How to choose an IT support company: nine questions, and the answers you want to hear.

Microsoft and devices · 7 min · written 30 October 2026 · by the IT-360 team · sources at the end

1. Who answers the phone?

If you are working out how to choose an IT support company, start here. You want: an engineer, in the UK, from the first ring, with the ticket opened while you talk. You do not want: a call-logger who passes a message, or a queue with music.

2. What are the response times, in writing?

You want: a written service level by urgency, with the clock starting when you call. And a monthly report that shows whether it was met. Ask to see last month's report for a real client with the name removed.

3. What happens at 6pm, and on a Saturday?

You want: a clear answer. Either a 24/7 desk, or an out-of-hours number that pages a named engineer. Or an honest "nothing until Monday", so you can decide if that is acceptable.

4. What do you hold yourselves?

You want: Cyber Essentials Plus at least, and ideally ISO 27001, with the certificates on their website. A provider that has not done it to themselves will struggle to do it to you.

5. Do you own the problem to the end?

You want: one ticket, one named owner, until it is closed, including when the fault is with Microsoft or the broadband carrier. You do not want to be the one ringing the carrier.

6. What is in the monthly fee, and what is extra?

You want: a plain list. Devices, users, monitoring, patching, backup, security, and what counts as a project. Ask what the last three invoices to a similar client looked like.

7. Which suppliers are you partnered with, and why?

You want: a short list they can explain, such as Microsoft, 8x8 and a backup vendor, and the reason for each. A very long list usually means a reseller, not a specialist.

8. How do you report to us?

You want: a monthly report an owner can read in five minutes. And a quarterly meeting that ends with a plan for the next quarter. Ask to see both.

9. How would you hand over if we left?

You want: documentation that belongs to you, passwords in a vault you control, and a written handover process. The answer to this question tells you how they will treat you for the whole relationship. That is how to choose an IT support company: ask all nine, and compare the answers in writing. Ours is on the Managed IT page, along with everything above.

Sources

• IT-360: the questions new clients asked us in 2025 and 2026, and what they said about their last provider.