The Checks
Independent guides to checking your IT provider.
Start with the decision you need to make. These guides explain what to ask for, how to examine the response and what remains unverified. actually. audits IT providers and technology; we do not deliver the IT services being assessed.
Understand your current provider
Examine what is being reported and which questions need more evidence.
How to evaluate the managed IT provider you already have.
Compare agreed services with records, reported claims and unresolved questions.
Provider acquiredYour IT provider was acquired. What to check before you renew.
What changes after an acquisition, and what to have in writing before the next renewal.
Before you sign, renew or switch
Compare commitments, clarify scope and prepare for a provider decision.
How to choose a managed IT provider, before you sign.
The seven things to verify before you sign with any managed IT provider, written by nobody who wants the contract.
Contract renewalQuestions to ask before renewing your MSP contract.
Find your actual deadline, compare delivery with scope, and decide what the next term needs.
Comparing providersComparing managed IT proposals? Compare scope before price.
Put the current service and proposed alternatives beside the same requirements.
Switching providersBefore switching IT providers, verify these first.
Check what needs to change and what a handover would require.
Check the cybersecurity evidence
Understand what sits behind the control statements your business relies on.
Examine costs and incentives
Review the bill, the assessment and the interests behind the advice.
The catch in a free IT assessment: it is a sales call.
What to ask about a free assessment's scope, evidence, incentives and intended use.
What it costsHow much does an independent IT audit cost in Canada?
The factors that set the price of an audit, and the questions that keep a quote honest.
Advisor independenceThe vCIO conflict of interest: who does your advisor work for?
When the person planning your technology is paid by the company selling it to you.
Toronto and the GTAWhat IT support costs in Toronto, and how to check your bill.
How to read your own invoice against the work, before deciding whether the number is high.
Free PDF · 5 pages
Get a free five page PDF checklist with ten questions to ask your IT provider.
Keep reading
Where to go next.
Ten questions to ask your IT provider
The document to bring to the next quarterly meeting, with what a real answer to each looks like.
The Actually BriefThe Brief: one question a month, answered
Plain language answers to the technology questions leaders actually ask. No pitches.
The Actually ReviewAn independent IT audit, in plain language
A review of what your provider reports against what is actually in place.