Your IT Provider Isn't Slow Because They're Busy

I've been in managed IT for 15 years. I've heard every excuse. But the one that drives me crazy is "we're just really slammed right now."

No, you're not. You're understaffed. Or your systems are broken. Or — and this is the one nobody wants to say out loud — you just don't prioritize your clients' problems.

A Subscription to Disappointment

I run an MSP. I know what "busy" looks like. And I can tell you that response time isn't a capacity problem. It's a priorities problem.

When a client calls with a downed server, that's an emergency. Not tomorrow. Not "we'll get to it." Right now. The fact that this is apparently a controversial take in our industry tells you everything you need to know about the state of managed IT.

Here's what I see all the time: businesses paying $5,000, $10,000, even $15,000 a month for managed services, and they can't get someone on the phone when something breaks. They submit a ticket and wait. Sometimes hours. Sometimes a full day. For a service they're paying a premium for.

That's not a service. That's a subscription to disappointment.

The Fix Isn't Complicated

The fix isn't complicated. Staff appropriately. Build systems that escalate automatically. And treat every client problem like it matters — because to them, it does.

At SkyNet MTS, our average response time is one-fifth the industry standard. Not because we've cracked some secret code. Because we decided that speed matters and built the operation around that decision.

That's it. That's the whole secret. Decide it matters, then build accordingly.

If your IT provider keeps telling you they're "working on it" while your team sits idle, they didn't build their operation around you. They built it around themselves.

Speed is just one symptom of a bigger problem. There's also the "out of scope" racket and the revolving door of technicians.

Bottom line: speed isn't a luxury. It's a choice. And if your provider isn't choosing it, you should choose a different provider.