On May 1, the Massachusetts Operational Service Division held their annual MassBuys Expo at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. The event brings public purchasing officials from state agencies, municipalities, public education institutions and non-profits together with vendors who have been awarded a state contract. The day includes educational sessions and hundreds of exhibitors with everything from janitorial supplies to construction, vehicles, and of course Information Technology Services.
The event is a huge timesaver for purchasing officials because every vendor in attendance has been vetted by the state and brought together for a day long exhibition. Community leaders come to the expo with upcoming projects in mind, visiting multiple vendors to compare products and services, saving themselves days of legwork and meetings. That is why about 1,500 community leaders attended the event.
This was our first year at MassBuys Expo, since we were awarded as a vendor on State Contract ITS75 last year. We had a great time at the expo, meeting leaders from Massachusetts and Rhode Island who were interested in Managed Services. We were surprised that about 80% of the attendees we spoke with were frustrated with their current IT service.
Here are some of their most pressing concerns:
End-of-Life Systems
So many of the government buyers we talked to have systems that have long been End-of-Life. In many cases, these systems have not been upgraded due to budget constraints, which makes sense as long as it is a conscious trade-off between budget and security. What was surprising to us was that many of the leaders casually mentioned that they were running Windows 10. They were very surprised to learn those systems were going End-of-Life in October. Their vendors had not even mentioned the upcoming deadline with just 5 months to go!
Service Quality and Responsiveness
We heard a number of complaints about the skill level of technical people, especially those scheduled for regular on-site work. These leaders feel like they have been duped. They’ve gotten a very low hourly rate for on-site service, but the person who comes on-site finishes assigned tasks very slowly. In essence they are paying much more than the stated hourly rate because the work takes so long. These same buyers also complained that they waited weeks for their tech company to respond to simple requests.
Technology Leadership
One very surprising complaint we heard was that tech companies were not providing recommendations to customers who rely on their vendor for guidance. Not only were vendors failing to recommend upgrades at the end of a product’s useful life, some vendors hadn’t discussed even basic upgrades to cybersecurity.
How is MTSi Different?
MTSi customers look to us for technology leadership, so we meet regularly to provide guidance. We have systems in place to report on devices nearing End-of-Life, our service delivery, and we can even report cyber vulnerabilities in real-time. By regularly meeting to discuss potential new technologies and the performance of their existing environment, we prepare our customers to budget effectively and to make the decisions that are best for their organization.
We pride ourselves on a culture of technical excellence and customer service. Our firm has an entrance exam to help us assess technical proficiency. Our interviewing also focuses on character and personality. We believe this combination delivers an unmatched level of quality support for organizations in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Reach out to our sales team to learn how we can take the surprises out of IT Management so you can focus on running your organization.