Mini-Series Parts 7&8: 10 Important Questions to Ask Your IT Partner

There’s more to choosing an IT partner than just searching for a solution that meets your technical requirements. Your partner will become an extension of your team, so it’s important to take the time to find the right fit, and asking the right questions is the first step in creating a trusting and lasting relationship. In this mini-series we’ll explore the most important questions we’d want you to ask someone like us! 

Questions 7&8: What redundancy measures do you have in place and do you offer a comprehensive SLA?

Your IT partner’s internal redundancy is an important topic to discuss to ensure they'd be able to provide you the highest level of reliability. There are different layers of redundancy from infrastructure and network to virtualization that effect the level of service provided - below are some follow-up questions to give you a better picture on whether the partnership could be right:

Infrastructure

• Do you have redundant power systems (A-side/B-side) with separate UPS systems?
• Do you have redundant cooling infrastructure?
• Does the infrastructure support concurrent maintenance with no downtime?

Network

• Do you have a fully redundant internal network?
• Do you operate your own BGP AS (Autonomous System) with multiple upstream carriers?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• Does your cloud infrastructure recover automatically from a physical host failure?
• Is your storage system fully redundant (both disk and controllers)?
• Do you have multiple geographic locations to support Disaster Recover?

At Whipcord, our Canadian flag-ship Tier 3 designed data centre is in an extremely low risk location with our other data centres being in Toronto and Vancouver, ensuring your data stays in Canada - download our risk assessment!

Service Level Agreements (SLA)

Your IT partner may have the best redundancy measures in place, but when it comes to governing the performance of your environment it’s important you have an SLA that not only meets your needs, but clearly lays out expectations covering these areas of service:

• Statement of objectives
• Scope of services to be covered
• Service provider responsibilities
• Performance metrics
• Penalties for contract breach/exclusions

Your IT partner should be offering an SLA that providing peace of mind for both you and your customers. At Whipcord, our dedicated purpose-built facility is AICPA SOC2 audited, offering you unmatched physical security and a high availability architecture for our cloud services so we can meet the terms of our comprehensive SLAs.

Stay One Step Ahead

The first step in choosing an IT Partner is asking the right questions that help you find the best fit for your business. At the end of the day, you put a lot of trust into your partner so it’s important that they’re not only knowledgeable, but a good fit for your company.

Want to ask us this question? Schedule a meeting with one of our regional sales managers! Otherwise, keep an eye out for the next question in our mini-series or access the downloadable PDF below.