Research commissioned by network infrastructure support provider Networks First has found that many end-user businesses are putting themselves at risk by failing to properly evaluate their maintenance providers.

The survey of 100 senior managers in organisations with over 1,000 employees found that just under 40% thought industry accreditations at company and engineer level were unimportant when performing due diligence.

A further 45% said they didn’t set much value on quality and security standards, such as ISO9001.

Reseller access to vendor support and technical assistance centres was deemed of least concern, with only 38% rating it as important or very important.

“Without checking on the qualifications or training of the consultants involved you could be left high and dry,” said Networks First managing director Peter Titmus.

He added: “It is also shocking to see the number of businesses who are still not checking a potential new partner’s ability to meet a certain level of standard in terms of both quality and security. Without these checks in place they are clearly putting their companies at risk.”

by Alex Scroxton
www.microscope.co.uk