10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Managed Service Provider

Choosing a managed service provider is not just an IT purchasing decision. You are deciding who employees call when technology stops working and who owns many of the systems, security controls, vendors, and decisions your business depends on.

These questions make MSP proposals easier to compare.

1. What exactly is included in the monthly agreement?

Ask the provider to separate employee support, cloud administration, devices, cybersecurity, monitoring, patching, backup, vendor management, procurement, and technology planning. Then ask what falls outside the agreement.

2. What is considered a project?

Major migrations and office moves are understandably project work. But if routine onboarding, software changes, or normal administration frequently become billable projects, the low monthly rate may be misleading.

3. What happens when an issue involves another vendor?

A strong MSP should be able to own the escalation path instead of telling your employee to call the internet provider, software vendor, phone company, or hardware manufacturer.

4. How are critical issues prioritized?

Ask how the provider defines severity, what response commitments apply, and whether after-hours or 24/7 critical response is part of your agreement.

5. How do you secure administrative access?

Discuss MFA, technician access, shared versus individual administrative accounts, password management, logging, and how access is removed when technicians or employees leave.

6. What cybersecurity services are actually included?

Do not accept “security included” as an answer. Ask specifically about endpoint protection, patching, identity, MFA, email security, employee awareness, vulnerability reviews, backups, incident readiness, and any security tools billed separately.

7. What does onboarding look like?

A provider should be able to explain how it collects administrative access, documents users and devices, inventories systems and vendors, deploys management tools, addresses urgent risk, and communicates the new support process to employees.

8. Who owns our documentation and accounts?

Your company should understand where documentation lives and retain appropriate ownership of domains, cloud tenants, vendors, licenses, and administrative accounts. A provider relationship should not make the company dependent on credentials only the MSP controls.

9. Can you work with an internal IT person or team?

Even if you do not have internal IT today, your model may change. Ask whether the provider supports co-managed IT and how responsibilities are divided when internal staff are involved.

10. How does pricing change as we grow?

Ask what happens when employees, devices, locations, security requirements, or licensing needs increase. For many organizations, Two Factor fully managed IT starts around $125–$175 per employee per month, but the exact scope determines the final price.

The best answer should be operationally specific

The strongest MSP conversations are not built around vague promises like “proactive” or “white glove.” They explain who owns support, systems, security, vendors, projects, documentation, and escalation.

Compare the operating model first. Then compare the price. You can explore Outsourced IT Services, review our Managed IT Services model, or request a quote for your environment.