Is Your Business ISP Making Excuses? 4 Signs you Need IT Vendor Management

When your business internet is out or slow, it’s like pulling teeth trying to troubleshoot. You can call customer service, they’ll give you the standard lines, telling you to reset the modem and router and plug directly into the modem in order to troubleshoot. They’re eager to pass the buck, blaming it on your router, your operating system or server. Perhaps the worst is when they exploit your lack of knowledge about how your system is configured and give you the wrong information regarding what the true issue is. It can go around and around, escalating and finally getting an appointment. Meanwhile your productivity is shot and your employees are sitting around twiddling their thumbs. If you’re experiencing ongoing issues with your ISP and internet connection, here are some signs it may be time to seek out an external resource for vendor management services.

1. You’ve invested a significant amount of time on the phone with customer service.
   Historically, when it comes to customer experience, many of the most well-known internet service providers have had pretty bad marks. To their credit, they’re taking steps to improve things, but there’s still not a single point of contact for businesses and internet service providers. Managed Services Providers, however, bring thousands of dollars in business their way every month and have a dedicated representative to service all accounts. That means when there is an issue, they have a direct line of communication into troubleshooting. So rather than making multiple phone calls and getting passed around to different representatives until you no longer want to speak to anyone but a supervisor, you can make one call to your Managed Services Provider who will do all the juggling that you don’t want to.
2. You’re experiencing ongoing speed or outage issues and you keep getting excuses.
   The nice part about having someone on your side that has technical acumen and also manages your technology is that there’s no assigning arbitrary blame just to get you off the phone. Your Managed Services Provider will be able to say, “No, we already checked the network devices, the router and reset the modem.” This way they can troubleshoot from the get-go and move straight into escalation for an updated modem or troubleshooting the service on their end.
3. You’ve raised your voice or started using less than savory language with customer service.
   It’s hard to remember that there’s a human on the other side of the phone when you’re so frustrated about ongoing internet issues. But the fact of the matter is that you’ll get much further being pleasant than you will with getting angry. Because your Managed Services Provider is outside the situation, they can more easily speak in a level way with the internet service provider and get more accomplished. It’s not to say that you couldn’t handle it on your own – but why be stressed out when you don’t have to?
4. You’re not very knowledgeable regarding the structure of your network and connections.
   Let’s face it – you don’t know a ton about your network, what devices are connected to it, how the modem and router are setup or how your workstations connect. You may not even be sure what download and upload speeds you should be getting. A Managed Services Provider will be intimately familiar with every device on your network, how it is configured, your wiring, your workstation setups and everything in between. They can use all the standard jargon without confusing one another and will be able to better troubleshoot and understand along the way.

You don’t have time to troubleshoot internet connectivity for hours on end. You have a business to run and work to get done. Your employees need to be productive and connected. Rather than spending the time to go back and forth with your internet service provider’s customer service staff, invest a portion of your technology budget into IT Vendor Management and benefit from making only a single phone call to a skilled resource that can take the ball and run with it.