Teaser:Don’t sign on the dotted line until you’ve got clear, confident answers to these ten critical MSP questions. From response times to security, pricing to people, this FAQ will make sure you pick a partner who keeps your IT humming—and your budget intact. Let’s get after it!
1. What Exactly Does an MSP Do?
Answer:A Managed Service Provider (MSP) takes on the day-to-day monitoring, management, and maintenance of your IT infrastructure—servers, workstations, networks, security, backups, and more. Instead of waiting for things to break (break-fix), an MSP uses proactive tools and automation to catch issues early, deploy updates, and keep your systems healthy 24×7.
2. How Is Your Pricing Structured?
Answer:MSP pricing usually falls into three camps:
- Flat-Fee All-You-Can-Eat: One predictable monthly rate covers a predefined bundle of services.
- Per-User/Per-Device: You pay for each user or machine under management.
- Tiered Packages: Silver/Gold/Platinum levels with progressively more features.
Beware hidden fees—onboarding, dispatch, project work, compliance reports—that can sneak onto your bill if you’re not crystal clear.
3. What Are Your SLA Response & Resolution Times?
Answer:An MSP should guarantee two SLA metrics:
- Acknowledgment Time: How quickly they confirm they’ve seen your ticket (e.g., 15 minutes).
- Resolution Time: How quickly they’ll fix the underlying issue or dispatch on-site (e.g., 2 hours on-site).
Faster SLAs = lower downtime costs. If your MSP can’t share real-life SLA reports, that’s a red flag.
4. Can We Upgrade or Scale Services Mid-Contract?
Answer:Your business needs will evolve—new hires, acquisitions, regulatory changes. Make sure your MSP lets you:
- Add seats or devices with prorated billing.
- Upgrade to higher tiers for extra services (compliance, advanced security).
- Scale back down if you need to tighten the budget.
If you’re locked into rigid tiers or high up-front fees for upgrades, you’ll miss out on valuable flexibility.
5. Who Will Be Our Main Points of Contact?
Answer:The best MSPs assign you two dedicated roles:
- IT Manager: Your technical lead who oversees monitoring, escalations, and strategic initiatives.
- Account Manager: Your relationship owner for billing, quarterly reviews, and roadmap planning.
When your primary contacts are on vacation or training, familiar team members should step in seamlessly—no guessing games, no ticket limbo.
6. What Security & Compliance Standards Do You Meet?
Answer:Modern MSPs bake security into every plan. Look for coverage that includes:
- Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) on every device.
- Managed firewall & IDS/IPS monitoring.
- Quarterly vulnerability scans and patch validation.
- Compliance reporting for HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, or your industry regulations.
If the MSP can’t produce audit-ready reports or doesn’t list specific security controls, ask yourself: “Are they protecting my data—or just selling reassurance?”
7. How Do You Handle Backups & Disaster Recovery?
Answer:Not all backups are created equal. Drill into:
- Backup Frequency & Retention: Hourly, daily, weekly, and for how long.
- Location: On-site snapshots vs. geo-redundant cloud storage.
- DR Testing: Do they run a failover drill at least once a year?
- RTO/RPO Guarantees: How quickly can you restore (Recovery Time Objective) and up to what data loss window (Recovery Point Objective)?
A backup that sits idle is a backup that fails when you need it most.
8. What Reporting & Transparency Can I Expect?
Answer:You need a clear view into your IT health and costs. Good MSPs deliver:
- Monthly Executive Reports: System uptime, ticket stats, patch compliance, security alerts.
- Quarterly Strategy Reviews: Roadmap planning, budget forecasting, upcoming projects.
If your MSP locks you out of their tools or only shares generic PowerPoints, you’re in for guess-work.
9. Do You Outsource Any Support?
Answer:When you call for help, you want domain-expert engineers—ideally local, familiar with your environment. Ask:
- What percentage of tickets go to an offshore call center?
- Which support tiers are in-house vs. outsourced?
- How is knowledge shared between remote agents and your dedicated team?
Zero-outsourcing means faster handoffs, no language barriers, and real accountability.
10. What Does Onboarding Look Like—and How Long Will It Take?
Answer:A smooth onboarding sets the tone for your whole partnership. You should see:
- Discovery & Assessment: Network mapping, security audit, hardware/software inventory.
- Plan & Approval: Detailed project timeline, milestone dates, resource assignments.
- Implementation: Installing agents, configuring monitoring, migrating backups.
- Knowledge Transfer: Team training sessions, documentation handoff.
- Go-Live & Stabilization: A 30- to 60-day hyper-care period with SLA ramp-up.
If your MSP quotes “2–4 weeks” without details, dig deeper—complex environments often take 6–8 weeks end-to-end.
Next Steps
👉 Ready to turn these questions into a winning MSP partnership? Reach out to Stamm Tech for a custom discovery call—and see why our 100% in-house, local team in Milwaukee delivers lightning-fast support and rock-solid security, all under one flat-fee roof.