Find out what an MSP does, how ongoing support differs from a project and which decisions stay with your business.
Proxar · UK expertise
MSP evaluation: assess your existing provider
Your service report says things are going well, but staff may tell a different story. Reviewing your MSP means looking at both: what the contract promises and what people experience when they need help.
Use a representative period, including busy days and significant incidents. One excellent response or one frustrating ticket rarely tells the whole story.
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Look past the ticket numbers
A quick acknowledgement is useful, but it is not the same as fixing a problem. Pick a few incidents and follow what happened: when meaningful help began, whether the person could get back to work and whether the fault returned a week later.
Look at reopened tickets and time spent waiting for other suppliers. Was someone coordinating the investigation? Did staff know what was happening without repeatedly chasing? These details can explain why a service meets a reported target yet still feels difficult to use.
Check the work you do not see every day
Use your agreement and recent records to check maintenance, asset information, access changes and the follow-up of backup failures or security findings. Renewals and ageing equipment deserve attention too: were decisions brought to you while there was still time to act?
Keep two kinds of gap separate. Work that was never included needs a conversation about the service you are buying. Work that was included but has not happened needs a delivery improvement. Mixing them makes it harder to agree a fair and useful next step.
Operations manager reviewing reports to assess an existing MSP · Illustrative image
Turn the review into something you can act on
For each concern, record an example, the effect on your business and the change you need. Give the action an owner and agree how you will tell whether it has worked. A general promise to improve communication is less useful than a clear update process for open incidents.
Sometimes a recurring application fault needs work from the software vendor, not a faster helpdesk. Look at the MSP’s follow-up and advice as well as the final repair. Then compare the practicality of improving your current arrangement with changing it. Our MSP checklist gives you a consistent way to question alternative providers.
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Before you decide
Your questions, answered
Which support measures are most useful?
Look at time to meaningful help, time until people can work again, repeat incidents and unresolved risks. Compare similar priorities and support hours. Ask how each figure is calculated: a stopped clock while waiting for a supplier may be valid in the contract but still matter to your staff.
Does a poor review mean we should switch?
No. First establish whether the problem is delivery, communication, unclear responsibilities or a service that no longer fits. A specific improvement plan may be enough. Switching becomes a separate decision about confidence, cost and the practical work involved, not an automatic response to one disappointing report.
What should we ask our staff?
Ask about recent situations rather than a general satisfaction score alone. Could they reach the right person? Did they understand the next step? Was the problem actually resolved? Include colleagues in different locations or working patterns so the review is not based only on the experience of head office.
How do we review security and maintenance work?
Ask for records of the work included in your agreement, together with outstanding actions and exceptions. A list of installed products is not the same as evidence that tasks are being completed. Where the records are unclear, ask the provider to walk through a specific example with you.
Your next step
Is your current support falling short?
Bring a few ticket examples and your current service agreement. We can help you separate what needs fixing in the existing arrangement from the responsibilities a different service would need to cover.