Suggestions on how to pick an IT consultant for a small business

[killer_carlson]

As the title says, recent events have us re-examining our IT consultant relationship.



so if anyone has suggestions on how to pick a good one, i'm all ears.

[gasman]

Hey,

I'm part owner of a small business, 12 employees/contractors. I am using a company called measurable genius. They are also a small company, they work on an "all you can eat" type of IT contract, where you pay per month for each employee, and they provide unlimited tech support. no hourly costs and cost certainty every month.

THey have been a good fit for us for the past 14 months. Alex is the principal, their website is www.measurablegenius.com

Tell them Chris from SWAT Projects referred you, maybe I will get a pen or something

[killer_carlson]

nuts. I'm in Edmonton and they don't service up there.

Thanks for the referral though.

[fundmark19]

I work for an IT recruitment agency. We have an office in Edmonton that can help you find the right consultant if you want someone in house

[Galakanokis]

My buddy works for vision33 and they have representation in Edmonton. They can do about our a little. I can put you contact with him, good guy, I think he's tech support manager for Canada something like that.

Sorry, my buddy just said they don't have a permanent presence there, use contractors and guys travel if need be. Probably not what you're looking for.

[Ozy_Flame]

I work for a medium-sized consultancy that runs the gamut of Microsoft Dynamics AX, CRM, BI, and SharePoint/O365, as well as SAP, and we have a large Managed Services practice. We have an office in Edmonton that mostly focuses on Dynamics and BI. Not sure what kind of consultants you are looking for but we have a pretty presence in Alberta. Let me know if you want more details.

[Rathji]

It really depends on your IT needs.

I work for a MSP, which is like gasman said, an 'all you can eat' thing, where you pay per PC to keep things running, unless you are adding something new to the network. This can get pricey, but if you have 'regular' IT needs, it helps you keep your costs consistent. We act like our client's IT department, and will sit in on planning meetings etc as required. Its nice because we spend time every month doing proactive maintenance, not just running around putting out fires.

If you only call your IT company once or twice a month, and have someone onsite who can deal with minor things, then a pay-as-you-go model might make more sense.

We don't do work in Edmonton specifically, other than a few of our clients who have offices up there, but if you want to PM me your info, I could see if my boss would be willing to spend a few minutes on a call or shoot some emails back and forth with you. He does this kind of thing all the time, just helping people figure out what their needs are in an IT company.