An independent read on the MSPs you are considering.
We have worked with the providers you are looking at, and the ones you should be. Shortlist, references, and a contract review before anything gets signed.
- RFP authoring · requirements workshop
- shortlist · scoring · reference checks
- contract and SLA markup
MSP Evaluation and Selection, in plain terms.
We start by getting the requirements right. What are you buying? What failure mode are you insuring against? Which workloads stay in-house? What does success look like in twelve months? Most bad MSP relationships trace back to a fuzzy scope rather than a bad provider, so we spend real time here before any vendor names come up.
From there we build a shortlist. We have worked directly with providers across infrastructure, security, network, and cloud. We know which ones deliver against which workloads — and which ones perform better on paper than in a real incident. We run a structured evaluation, score against the criteria that matter for your environment, check references that the provider did not hand-pick, and bring you a ranked recommendation with reasoning. Scoring uses a weighted criteria matrix built in the requirements workshop — SLA depth, operational transparency, escalation path, price stability, exit terms — so you see the matrix, not just the ranking.
Before you sign, we read the contract. SLAs, credits, scope boundaries, off-ramp terms, data ownership, price escalators, and the quiet clauses that turn into invoices later. We mark up the document, tell you what to push back on, and what is standard and not worth the fight. The goal is a relationship that still works in year three, not just at signing.
Common triggers for this engagement.
- 01You are issuing an RFP and want it written so the right providers can respond and the wrong ones screen themselves out
- 02You have three proposals on the desk and need an independent read before choosing
- 03A current MSP is up for renewal and you want to know if the market has better options
- 04A contract is in front of you and the SLA and off-ramp language needs a second set of eyes
- 05You are evaluating an MSP for a regulated environment — HIPAA business associate, PCI-DSS scope, or FedRAMP — and need someone who has read those contracts before
Questions teams ask before signing.
Do you take referral fees from MSPs?
No. We are paid by you and only by you. The recommendation is independent, which is the only way this kind of engagement is worth doing.
Can you help us write the RFP itself?
Yes. A well-written RFP filters the market more than the scoring does. We help you describe the environment accurately, ask the questions that separate serious providers from polished ones, and avoid requirements that quietly exclude good options.
We already have an MSP. Can you assess the relationship instead of running a selection?
Yes. We can review performance against the contract, benchmark against what the market currently offers, and tell you whether the answer is renegotiate, replace, or stay the course.
What do you look for in an MSP contract?
Real SLAs with meaningful credits, clear scope boundaries, fair off-ramp terms, data ownership and portability, transparent price escalators, and the absence of clauses that convert routine work into change orders. We mark up the draft and tell you what to push on.
Frequently scoped alongside this work.
Technology Assessments
An outside read on the systems you've been too busy to audit. Risk, fitness, and the three things that should change this quarter — written for the CFO and the engineer.
Fractional CIO
IT leadership that thinks past the ticket queue. Vendor decisions, security posture, and the budget your CFO needs to see before next year.
Cybersecurity Consulting
Architecture review, control-gap analysis, and incident readiness — paired with operators who understand the network the controls run on. We tell you which fixes are real and which are theater.
24/7 NOC
Eyes on your network around the clock, run by the engineers who write the runbooks. Pages routed to humans, not a ticket queue — for incidents that need a real person at 3 a.m.