So, you’re ending your contract with your current IT managed
service provider and all of a sudden you’re learning about clauses in the
contract you didn’t realize existed. When looking for a new IT support provider,
it’s a good idea to review any contract you may have in place already that
covers your help desk support and network support.
1. Auto-Renewal
Clause
Most tech support contracts have a renewal clause that
typically indicates that notice of non-renewal must be provided in writing by a
certain date before the contract actually renews. And there’s nothing wrong
with that–you just haveto pay attention to the dates and make sure you’re good
to go.
But what happens when there’s a clause that automatically
renews your contract with any change–even a simple one? And that change starts
the clock running from the beginning of the initial term?
Beware of contracts that indicate that if you, say, add a
machine or a user the initial term starts again as if it’s Day One–even if
you’re in the middle of your contract. Make sure you know what causes the
contract to auto renew and what the term of that renewal is. You may be
planning to find a new provider on day 1,000 of a three-year contract, yet find
out that because you just added a new user yesterday, your contract auto
renewed for three years as of yesterday and now you’re at Day One of a
three-year contract!
2. Who Owns Your
Equipment?
A well-written contract should address who owns what at the
end of the relationship–sort of like a pre-nup before marriage. Make sure you
understand whether your equipment is owned (and who owns it) or leased by you.
For example, who owns that firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS)? If the equipment is
owned or leased to you by the service provider, what happens to it when your
relationship ends? Will you be required to buy that equipment? Or will the
outgoing provider come in and take out the equipment and leave you high and
dry?
3. Are There
Exorbitant Offboarding and Cancellation Charges?
Offboarding charges are fairly standard with an IT services
contract. But what do they include? Pay attention in particular to when
offboarding takes place–is it before the end of the contract or after? If
after, how will that impact your company? Will employees be able to continue to
work? Will you have any downtime?
What about cancellation clauses? If you cancel the contract
before its termination date, are there penalties? And what are the terms of the
cancellation? How much notice do you have to give the vendor? Most IT support
partners include a cancellation clause of 30-90 days in case of performance
issues. Beware of any organization that does not believe they need to earn and
keep your business over the term of the relationship.
Source: Business2community
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