Start With Scope, Not Price
Price matters, but the first question is whether the agreement matches how the business actually operates today. A company with remote staff, cloud applications, compliance pressure, or aging servers may need a different support model than it had three years ago.
Ask for the current scope in plain language. Which locations, users, devices, servers, cloud services, backups, security tools, and applications are included? Which ones are not? If the answer is hard to explain, that is useful information.
- Which systems are covered by the monthly fee?
- What work is billed separately?
- Who owns documentation, passwords, licensing, and admin access?
- What response times are promised, and how are they measured?
Look Closely at Security and Backups
Many contracts mention security in broad terms. That is not enough. Owners should know whether MFA, endpoint protection, patching, email security, firewall management, admin accounts, and backup monitoring are actually included.
Backups need more than a dashboard. Ask when the last restore test happened, what was restored, how long it took, and who would run recovery during an outage or ransomware event.
- Are Microsoft 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams covered by backup planning?
- Are backups isolated from compromised admin accounts?
- Is there written recovery documentation?
- Does the MSP review security settings with leadership at least annually?
Do Not Let Renewal Become Autopilot
A good MSP can be valuable. The point is not to create conflict. The point is to make sure the provider relationship still fits the business and that the owner understands the tradeoffs before signing another term.
If the renewal includes a major price increase, new tools, a cloud migration, hardware replacement, or a longer commitment, get the assumptions reviewed before approving it.