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IT resourcing has grown significantly in the past few years, and it is now becoming a critical function in companies of all sizes. Some companies can afford to have a full-time in-house IT department, and rely on outsourcing only to handle specific functions or projects. Others prefer to have an external firm that handles all their IT functions, including day-to-day operations and large projects. Whatever the case, chances are that your business needs reliable IT support in Newcastle or wherever you are located, either to make routine operations more efficient or to handle occasional projects.

Ideally, working with a reliable IT support company in Newcastle should guarantee a successful outcome in itself. However, it is easy for businesses to make certain mistakes and assumptions when enlisting the assistance of experts. Here are two of the most common mistakes and how to address them.

1. Hiring an IT support vendor and failing to actively manage them.

As with any organisational department, your IT support vendor will need both clear and consistent communication and oversight. When the owner stops getting involved with his or her business’s IT functions, expectations are not properly communicated, and problems become more likely to arise. Clear and timely communication is also necessary for the providers to make the necessary preparations for your long-term plans to be successful. How do you stay in the loop and ensure good flow of communication between the IT support vendor and your company? A few ways:

• Designate a point of contact from your company to act as the liaison between your employees and the IT support vendor.
• Ensure that your employees and IT support team are aware of the business shot and long-term technology plans.
• Establish a system for your IT support vendor to address the concerns of your employees.
• Acknowledge that disputes and misunderstandings are inevitable, and be prepared to apply the appropriate remedies.
• Request documentation from your IT support vendor after installation of the system and after every single visit or update, and review it.

Work with an IT support provider that is professional, highly skilled, and able to communicate the processes to non-IT personnel effectively. 

2. Assuming that all of your computer issues and challenges will be over once you hire an IT support vendor.

Hiring the most reliable IT support provider does not necessarily mean that there will no longer be any IT related issues. In fact, believing this is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Computers, like any other machines, can break down without warning. Additionally, they are often associated with user errors, software corruption, hardware failure, and regular maintenance issues. Plus, other concerns may even come to light because you now have a team of experts who can identify unique problems.

To avoid any misunderstanding, it is important that you understand what services your IT support provider will be providing and what is needed to accomplish them. You could ask them to provide a long-term assessment of your IT infrastructure and possible fixes with time.

Another common mistake that business owners make is hiring a provider at the lowest price in an effort to keep costs down, only to realise later that their employees lack the necessary training or resources to do the job right or don’t have the right tools or staff to carry out tasks and projects in a timely manner.

Whether you are looking for IT support in Newcastle for the first time, or perhaps for a new contract, you can now hopefully avoid the common mistakes that other business owners have made when working with IT support providers.