Cybersecurity protection is no longer “optional.” Businesses of all sizes have to protect their network, devices, and data. Many small and medium sized businesses are in the process of securing IT and cybersecurity support for the first time while others are looking to improve upon their existing setup to ensure data security and compliance.
For many leaders, the specifics of advanced cybersecurity are relatively unknown which makes interviewing potential providers difficult. Luckily, we have put together a series of categories and questions we think every organization should ask when exploring potential managed services providers.
1. Services and Expertise
- What specific services do you offer for small businesses?
- Do you have experience in our industry?
- What are your areas of expertise? (e.g., cybersecurity, cloud services, compliance, etc.)
2. Support and Response Times
- What are your support hours? Do you offer 24/7 monitoring and support?
- What is your average response time for service requests?
- How do you prioritize different types of service requests?
- What is the escalation process if issues aren’t resolved promptly?
3. Security and Compliance
- How do you approach cybersecurity? What measures do you take to protect our business?
- Do you offer proactive security monitoring and threat detection?
- How do you handle data backups and disaster recovery?
4. Pricing and Contract Terms
- How do you structure your pricing (flat-rate, per-user, etc.)?
- Are there any additional costs we should be aware of (e.g., for emergency support or after-hours service)?
- How flexible is your service model if our business grows or our needs change?
5. Proactive Maintenance and Monitoring
- How do you proactively monitor and maintain our systems to prevent issues?
- How often do you perform system audits or health checks?
- Do you provide annual or bi-annual reports on system performance, security risks, and other key metrics?
This is just the beginning of the list of potential questions leaders should ask when exploring MSPs. Over the coming weeks, we will explore industry specific questions focusing on heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and public sector.