Free IT assessment and consultation are offered by many Managed IT Service Providers (MSPs) as an introductory service that allows prospective customers to evaluate their IT infrastructure, security, and operational effectiveness without cost or commitment.

The MSP’s goal in providing a free assessment is to showcase its expertise, build relationships, and create trust, ultimately positioning itself as a long-term IT partner. But the prospective customer also has a lot to gain from such an assessment.

This blog post describes what potential clients can expect from a free IT assessment and consultation and how they can make a more impactful use of the assessment.

Purpose of Performing An IT Assessment

The purpose of the IT assessment, whether free or paid, is to examine and evaluate an organization’s IT infrastructure, systems, operations, and policies. The findings of such assessments help the organization identify areas of concern and opportunities for improvement.

A comprehensive IT assessment gives the organization information necessary to make informed decisions on how to correct deficiencies, improve business functions, and make strategic improvements. Even a limited IT assessment with a narrow focus gives the organization a better understanding of its IT needs and challenges, allowing it to better address those gaps.

Overall, an IT assessment is an excellent way for businesses to get professional insights without making a financial investment. But more importantly, it helps them evaluate the value an MSP can bring to their organization.

What Do You Need To Provide For IT Assessment?

A comprehensive helps identify the IT infrastructure’s strengths and weaknesses and recommends steps that boost efficiency, productivity, and profitability. So, the more information you can provide the MSP for the assessment, the better the results.

While a free assessment cannot compare to a comprehensive assessment, which is usually very complex and sometimes time-consuming, it will still return better results if you provide the MSP with all the information that they need.

An MSP typically requires organizations to share the following information for a free assessment and consultation:

1. Business Information

Providing information about the type of business/industry you are in and your business goals and objectives helps the MSP identify gaps and suggest improvements based on your unique business needs. It also enables them to use industry best practices and benchmarks during the assessment.

2. Overview of IT Infrastructure

This includes a list of all hardware and software, network topology, including any cloud services, as well as third-party services and tools.

3. Cybersecurity Measures

Information on all existing security measures, such as firewalls, endpoint protection, policy documents, etc., and applicable compliance requirements, such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, etc.

4. Data Management

Information about solutions used for data management, including on-premise servers, cloud storage, and hybrid models. You will also need to share the details of your backup and disaster recovery plan, including the frequency of backups, how backups are handled, and disaster recovery processes.

5. User Information

A detailed breakdown of the number of users, devices, and remote or hybrid workers. To estimate the network and security requirements, the MSP will also need to know access and permission information, including access control lists and role-based permission structures currently in use.

6. Current IT Support

Information about current IT capabilities whether in-house or outsourced, including their key responsibilities and service-level agreements (SLAs).

7. Access to Key Systems

Finally, the MSP may need temporary access to some of your systems or tools to gather information about the infrastructure's health and performance.

If you have results from a prior audit, sharing them with the MSP will help them quickly gain a baseline understanding of your organization’s IT infrastructure, systems, and components.

What Happens During The Assessment?

1. Defining The Scope

The first step is to identify the key areas to be assessed. As we mentioned earlier, a comprehensive IT assessment is a complex and time-consuming process and a free assessment will be a lighter version done in a limited amount of time.

So the scope will have to be limited in depth, i.e. the extent of evaluation of a particular area, breadth, i.e. the range of areas to be evaluated, or both.

Here are some examples of IT assessments: 

• IT Risk Assessment

• Network And WiFi Performance Assessment

• Disaster Recovery And Business Continuity Assessment

• General IT Infrastructure Improvements

• Review of Relevant Security Standards and Regulatory Compliance

2. Data Gathering

This is the step in which the MSP gathers information about an organization's current IT infrastructure, systems, and processes, which helps the MSP understand the technology setup. Depending on the defined scope and access granted, the MSP will gather information on the following:

• IT Asset Inventory

• The number of users, devices, and how access is managed, including permissions and remote access policies.

• Network architecture, ISP, bandwidth, and performance metrics

• Security policies, protocols, and security measures

• Data storage and backup solutions

• Adherence to industry-specific regulations

• Current IT challenges and future growth goals

This information will enable the MSP to understand your needs, provide a detailed, customized analysis of your IT infrastructure, and recommend tailored solutions.

