What IT services do you need, how much do they cost at a minimum, and how to control the quality of these services?

 

Atea advertisement

 

"A properly functioning, tidy, secure, and advanced IT infrastructure is important for every private or public sector organization.

 

However, not all organizations can have internal IT teams that maintain the infrastructure, improve it, and promptly resolve emerging problems.

 

In such cases, IT maintenance services are purchased from external service providers.

 

But how to choose a reliable supplier and ensure that the services provided are of high quality? Tomaš Jankovski, Head of the Service Department at Atea, based on many years of experience, reveals the most common mistakes organizations make and shares insights.

 

Technical procurement requirements are just a starting point

 

A significant number of organizations believe that in order to purchase high-quality IT infrastructure maintenance services, it is enough to prepare a well-prepared technical procurement specification. “Properly prepared, well-thought-out technical requirements are, of course, important. However, this is only one part of the whole puzzle, the starting point of the journey. Even a perfectly prepared specification is useful only until the moment of signing the contract,” claims T. Jankovski.

 

Why? According to the expert, what is written on paper does not necessarily become reality. “The real work begins after the contract is signed, when it is necessary to ensure that the requirements are actually implemented,” he emphasizes. This is not always possible: there are cases when the buyer wants high-quality, promptly provided services, but chooses the supplier only based on the lowest price and does not leave the opportunity for suppliers to compete on competence.

 

Digital workplace maintenance – for 3 euros per month?

 

Inadequate expectations regarding the price-quality ratio are also one of the most common problems. “Unfortunately, organizations’ procurement documents still contain truly surprising requirements.

 

For example, an organization expects that the maintenance of one digital workstation will cost no more than 3 euros per month, the hourly rate of an IT engineer will not exceed 8 euros, and that of a systems administrator – 12 euros,” the Atea representative cites specific cases.

 

At the same time, organizations expect that high-quality and operational IT infrastructure maintenance services will be provided for such and similar rates. For example, if a need arises, an IT service provider will respond within 15 minutes, solve the problem within two hours, and provide services 24/7.

 

“If you are even slightly knowledgeable in the IT market and know the salary ranges of IT specialists, it is easy to understand that these are inadequate expectations. Then the question arises, do you really want to entrust the management of your organization’s IT economy and access to important systems to people who will work relying only on Google or ChatGPT?”, – asks T. Jankovski rhetorically.

 

He adds that high-quality and security-compliant IT infrastructure maintenance is not only in the interest of business or public sector organization managers. “As citizens and users of public digital services, especially in these times of geopolitical instability, we also rightly want state organizations and businesses providing important services to choose competent and reliable IT service providers,” – claims T. Jankovski.

 

If the quality disappoints – do not be silent

 

Another common mistake of organizations is paying too little attention to ensuring the quality of services after the contract is signed.

 

T. Jankovski notes that organizations usually check invoices very carefully, but miss other important aspects that determine the quality of services. For example, such important things as: service level agreements, control of performance indicators or meetings for continuous service improvement often remain without due attention.

 

According to the expert, service quality monitoring must become an integral part of IT infrastructure maintenance service management. Organizations that regularly analyze service indicators and actively communicate with suppliers are able to notice disruptions faster, prevent major problems and get more value for the same budget.

 

“I recommend indicating to potential suppliers in advance that your organization will be particularly concerned about the quality of services.

 

In the purchase requirements, and later in the contract, describe the responsibility of the service provider and sanctions if the quality is not ensured.

 

Of course, it is no less important to practically control the quality of the service provided and monitor various indicators,” emphasizes the head of the Atea service department.

 

Finally, if you notice that there is a deviation from the quality parameters and there is no response to the requirements to ensure them, this should not be tolerated. At a time when the activities of many organizations are based on IT infrastructure, an improperly managed IT economy can lead to interruptions in operations or lost data, which, in turn, would mean financial losses, customer dissatisfaction or damage to reputation. In the face of modern cyber threats, the risk increases even more.

 

“Therefore, stop the provision of services, talk, and in extreme cases, simply terminate the contract if the quality of the services does not meet the agreement. This is the only way we can get out of this vicious circle, when service providers offer extremely cheap services, committing to provide them with quality, but do not fulfill the latter promise. In such a case, each party to the transaction would likely receive an important lesson,” advises T. Jankovski.

 

The expert summarizes that only a demanding client can have a strong IT service provider, and only then will these services create value, and every euro spent will pay off.”