The IT Provider Review

Most small companies hand their IT to an outside provider, sign a three-year contract, and then stop looking. The invoices get paid, the tickets get answered, mostly. Nobody checks whether the service matches the contract, or the contract matches what the business needs.

Then something goes wrong: a backup that won't restore, a cyber incident billed by the hour, a renewal that rolled over with a price rise because nobody saw the notice date.

This workbook takes you through your provider in an afternoon, before you renew.

What's in it

• Scope: 23 services, from the help desk and patching to backing up Microsoft 365, documentation and incident response. Mark whether each one is included, billed extra or not covered, and whether you need it. Most companies find at least one thing they assumed was covered and isn't.
• Service: twelve months of ticket numbers: answered and fixed on time against what they promised, how many came back, and the issue that keeps returning.
• Costs: twelve months of invoices. It works out the cost per person, how much is extra work on top of the monthly fee, and whether you're being billed for people who've left.
• Checks: 16 questions that show whether they're looking after you or just answering tickets: who has admin access, who owns the documentation, when a backup was last restored, whether they bring advice, and what happens if you leave.
• Contract: when it ends, the last day to give notice, and the terms that matter, with the questions to ask before you renew.
• Summary: the money, the service, the gaps and the contract on one page, and a verdict: keep them, fix things with them before you renew, or get quotes from other providers.

It comes filled in for a made-up company of 45 people paying about $8,000 a month. It's billed for seven people who've left, Microsoft 365 isn't backed up, and the deadline to give notice is coming up fast. Clear the sample and the formulas stay.

Who it's for

CEOs, finance directors and operations leaders at companies that outsource their IT to a managed service provider, especially with a renewal coming up.

It pairs with The Vendor Contract Review Checklist, for the contract itself, and The Vendor Selection Scorecard, if you decide to look elsewhere.

It's a single Excel file. It also opens in Google Sheets and Apple Numbers.

Want them all? The Complete Collection has every guide in the store in one download, for less than a third of the price.