Are you striving to build a strong, professional relationship with your IT partner?
As Managing Director at R & G Technologies, I can tell you it’s important that both sides invest in building a strong relationship. Why? Because strong relationships can create win-win situations that benefit both organisations.
Here are four ideas to help you build stronger relationships.
1. Set and understand expectations
A lot of frustration can arise when you feel like you're not getting the right level of service. This is often the result of a misalignment in expectations. At the beginning of the relationship with your IT partner (and ideally before you sign a contract), you should sit down with them and ask them to set clear expectations around response times, system uptime, job turnarounds, service level agreement inclusions and billable hours as far as what is and isn’t included.
By setting clear expectations, you give yourself the best chance of creating a long-term, win-win relationship where the boundaries and goal posts are clear.
2. Nominate a dedicated IT contact
Instead of giving IT responsibilities to multiple people inside your company, you should nominate one specific person who can act as a single point of contact with the IT provider.
If you’re reading this article, chances are you might be that IT contact. When all communication and information is controlled via one person, you minimise the chances of confusion and loss of information. It also gives you the opportunity to build a stronger, two-way relationship.
3. Understand IT partner’s motives
Any IT provider that has a long-term view of the world will be focused on delivering exceptional customer service. However, like in many businesses, there is also the dual dynamic of focusing on efficiency. The good news is that if you have a fixed-fee unlimited support agreement, then the more problems you have, the less money your IT provider makes, so you are both aligned to the same goal.
Therefore, if you are having ongoing IT problems, be honest and give them feedback with specific examples; they will take it constructively. Most IT companies will be open to any area for improvement to reduce your ongoing/repeated problems, because they understand your ultimate satisfaction is driven by having an IT environment that just works.
By showing that you understand your IT partner's motives, you’ll spend less time on opposing sides and more time working together on win-win outcomes.
4. Invest in face-to-face interactions
Invest in a face-to-face meeting every quarter. Use these meetings to discuss your business needs and highlight any specific problem management issues that you’ve recorded. If your business is growing, talk to your provider about how they can help you tackle the growth challenges from an IT perspective.
I recommend you organise at least one of these meetings per year at your IT partner’s office. This gives you the chance to build a relationship with other members of their team. Unfortunately, IT providers are often working inside a bubble; these face-to-face meetings give you a chance to meet the people working on your day-to-day IT problems.
Conclusion: Relationships make or break a business
Use the advice in this article to build a stronger relationship with your IT partner. By better understanding their motives, you can set clearer expectations and create more win-win situations for both of your organisations.