3. Gap Analysis And Benchmarking

Gap analysis and benchmarking are conducted to identify discrepancies between your current IT environment and your business goals or optimal industry standards. The data collected in the previous step helps establish the baseline for comparison.

Benchmarking typically includes network and system performance metrics, security frameworks, and compliance requirements but can be a lot more thorough depending on the scope of the assessment. The goal of benchmarking is to highlight where the organization is lacking relative to other organizations in the industry.

During this step, the MSP also analyzes the data to identify gaps in the performance, security, or efficiency of the infrastructure. Each gap is assessed in terms of its potential impact on the organization and prioritized accordingly.

Finally, the MSP presents tailored recommendations to address the identified gaps, improve overall IT performance, and align the systems with industry standards.

Overall the assessment helps the organization understand where its IT infrastructure stands and where it needs to be to meet the organization’s business goals, providing a clear roadmap for improving the IT environment.

Next Steps After The Initial Assessment

After receiving the free IT assessment, the organization should follow a structured approach to address the identified gaps and opportunities for improvement. Here are the post-assessment steps for the organization:

1. Conduct an internal review of the findings

First of all, the organization should carefully review the report to evaluate the findings and recommendations. Sometimes the assessment confirms what you already know, and at other times, it will bring to light completely unknown findings like unknown vulnerabilities or inefficiencies.

In any case, you cannot always trust the assessment findings a hundred percent. Here are a few things to be wary of when reviewing a free IT assessment:

• Be cautious if the MSP presents generic, one-size-fits-all solutions without tailoring them to your specific business needs.

• Be wary of overly alarming language or fear tactics without supporting explanations or evidence of the risks.

• Also, be careful if the MSP presents an inflated scope of work that requires a large upfront investment without offering any alternatives or objective guidance on the best solutions for your business.

• Be careful of the total cost of implementation, including maintenance, subscriptions, and future scalability.

• Unclear reports that lack actionable steps, approximate timelines, and resource requirements are also a clear red flag.

• Lastly, be wary if the MSP appears to use the free assessment solely as a tool for heavy upselling without justifying the added value.

If you are happy with the assessment and agree with the findings, it is time to make the executive decision and proceed forward with the recommendations from the MSP.

2. Decide on engagement with the MSP

Decide how you want to engage with the MSP. The typical contract options are as follows:

• Fully managed IT service - this is an all-inclusive solution that takes complete IT management off your hands and is ideal for organizations without an internal IT team.

• Co-managed IT service - this option is perfect for organizations with an internal IT team since it utilizes the strengths of both the internal IT team and the MSP.

• Short-term projects - this option is suitable for organizations that do not want to commit to a partnership.

3. Engage in a detailed consultation with the MSP

Once you have engaged with the MSP, you can get into a detailed consultation to clarify findings, discuss proposed solutions and alternatives, and perform a cost analysis. This detailed consultation will help you understand the short and long-term impacts of the proposed solutions and their financial impact, enabling you to prioritize implementation.

4. Develop a strategic IT roadmap

After the detailed consultation, you can develop a strategic IT roadmap with a comprehensive implementation plan covering timelines, resources, and responsibilities. You also need to decide on the budget, ensuring that the organization can financially support the proposed IT initiatives.

5. Execute the IT Strategy

With the roadmap in hand, you are all ready to start implementing the IT initiatives. Start with the most critical and impactful projects, which will allow you to get continued support from the stakeholders. And don’t forget to regularly review your IT strategy to ensure that it continues to be aligned with your evolving business needs.

Conclusion

As a prospective client, you should expect transparency, tailored advice, and a clear, actionable plan from a free IT assessment. However, to get that you also need to provide detailed information about your business and IT infrastructure to the MSP.

Heading into the assessment process with an open mind and collaborating with the MSP will allow you to better understand your IT challenges and make well-informed decisions regarding your IT infrastructure, security, and overall IT strategy.

Are you looking to improve your IT infrastructure but don’t know where to start? Reach out to us by clicking the button below and benefit from an IT assessment from our experts.

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