War stories / Suppliers
The IT company that disappeared
Sometimes the cheapest IT support turns out to be the most expensive.
A client of ours decided it was time to move on.
We were too expensive, apparently. They’d found another IT company that could do everything we did for less money.
Fair enough. It’s their business and their decision.
We helped with the handover, provided the information the new provider needed and did what we could to make the transition straightforward.
We did raise a couple of red flags along the way.
But there’s an awkward problem with being the outgoing IT company. When you tell a client you’re worried about their new provider, it’s rather difficult not to sound like you’re trying to keep their business.
So we said our piece, handed everything over and wished them well.
Three weeks later, the phone rang.
Their email server had disappeared.
Not stopped responding. Not developed an intermittent fault.
Disappeared.
And they couldn’t get hold of their new IT company.
It turned out the new provider had gone into administration. Unfortunately, the client’s internet connectivity and server services had been tied to that provider.
When the company went down, those services went with it.
The client was suddenly without critical systems, without a functioning IT provider and without a clear way of getting things back.
They asked us to return.
In fact, they offered to pay us twice what they’d previously been paying.
We went back in.
Fortunately, we were able to recover data from a few weeks earlier, rebuild what was needed and get the business working again.
It wasn’t a perfect outcome. Recovering from an older copy of your data is never anyone’s first choice.
But the business was back on its feet.
And there was a rather expensive lesson in the whole experience.
The lesson
When you choose an IT company, you’re not just buying somebody to answer the phone when a computer stops working.
You’re trusting them with the systems your business depends on.
Who owns your data? Who controls your internet connection? Where are your backups? And what happens if your IT provider disappears tomorrow?
Those aren’t particularly exciting questions.
Until the day you urgently need the answers.
The cheapest IT company isn’t necessarily the one that costs you the least.
And sometimes, by the time you discover the difference, it’s a little late.
If you’re thinking of changing provider, here’s how to switch IT providers without disruption.
Techsperience War Stories: real lessons from the front line of IT. Identifying details have been left out to protect client confidentiality.
Frequently asked
The questions this story raises.
What happens to your IT if your IT provider goes into administration?
Anything the provider supplies or controls directly can stop with it. In this case the client's internet connection and server services were tied to the provider, so when it went into administration their email server went too, and there was nobody to call. Getting back meant recovering from a copy of the data a few weeks old.
What should a firm check before changing IT provider?
Four things: who owns your data, who controls your internet connection, where your backups are, and what happens if the provider disappears tomorrow. If the answer to any of them is the provider, make sure you can get access without them.
Is the cheapest IT support company the best value?
Not necessarily. The monthly fee is only part of the cost. If a cheaper provider holds your connectivity, servers or backups and then fails, the cost of recovery and lost working time can far outweigh the savings.