There are various IT service providers, with different profiles, the company has to consider several points before closing any contract. Here are five key points to consider:
1. Planning
Before meeting the service provider, the company needs to know, relieving their needs, taking into account the culture of the company. Some questions to be answered before setting out to find the service provider are, IT consulting is only to reduce costs? Or to improve the quality of service? It can perform an analysis of indicators IT? What is the expected outcome in the short and long term?
2. Initial rating
Knowing the needs, the company has to hire a provider to fill the profile being sought. Generally, smaller consultancies are not worked methodically and with very complex equipment, and for that reason, have a cost structure and lower prices.
Larger companies (usually corporations) have an important structure and comply with a more rigid, resulting in higher cost values at first sight. We say at first sight because once the methodology is used properly, generates a large quantity and quality of information and indicators that allow the pro-activity of the provider of service.
This does not mean that they never work in small consulting methodology, or that the largest are always more expensive, but is common in the market to behave in that way.
3. Minimum contract
After qualifying for the provider of service, knowledge of contractual issues. If you need a SLA (Service Level Agreement or Service Level Agreement), that has to be very clear in the contract, in addition to describe what services and platforms, the technical service provider is responsible. Being a customer-supplier agreement, the SLA requires availability of resources (human, financial and time) of the two parties to implement the accord. Of course, the more adjusted than the SLA, the greater will be the availability of professionals from the service provider, and that will be directly reflected in the final price. It is necessary to consider whether the company really need a SLA and if business processes are critical enough to warrant this type of contract.
4. Discuss whether there will be improvements (changes) in its contract system
The company need only focus on problems and fixes or want to obtain an improvement and evolution in the service? The contract should be very clear, stating whether the service provider will provide improvements in the system or be responsible only for repairs of faults.
What often happens, for example, is that a company applies a system upgrade, and not in the contract, the service should be charged as extra. This work can go much cheaper from having included in the contract. Hence the classic question from the client to see the bill later this month: “Why not tell me that this service was not included?”. The advice is that when you hire, be watching to see if the contract involves the use of the package of hours for upgrades and troubleshooting, or just one or the other. Ideally, dividing the number of hours spent on improvements and dedicated to solving problems or the best, make a bundle of common hours.
It is essential that the contract specifies what the customer wants the supplier to do the services are only for my ERP or other applications? What other applications? Which the response time? Knowing that most of the contracts is 2 years and that its disruption creates a debt, usually priced at 50% of the outstanding balance of the contract.
The company must be aware of the problems that may occur. For that, you need to know if the contract allows the accumulation and consumption of hours early at no extra cost. Let’s say the contract states in 100 hours per month of providing service, but during the month were only used 50 hours of the package. The customer must pay for the 100 and lose 50 hours without use? The ideal is to have those hours remaining for use in the coming months of the contract, in case an emergency occurs. However, it can happen that are needed, for example, 150 hours in a month, the ideal would be to compensate for those hours in the following months. Some companies include a flexibility of 50% of the time in the contract.
This variation can mean a higher cost, but nothing compared to the payment of extra services.
5. Measurement
To keep track of services is important to manage KPIs (Key Performance Indicators and Key Performance Indicators). Fundamental to view the services were performed through the client-readable information. Assuming that the KPIs of the consultant only show the number of calls answered, without describing its nature, or that these indicators do not mean anything for the company. At the end of the ideal is that the result is positive for both the service provider to the employer.