Step 1

Write down what you actually need.

Before you look at any provider, write a one-page brief: number of employees and locations, what tools your team runs on (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, line-of-business apps), any compliance obligations (HIPAA, PCI, SOC 2, state privacy laws), the single outage that would hurt most, and your rough monthly IT budget. If you can’t answer any of these, that’s your first project—not picking an MSP.

Step 2

Filter by scope, not marketing.

An MSP that genuinely serves 10-person law firms is not the same as one serving 300-person manufacturers. Match on company size, industry experience, and the specific services you need—managed IT, cybersecurity, cloud, help desk, backup. Our regional, industry, and service guides exist to help you filter this way without a sales call.

Step 3

Get three to five concrete proposals.

Send the same one-page brief to each provider. Ask for a written proposal with pricing model (per-user, per-device, or tiered), what’s included and excluded, onboarding process, and standard contract length. If a provider won’t put numbers in writing before a long discovery call, that’s a signal about how they’ll operate later.

Step 4

Read the SLA carefully.

The service level agreement is where the real contract lives. Look for response time vs. resolution time (different things), severity definitions, hours of coverage, what counts as on-site vs. remote, and what happens when an SLA is missed—credits, not apologies. Our how to choose an MSP guide has a full SLA checklist.

Step 5

Call three references in your size range.

Ask the references three questions: what actually happens when you open a ticket at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, what’s the worst problem they’ve had with the provider and how was it handled, and would they sign again today. Skip the scripted testimonials. A provider that can’t give you three live references at your size is not ready for you.