo Technologies in particular we refer to this role as “Engagement Manager.” Their primary responsibility is to ensure that our customer relationships are successful, and that our customers are happy with all aspects of their service.

IT Service Provider Team Member - Procurement Agent

Different IT service providers handle the job function of procurement differently. They may deal with the Account Managers, on-site or remote consultants (more on them in a minute!), or directly with the client. But their role is the same: to handle all of the purchasing of equipment and materials.

They’re experts in knowing which of their suppliers carry the appropriate products, what specifications to look for, and how to expedite things to ensure everything is delivered on time and on budget. We’d be remiss to imply that every IT service provider has dedicated procurement staff. Some organizations may have their Account Managers or technical consultants handle the purchasing for their individual book of clients.

IT Service Provider Team Member - On-site Consultant/Engineer

Okay, now we’re really getting into it! Almost every IT service provider calls their technical staff something different (consultants, engineers, technicians, etc.) but their job function is the same. These are the folks that you’ll see on a regular basis.

Whether they’re handling day-to-day operations such as fixing workstations or working on large-scale projects, they’ll be on-site (as we implied), digging in and doing the dirty work. These folks, in addition to the remote support team (we’ll get to them in one second, we promise!) are the IT experts. Many of them hold certifications in various types of devices or software, and they’re all constantly learning about new technology and best practices to ensure their clients are getting the best out of their technology.

IT Service Provider Team Member - Remote Support or Help Desk

Although these are some people you may never see, depending on the state of your IT - or the process your vendor uses to submit tickets and requests - they may be the people you speak with most frequently. The Help Desk, or Remote Support, technicians are the ones that will be on the other line when you call in with an issue. Think you have a virus? Call the help desk! Printer refusing to print? Your remote consultant has your back. At iuvo, you’ll be calling our Rapid Response Team. It’s not a help desk in the traditional sense, but rather a team of technicians with an understanding of your systems that will get back to you and begin remediation within the timeframe set forth by your SLA (Service Level Agreement).

These may also be the folks pushing out bulk updates and patches that keep your organization safe without you ever knowing about it. Again, some organizations handle this process differently. At some, you’ll have to call the help desk anytime you need to submit a support ticket, while at others you’ll call your dedicated on-site consultant for issues and then they’ll either handle it themselves or route it to where it needs to go. Regardless, there’s almost always someone working behind the scenes to take care of things off-site.

Choose the Best Extension of Your Team

It can be a tough decision to outsource your IT, but sometimes it’s clearly the best option for your organization. To learn more, schedule your FREE IT assessment and learn more about how we can help.