I get a lot of calls that start the same way. Business owner, clearly frustrated, and they say something like “The IT guy was here last week. Spent three hours here. I have no clue what he actually did.”

Then they pause. “He didn’t really talk to anyone. Just worked on something and left.”

This happens more than you’d think. We’re talking to businesses all over the Philadelphia area that have been stuck with the same IT company for years. And they’re finally starting to ask the obvious question: Is this actually working for us?

Usually the answer is no. But most people put up with mediocre IT support because they think switching is going to be a nightmare.

Spoiler alert: It doesn’t have to be.

When Do People Actually Switch?

Nobody calls us when their IT is humming along perfectly. It’s more like… death by a thousand cuts, you know? Little annoyances pile up. Your team starts complaining. Then something breaks that shouldn’t have broken and you’re looking at your IT bill thinking “what exactly am I paying for?”

So what pushes people over the edge?

When Nobody Knows What the IT Guy Actually Did

Had a private school call us in December. Administrator there – she’d been dealing with IT companies for seven years. Seven. She told me something that stuck with me.

“Every time they came out, I felt like I was missing something important.”

The previous company would show up, work on servers or whatever for a few hours, then leave. No explanation. No follow-up. Just a bill showing up later.

She went through three or four different companies during those seven years. Same story every time.

When we finished working with them – took us from February to May because they were in rough shape – she said “I finally feel like we have a partner.”

Seven years to find an IT company that explains what they’re doing. That’s… I don’t know what that is. But it’s not good business.

Why Everyone Gets the Same Stuff (Whether They Need It or Not)

Most MSPs have this thing figured out from their perspective. Same licenses for everyone. Same security setup. Same monthly rate. Easy to manage, easy to bill.

Problem is, it makes no sense for the actual businesses.

Just finished working with a company where the previous MSP had everyone on Business Premium licenses. Every single person. Twenty customer service people who only use email were paying for the full Office suite, SharePoint, Teams, advanced analytics, the whole nine yards.

Why? Because forcing everyone into the same license type is simpler for the IT company.

We spent maybe two hours looking at how people actually work there. Customer service team got email-only licenses. Power users kept the full suite. Saved them a few thousand a year.

Not exactly revolutionary thinking. Just… paying attention.

Monthly Report Theater

“Everything always looks good on the monthly report,” one client told me about their old company. Charts and graphs and lots of green checkmarks. Very professional looking.

But when their email went down on a Tuesday afternoon, they had no idea what was happening. No real-time information. No transparency. Just “we’re working on it” until it got fixed.

Pretty reports don’t help when your customers can’t reach you.

What People Actually Want From IT Support

The businesses that call us aren’t just running from bad service. They have specific things they want instead. And honestly? Their expectations aren’t crazy.

Real Information, Not Monthly Theater

“Everything always looks good on the monthly report,” one guy told me about his previous IT company. Charts, graphs, lots of green checkmarks. Very professional looking.

But when their email went down on a Tuesday afternoon? No clue what was happening. No real-time info. Just “we’re working on it” until it got fixed somehow.

We give clients access to portals that show them what’s happening right now. Open tickets, documentation, inventory, whatever we’re managing. Current state, not the cleaned-up version they put together at month-end.

Tell our clients all the time: hold us accountable. If something’s broken, you should know about it when it breaks, not three weeks later in a summary report.

IT That Fits How They Actually Work

CPA firm doesn’t have the same needs as a manufacturing plant. Private school is nothing like an auto dealership.

But most IT companies try to force everyone into the same service packages anyway. Easier for them to manage.

We do it backwards. Look at the business first. See how people actually work. Figure out what they actually need. Then build services around that.

Apparently this is an unusual approach.

People Who Actually Care

One of our clients had a house fire at his home office last month. Didn’t call him about backup procedures or disaster recovery. Called to make sure he and his wife were okay.

Thinking about switching IT providers but worried about downtime and chaos? Most business owners think it’s going to be worse than it actually is.

Twenty minutes on the phone. Nothing to do with IT. Everything to do with treating people like people instead of account numbers.

The Real Story About Switching IT Companies

Most business owners think changing IT providers is going to be weeks of downtime and chaos. I get why they think that. A lot of IT companies make switching sound like major surgery.

Truth is, it’s usually the opposite.

“We Should Have Done This Years Ago”

That’s what I hear most often after we finish onboarding someone. Not “that was painful” or “glad that’s over.” More like “why did we wait so long?”

Client told me recently they’d been putting off the switch for two years because they were afraid of the transition. After we finished, he said it was the smoothest technology change they’d ever been through.

The difference? We actually plan these things instead of just showing up and winging it.

Why Good Onboarding Takes Time

Here’s something most MSPs won’t tell you: If they can get you fully onboarded in two weeks, they’re probably not doing it right.

That client I mentioned earlier – the private school – we started their onboarding in February. Final call was in May. Three months.

Sounds like a long time, right? But they were in bad shape when we took them over. Previous company had left them with security holes, licensing problems, outdated documentation. Basically had to rebuild everything from scratch.

Could we have rushed through it? Sure. But then we’d be fixing problems for the next year instead of preventing them upfront.

What Good IT Support Actually Looks Like

A lot of business owners have never experienced truly good managed IT service. They don’t know what they should expect because they’ve never had it.

Proactive, Not Reactive

Good IT companies fix problems before you know they exist. Great ones prevent problems from happening in the first place.

If you’re constantly dealing with fires, your IT provider isn’t doing their job.

Communication That Makes Sense

When we work on something, we explain what we did and why it matters to your business. Plain English. No tech jargon. No mysterious “maintenance” that nobody understands.

Response Times That Mean Something

“24/7 support” is meaningless if it takes six hours to call you back. We have actual triage times. Real people answer the phone when things go wrong.

Why Being Local Still Matters

Something happens when your IT company is actually local. We can drive to your office for the small stuff. We understand the business environment here. We know the other vendors you’re probably working with.

But bigger than that – we’re invested in Philadelphia businesses succeeding. When local companies do well, we all do well. Different mindset than some national chain that sees you as account number 47,293.

Questions You Should Ask Your Current IT Company

Still not sure if you need to make a change? Try asking your current provider these questions:

  • Can I see what’s happening with my IT environment right now, not next month?
  • How do you customize your service for my specific industry?
  • Who exactly is my point of contact and how fast do they respond?
  • What problems are you preventing instead of just fixing?
  • Can you explain the last three things you did for us without using technical jargon?

If they can’t give you straight answers, that tells you something.

The Bottom Line

Look, switching IT providers isn’t something you do on a whim. But staying with mediocre service because you’re afraid of change doesn’t make sense either.

The businesses that are happiest after making the switch all wanted the same basic things: transparency instead of monthly theater, customized solutions instead of cookie-cutter packages, and people who actually care about their success.

Most Philadelphia business owners already know whether their current IT situation is working. They’re just not sure what to do about it.

Here’s what I tell them: Your business deserves IT support that actually supports your business. Not just keeps the servers running, but helps you grow.

The question isn’t whether you should make a change. The question is what you’re waiting for.