Meeting with a managed service provider (MSP) for the first time can feel a bit like taking your car to a new mechanic. You know you need help, but you’re not sure what to expect. At ALLO Business, we get that.
That first meeting is a conversation, not an IT lecture. We want to understand your business, your challenges, and what “peace of mind” looks like for you when it comes to technology.
Here’s what that journey usually looks like.
Step 1: You Reach Out
It starts when you contact ALLO Business about our MSP services. This might be through our website, referrals, or local events. We’ll schedule a one-hour, in-person meeting.
Step 2: The First Conversation
When we sit down together, you can expect these types of questions:
- Do you currently have an IT partner?
- Do you have a firewall or any cybersecurity protections in place?
- How are you protecting your data and systems today?
From there, it’s a conversation, not a checklist. Some businesses have an IT provider already; others are starting from scratch. The discussion always adapts to your situation.
If you don’t have an IT partner:
We’ll walk through what’s working, what’s not, and what’s at risk. Sometimes it’s clear right away where the gaps are; other times, we need to dig a little deeper to find the root cause.
If you do have an IT partner:
We’ll compare your current services, support, security coverage, and pricing with what we offer. Our goal isn’t to bash your provider; it’s to see if you’re getting the protection and value you deserve.
Step 3: When Security Becomes Personal
We meet a lot of people who come to us after something’s gone wrong, for example- a breach, a ransomware attack, or a vendor who got hacked and didn’t notice until it spilled over to their clients.
We help identify what happened, why it happened, and how to stop it from happening again. These are some of the most eye-opening conversations. They show how layered security really is, and how vulnerable most businesses are without realizing it.
Step 4: Beyond the Meeting – Local Support and Partnership
That first meeting is just the start. We’re a local partner you can actually meet or call as our team lives and works in the same communities you do. ALLO Business keeps the conversation going with services that build your team’s confidence around technology:
- Lunch & Learns for your staff on cybersecurity and best practices
- Training simulations that show how phishing or malware attacks happen in real time
- Community events hosted with your local Chamber or Economic Development Group
- Baseline Security Assessment: a short, high-value review that gives you a clear picture of how secure your current set up is
Step 5: Pricing and Timeline Expectations
We believe transparency builds trust. Our MSP pricing is all-in, not a patchwork of add-ons. You won’t find a la carte surprises.
The only time costs shift is when compliance requirements enter the picture like HIPAA or PCI, depending on your industry. Those requirements bring their own documentation, audits, and reporting needs, and we’ll walk you through what that means before anything moves forward.
We also want you to know that this process takes time. Most partnerships don’t close after one meeting.
Step 6: After the Meeting
Our team reviews everything we learned in that first conversation and builds a personalized proposal or risk summary. We’ll schedule a few follow-up meetings to walk through those findings and recommendations.
The Most Common Pain Points We Hear
Here are a few things that come up repeatedly in our first meetings with small and midsize businesses:
- “Our insurance company keeps asking about security requirements we don’t understand.”
- “We can’t afford downtime…even an hour hurts.”
- “Our current IT support is reactive, not proactive.”
- “We’re growing, but our systems aren’t keeping up.”
- “We don’t have visibility into what’s actually being monitored.”
You’re not alone in any of those concerns. These are exactly the problems ALLO’s MSP program is built to solve.
If you’re ready to understand your IT environment and build a safer, smarter foundation for your business, reach out to ALLO Business today.
