What to Ask in a Lincoln Business IT Evaluation

The Computer Magician LLC, serving customers since 1995.

Most Lincoln business owners do not need a lecture on managed IT. They need a way to tell whether a provider is actually looking at the environment, or just walking the office and sending a generic proposal. The Computer Magician has been serving customers since 1995, and managed IT services are our main work. We start new business relationships by understanding how your team works, then reviewing the technology you already have. We are by appointment only. Book an appointment for an IT evaluation, or call 402-436-2434.

The questions below are useful with any IT provider, including us. Bring them to a scheduled evaluation in Lincoln, or use them if you already have someone in mind. They are written for small and midsized businesses in Lincoln and nearby communities such as Waverly, Seward, Crete, Ashland, Wahoo, York, and Beatrice.

Start with how the business actually runs

A good evaluation begins with your work, not with a product list. Before anyone touches a server, you should be able to answer, and the provider should ask:

• What does a normal workday depend on? Email, line-of-business software, shared files, phones, card processing, and the systems that cannot be down at 8:00 AM all belong on that list.
• Who already “does the IT”? In many offices it is an owner, an office manager, or a staff member who became the default person to call. That is not a criticism. It is a fact the provider needs to know.
• Where do people work — only at the office, also from home, or on job sites?
• What has broken in the last year, and how long did it take to get back to work?

If a provider skips this and starts with a stack of new hardware, ask them to slow down. We describe this first step on our managed IT services page.

Ask whether your backups actually restore

“We have backups” is not the same as “we have recovered a file, a mailbox, or a server and seen it work.” During an evaluation, ask:

• What is being backed up — workstations, servers, and Microsoft 365 email and files, or only some of those?
• Where the copies live, and whether they are off-site or in a cloud account that someone can still access if the office is unavailable.
• When a restore was last tested, and what was tested: a single file, a full machine, or a mailbox.
• Who is responsible for noticing that a backup failed on a Tuesday night.

If no one can answer those questions, that is not a reason for embarrassment. It is a reason to make restore testing part of the plan. Our cloud backup services page is the place to start if you want to see how we talk about that work. Microsoft 365 retention is also not a complete backup by itself; if your office runs on Microsoft 365, ask the provider to explain the difference in writing.

Ask who has the keys to the network

Admin access is one of the most important, and most often neglected, parts of a small-business review. Ask:

• Who has administrator rights on computers, on the Microsoft 365 tenant, and on the firewall or Wi-Fi?
• Do former employees or former vendors still have logins?
• Is multi-factor authentication turned on for email and other critical accounts, and who is excluded from it?
• Where are the passwords and recovery codes stored, and what happens if the one person who knows them is on vacation?

You should leave an evaluation with a clearer picture of this, even if you do not hire the provider. A written summary that you keep is more useful than a conversation you cannot reconstruct later.

Ask how support actually works when something breaks

Lincoln businesses have a right to know who will answer the phone. Ask:

• Who picks up — a technician who can work on the problem, or a call center that opens a ticket and disappears?
• What is handled remotely, and when does someone come on site?
• What happens after hours, on a holiday, or when a server fails at 7:00 AM?
• What is included in a service contract, and what is quoted as a separate project, such as new cabling or a new Wi-Fi design?

The Computer Magician’s model is that the technician who knows your network is the technician who answers, with 24/7/365 monitoring on managed IT contracts and on-site help when hardware, printers, or the network need hands-on work. If you are comparing providers, ask each of them to describe their model in the same level of detail. For cost, call us for a quote, or review what we publish on our pricing page. You should get a clear number before you commit.

Ask for the findings in writing, whether or not you hire anyone

A useful evaluation ends with a document you can keep: what was looked at, what is urgent, what can wait, and what a reasonable next step would be. It should be written in language a business owner can read. If the only deliverable is a proposal that expires in ten days, ask for the findings separately.

Our own process is to understand the business, review devices, networks, security, backups, and workflows, then recommend practical options with a clear scope. We do the work, document the environment, and provide ongoing care if you want a contract.

If your office is in Lincoln or in a nearby town, book an appointment or call 402-436-2434. You can also request an IT evaluation on our contacts page. Bring this list. We will work through it with you.

The Computer Magician supports local businesses in our community, including VerMaas Construction, Denton St. Mary’s, and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Geneva.