It Outsourcing Secrets: A Small Business Guide to Compare It Support Companies

By Deborah S. Frazier

There are more than 32 million small businesses in the United States alone, of which over half rely on managed service providers (MSPs) to support their IT infrastructure. While there are many wonderful MSPs throughout the world, you are likely not reading a book on how to choose the right one if you had a good experience. You need someone experienced to help guide you through the minefield. Deborah Frazier has spent nearly 20 years consulting with more than 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses on their IT support needs. During this time, she has witnessed the work of some great IT service companies that make her proud to be in this industry. However, she has also seen just as many unethical companies who tricked and deceived their clients. "IT Outsourcing Secrets" was written to shed light on the IT outsourcing industry and allow small businesses the ability to decipher truth from fiction and make informed decisions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684705290

Book preview

FRAZIER

Copyright © 2019 Deborah S. Frazier.

Interior Image Credit: Gartner and Dreamstime stock photo

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0521-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0529-0 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/18/2019

DEDICATION

I want to thank my family for always being supportive and believing in me. I never could have made it through some very difficult years if it had not been for you. I wake up every day knowing how truly blessed I am.

To my husband of 23 years, Gary Frazier, who has loved me unconditionally and still makes me feel like a new bride. The best part of my life started the day I met you.

To my beautiful little girl, Sara McKinley Frazier, who sacrificed two weeks of our time together to allow me to write this book. You are the sweetest, smartest, and most beautiful girl I know, and I am so proud to be your mother.

To my mother, Sara King Heselmeyer, who never stopped believing in me and whom I miss so very much.

To my big sister, Jennifer Smith, who means the world to me and who held my hand during some of the most difficult times in my past.

To my CEO at Biltcore, Sean Nicholl, who I respect and admire very much. Thank you for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to shine.

Most importantly, to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior from whom all blessings flow. Thank you!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image002.jpg

Deborah Frazier is the head of Sales and Marketing for the Biltcore Companies. She has almost 20 years’ experience selling IT support to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). In her previous role she was the most tenured member of the leadership team at BlueWave Computing that grew the company from 10 to 230 employees—helping to make major decisions regarding operations, finances, and corporate strategy. The company sold in 2015 as one of the largest, fastest growing, IT support companies for SMBs in the United States. During this time the company won multiple national awards and recognition for growth. Deborah was consistently recognized as the top sales performer and was responsible for entering the company into new markets—including the highly regulated healthcare vertical, which became the top revenue-producing segment in the company within two years and maintained that position until she left.

Most importantly, Deborah is the creator of the INSI Customized IT™ support platform, which is a revolutionary program that changed the way IT support is delivered to SMBs by lowering 80% of the IT support cost, allowing true customization for small businesses through a tiered structure, and providing specific services to small IT departments. INSI is one of three Biltcore engineering companies who incorporates Deborah’s sales experience to increase their market presence in each catagory.

Deborah lives in Kennesaw, Georgia, with her husband of 23 years, 10-year-old daughter, two birds, one cat, and one dog. She is an active member of her church and enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, crafts, cooking gourmet meals, and helping others in business reach their potential.

Deborah is available for speaking engagements on how to compare IT support companies for small business owners. If you would like to invite Deborah to speak at your event, she can be reached at [e-mail].

INTRODUCTION

There are really great and really, really bad managed service providers in the technology service industry. I know this because I have spent nearly 20 years selling IT support services, and if you want to know what really goes on in this industry, you need to look no further than the people like me who work on the front lines every day. During my time in this industry, I have seen solid companies that stand by their work, and those who commit nearly every atrocity imaginable to profit from their clients. As a professional, it was my intent to never lower myself to bashing the competition, even when I knew the MSP had a bad history with their clients. Instead, my approach was to match their service offerings and beat them by showing a higher quality of service. It pained me when I saw the client choose the bad MSP, as I knew what was in store for them. Yet, if they chose one of the good ones, I understood because they made an informed decision that was right for them. Not to say I was happy about it, because no one likes losing a deal, but I understood.

Over the years I have seen many bad service providers. I have seen companies grow and shrink over and over through the years because of shady business practices. I have been in the room when a client tested to see if the provider was reading their emails, only to get a call from the provider within 30 minutes to see how they could make their service levels better. I have seen a company lease servers but refuse to share the passwords to keep the client from switching providers without extreme hassle. And I’ve even seen a company yelling at customers if they refused to stay (yes, they yell at their clients when they leave). My engineers have caught another MSP red-handed blocking emails from their own competitors. Many times I have witness an MSP change and hoard passwords so the client has to call them, only to be asked why they need them. Then they charge the client for the time on the phone to share the passwords they hid. By the time a client is able to leave a company like this, they are exhausted beyond words.

If your reading this book, your service levels have dropped, or they never met the expectations you were promised. You don’t understand why you keep having the same experience with every provider. You can’t afford, or don’t know how, to put your own IT department together. If any of this sounds like you, you are among the millions of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who struggle with MSPs every day, and you find yourself asking:

• How can I truly compare IT support companies?

• How can I understand the pricing calculations to know what I’m really being charged?

• How do I know if the provider has the capabilities to deliver the support I desire?

• Is it time to bring IT in-house, and how do I do it?

• I feel like the IT company is talking circles around me because I don’t know enough about their industry to ask the right questions. What can I do?

(If you have an IT support nightmare story, I would love to hear it. Please send it to [e-mail].)

WE ARE ABOUT TO BLOW THE LID OFF THE HIDDEN FEES AND FLAWS IN TODAY’S IT SUPPORT MODELS.

Let’s face it, SMBs in the United States have always been highly dependent on MSPs for IT support. As evidence of this, CompTIA conducted an MSP business model survey in March of 2019 and found that over two-thirds of SMBs consider technology to be a primary factor in pursuing their business objectives. That percentage rises to 73 percent of companies that have 99 to 249 employees. Further they found that the top three areas where SMBs specifically need the most IT help is identified as integration (38 percent), cybersecurity (35 percent) and managing data (35 percent). Over half of respondents (53 percent) rely on an MSP to some degree, and another 34 percent have at least considered that option. Considering that there are currently 30.2 million small businesses in this country, which comprise a whopping 99.9% of all United States businesses, that makes these stats HUGE! (Information provided by U.S. Small Business, Office of Advocacy.)

WHO IS THIS BOOK INTENDED FOR?

This book is intended only for SMBs. It is not for MSPs or enterprise clients, it is for small and