Questions to Ask an IT Firm Checklist

This document is a checklist designed for business owners and operations leaders to evaluate IT service providers before hiring. It outlines key areas to assess, including service agreements and SLAs, maintenance and patch management, compliance and regulatory support, support coverage and availability, security and incident response, and backup and disaster recovery. Each section provides specific items to review, such as verifying response time guarantees, confirming regular patch management, and auditing compliance monitoring practices. The checklist also includes a scoring model to assess potential risks associated with the IT provider based on the number of checked items, categorizing them into high, moderate, or controlled risk levels. Immediate red flags are identified, such as the absence of SLA response guarantees or a disaster recovery plan, guiding users on the next steps to take if risks are detected.