Before you begin any partnership with a Managed Services Provider (MSP), there’s an important step you must take, which is to negotiate your service agreement. From a customer perspective, your service agreement will be the document that sets the tone for your entire partnership. It allows you to document deliverables and should explain in clear terms the provider’s services and how they will be implemented. Here’s what you should know about what goes into a Managed Services Agreement (MSA)…
Customer Education: What Goes into a Managed Services Agreement
You will be relying on the services provided by the MSP. To ensure that the MSP honours the agreement, and that no confusion exists when there’s a problem, be sure to include these areas in your MSA:
- Your Terms and Conditions
First, specify the length of the contract, along with pricing and payment terms (is the service fee paid monthly, quarterly, yearly?) and any unique terms and conditions. Ask if this contract is auto-renewed or if a new agreement will be required after the current one ends. There should also be a clearly defined contact person through your MSP, if you need to discuss any contract details.
- Services and Scope of Work
You need to document what services will be covered by the agreement. Be sure to include the details. For instance, in an IT Services agreement, you will want to define the type and number of devices supported. This area should clearly identify the scope of the services rendered, including what isn’t included, and any additional fees (such as hourly rates) when something falls outside that scope of work.
This is so you know exactly where the MSPs responsibility ends and yours begins, and if there’s room to negotiate when additional work falls outside the scope of the original agreement.
- Your Environment Administration
To define what exactly is being done to your business infrastructure, or operations, you need to make sure your MSA presents an accurate outline of your current environment, with any prerequisites on your end that are required for the services to be administered. Then, your MSA should define what exactly is going to be done by the MSP, such as new software implementation, or taking over server maintenance.
Hint: It’s best to supply your MSP with a list of your requirements. Then, once the MSA is drafted, check that your list matches the one stated in the contract.
- Policies
As your business infrastructure undergoes change, you will need to define who will be setting new policies around things such as hardware/software use, updates, replacements, or things such as your IT Services policy, or bring your own device (BYOD) policies, especially if you’re in an industry that must comply with mandatory regulations.
In the event of any changes to your current policy literature, will the MSP be handling any necessary amendments? Or will you? Make sure it’s clear who takes the reins. You don’t want to issue two different policies. Conflicting protocols will lead to employee confusion and could risk your operations’ security.
- Termination Details
Details around MSA termination are very important. What happens if you want to end the contract early? Your MSA should explain exactly how that works, what qualifies as an “acceptable” termination reason, and if any early termination penalties will be incurred. Make sure it covers how the transition will proceed if, for instance, you plan to revert your IT management back to your in-house staff. Your service agreement should explain the timeline for the hand-over, including the exact date when you will be officially taking over and when the MSPs obligations end.
- Non-Solicitation Agreement
You may have come across these non-solicitation agreements with other contractors or vendors. It’s a good idea to have one in your service agreement with MSPs. Not just for the sake of the MSP, but also to protect your company from having its talent poached. A non-solicitation clause forbids either party from reaching out and hiring each others’ employees. If you don’t see one already included in your MSA, then be sure to ask for one.
Additional Terms You Might Want to Include in Your Managed Services Agreement
Aside from the basics listed above, there are a few items that are unique to Managed IT, that we feel should be mentioned in our list of what goes into a Managed Services Agreement:
- IT Support details – Is their IT Support Desk local, like Com Pro’s, or 100% remote? Remote support is OK if services are cloud-based. If not, make sure your MSA lists their support hours – 24/7? Off-hours? Weekends?
- Cybersecurity Plan – Does your MSA include a plan for IT security measures such as, data encryption, data intrusion prevention, detection, and remediation.
- Backups – Your MSA should explain if on-site storage will be used or cloud storage. If the latter, you need to know how secure their cloud solution is, and if it’s public or private?
- Monitoring – Who will be monitoring your systems, implementing security updates, and configuring firewalls? Does that also include remote users and mobile devices?
- Disaster Recovery – This should be standard, however, if it isn’t, make sure your MSA includes it. If you have several sites, make sure each one has a specific disaster recovery plan, with exact details about how the MSP intends to get you back online if disaster strikes.
Conclusion
Now that you’re empowered by a deeper understanding of what goes into a Managed Services Agreement, you can go forward and ask more probing questions about how each service component will be delivered.
You want to make sure that you feel comfortable with your chosen provider. At Com Pro, we define everything in plain language, and we believe in complete service transparency when it comes to how we deliver our services and how we treat our clients.
Learn how Com Pro can become your valued partner in business, taking on your Managed Print and IT, so you can focus on more important matters. Contact us today.