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After 102 days without community transmission, New Zealand once again had to grapple with increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases and for Auckland there was a swift return to level 3 lockdown which kept IT teams and managed service providers on their toes.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern announced Auckland’s level 3 lockdown with many businesses needing to switch to remote working within 24 hours. We provide IT managed services and our teams responded very quickly to enable clients to make the switch to working from home.

To find out more we speak to Ben Walton, our Service Excellence Manager.

Lancom Technology, an Auckland based software and technology provider with a track record of successfully serving customers in Australia for more than a decade, has opened its first physical office in Melbourne, Victoria. The office is staffed by account management, presales, and solutions architect professionals, backed by Lancom Technology’s proven delivery team located in Auckland.

Running a small to medium-sized business is a constant juggle between getting the work in, getting it done and getting paid. Even for SMEs in the thick of the digital economy, the focus is (understandably) about doing core business, not on IT.

Having to go jump through the hoops as an end user recently has caused us to look around and realise most IT providers aren't doing their part in creating stress-free client experiences.

Does this scenario sound familiar?  You have reached out to your IT provider for IT support and 20 minutes later you are not any closer to your solution than before. You've had to provide all of your personal information, including the name of your cat!?, just to get your ticket logged. Hmmm unproductive... and frustrating.

But, what tops the experience off is the way you feel after – the way you have been treated by the engineer when logging your support request has left you feeling untalented and ignorant.

What happened to the notion of technology empowering you, and your business?

To help you paddle your way out of this less than ideal situation, we have broken down the causes, effects and alternative solutions when you suspect your IT provider is failing you.

Outsourcing some or all of your IT service requirements is a great way to improve focus on core business operations, benefit from reduced costs and access to more powerful, more capable technology on-demand. 

But, how do your shop for an Outsourced IT provider? Do you compile a list from google, send through an email requesting the price,then choose the most economical provider? Because they are all the same, all they do is fix IT issues, right? 

WRONG. 

Service Levels Agreements are everywhere, from Energy Companies to Pizza Delivery.  For consumers it’s things like “delivered in 30 minutes”, or “the best nights’ sleep you’ve ever had”.  For businesses it’s measured in response times, uptime or resolutions times – and setting these expectations is important! They allow both you and your customers to know when you are performing, and when there is work to be done to meet expectation.  

At Lancom we have set strong SLA’s that we are proud of, so we want to give you a behind the scenes peak at what they are!  

Before we dive in, we want to bring up an important 'extra', which is crucial in the success of implementing SLA's – the Communication Level Agreement.  What's often missing is the discussion around the discussion!  When and how will you communicate with your customer, especially in their times of need.  The SLA is a great document, but it lives in the past.  You only go to it after the fact.  SLA’s always talk about mean time between failure, business hours response times and defect rates.  And why do they always have a little star? 

With New Zealand and Australia leading the world in technology and business integration, it would be understandable if you were starting to question your ability to keep up.  

With the increasing reliance on technology to create growth and competitive advantages for businesses, the solution is not to do it all yourself, but to partner with an IT Provider who works in partnership with your business.  

But how do you know if your business is ready to engage with a Managed Services Provider (MSP)? If you're on the fence, we've broken down the key indicators that it's time to find an IT Partner.