(1) Understanding of your overall business strategy
For a vendor to understand your overall business strategy, you have to have one. In other words, don’t go shopping for a vendor for each job, such as adding a file system to an existing network. "Don’t buy something that is cheaper today," Jarman said. "We don’t do that at home. We don’t look for a refrigerator that is cheaper today. We look for something that’s going to last."
Jarman recalled one client who built systems from spare parts and added them, hodgepodge, into the existing network with no clear idea of the network’s goals. "Some of these things can end up costing you more," he said. "Having a consistent strategy is always a good idea." It’s usually a better idea to work with a vendor who already knows -- and may even have set up -- the existing network. This way, the IT manager is working with a vendor with whom he or she has an established relationship and who already understands the department’s overall goals and strategies.
(2) Depth
"Don’t buy services from someone who is dependent on one person to get a job done," Kondrach said. "If there is no redundancy in a given area, you might as well go out and hire an individual to do the same job for a lot less." The risks, Kondrach said, would be the same.
In particular, avoid a vendor who says so-and-so will be in charge of a project and gravitate towards those who have more than one person. This means if one person isn’t available, someone else will be able to fill in.
(3) Employees aren’t too stressed
You want to be sure the vendor’s employees aren’t stretched too thin, Kondrach said. Many vendors hire good people but set unrealistically high "billable times" for them to reach. "They want people billable 90 percent of the time, even 100 percent of the time," he said. "Which means their people don’t have any time -- except maybe their own personal time -- to sit back and think about what they’re doing and to learn new skills.
"A lot of IT companies have burned out a lot of good people by forcing revenue out of them." This can lead to constant employee turnover rates -- something else to watch for, and avoid, in prospective vendors.
