How to Choose a Managed Service Provider in Saint Louis (Without Getting Burned)
Eight questions to ask any St. Louis MSP before you sign a contract — and the answers that should make you walk away.
I've sat on the buyer side of this conversation as Director of IT, and on the seller side now. Both seats agree: most MSP contracts go sideways for the same handful of reasons. Here are the questions that separate a partner from a vendor.
1. Who actually answers the phone?
Ask for the name and tenure of the person staffing your account. If the answer is "our team," push back.
2. What's your engineer-to-client ratio?
Under 1:25 is healthy. Over 1:60 means you're a ticket queue.
3. Show me your last 30 days of escalations.
Real MSPs have escalations. Pretend ones don't have visibility into theirs.
4. What does offboarding look like?
If they can't hand you a documented offboarding process before you sign, you'll never get one when you need it.
5. Who owns the documentation?
You should. Get it in writing.
6. What's your security baseline — and is it included?
MFA, EDR, awareness training, and immutable backup should be in the base offering, not a four-line upsell.
7. How do you handle the 2 a.m. ransomware call?
If the answer involves "next business day," walk.
8. Can I talk to a client who left?
A confident MSP will introduce you to one. A defensive one will change the subject.
We're a Saint Louis MSP that answers all eight of these the way you'd want. Have a conversation with us before you sign anything — even if it's not with us.