The questions mid-market companies should ask when evaluating managed services providers. Including the ones most MSPs hope you will not ask.
Read the GuideTalk to UsPicking a managed services provider is one of the highest-leverage decisions a mid-market business makes. The wrong MSP will cost you more than money: it will cost you trust in your technology, morale on your team, and agility in your operations. This guide gives you the questions to ask, the red flags to watch for, and the comparison framework to keep the evaluation honest.
How do you staff your helpdesk, and what is the experience level of the first person who takes my ticket? What percentage of issues are resolved on first contact versus escalated to vendor support? What does your monthly reporting look like, and can I see a redacted sample from a current client? Who handles database work, infrastructure engineering, and complex project work, and are those people employees or subcontractors? What is your security baseline for managed clients, and does it include MFA, advanced endpoint protection, DNS filtering, and email hygiene by default?
Any MSP that cannot explain their pricing on a single page is hiding something. Ask for a fixed monthly price based on your user count and environment. Ask what happens when you grow. Ask what is included and what is billed separately. Watch for MSPs that quote low upfront and then add charges for work that should be included.
Long-term contracts with no performance guarantees. Reluctance to share current client references. Vague answers about technical capabilities. Outsourced helpdesk in time zones that do not match your business hours. Inability to describe how they handle specific vendors and platforms you use daily. Salespeople who cannot answer technical questions.
Make a short list of three MSPs. Run each through the same questions. Score responses on a simple scale: strong, acceptable, weak. Talk to at least two current clients of each finalist. Ask the clients the hardest question: would you hire them again? If the answer hesitates, note it.
RE2 Tech publishes pricing clearly at Essential, Pro, and Enterprise per month for our three tiers. Our helpdesk is staffed by engineers, not call center agents. Our engineers are all employees. Our security baseline is standard on every tier. If you are evaluating us against other providers, we welcome the comparison.
Call a RE2 Tech engineer today and get a specific proposal inside of 72 hours. No pressure, no long pitch.
952-223-4422helpdesk@re2tech.com