Choose a provider that has construction experience and can show case studies, gives strategic advice as well as support, builds security into everything, can manage IT, connectivity, phones and mobiles together, publishes its response times, can scale with you and explains things clearly. Compare value and outcomes, not just the monthly price, and ask each provider the ten questions below before you sign.
Seven things to look for
1. Construction experience
Temporary compounds, engineers across multiple sites, large drawing sets, commercially sensitive designs and lots of mobile devices are problems office-only providers rarely see. Ask for construction case studies and references from firms your size.
2. Strategic advice, not just a helpdesk
Look for annual roadmaps, budget planning, security reviews, Microsoft 365 optimisation, AI readiness, planning for when devices need replacing, and connectivity reviews.
3. Security built in
Ask how they protect Microsoft 365, what happens if you suffer an attack, whether monitoring is proactive, how backups work, whether they can help you achieve Cyber Essentials and how they manage mobiles. Check whether they hold Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 themselves.
4. One supplier or several?
Separate companies for IT, internet, phones, mobiles, WiFi and security create complexity, and each blames the others when something breaks. One partner who manages the lot, with real expertise in each area, makes support simpler and makes it clear who is responsible.
5. Responsiveness
Ask for their average first response time and their service levels by priority (SLA). Ask who answers the phone, whether you'll have an account manager and how often your technology will be reviewed.
6. Room to grow
They should be able to support new offices, extra sites, more staff, acquisitions, cloud migration, AI and rising security requirements.
7. Value, not just price
Compare experience, response times, security, strategic advice, what's included, customer satisfaction and industry knowledge. The cheapest provider is rarely the best value.
Ten questions to ask an IT provider
- What experience do you have supporting construction companies?
- How do you help businesses improve productivity?
- How do you measure success?
- How will you support our growth?
- What cyber security services are included?
- How do you protect Microsoft 365?
- What happens if our internet connection fails?
- Can you manage our mobiles, connectivity and telephony too?
- How often will you review our technology strategy?
- What does success look like after 12 months?
Signs you've outgrown your current IT provider
- They only contact you when there's a problem
- Your technology is never reviewed strategically
- Security advice only comes after an incident
- You regularly chase ticket updates
- Suppliers blame each other when things go wrong
- There's no roadmap
- Staff keep hitting the same problems
- They don't understand construction
How Indigo does this. Here are our answers to the questions above. We support more than 15 construction businesses. Every ticket gets a first response in under 30 minutes (13 minutes on average in September 2026, with 65% of tickets resolved within two hours). We hold Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001:2022, keep 95% of our clients and score 4.98/5 for satisfaction. We manage IT, connectivity, phones and mobiles from one Glasgow team, and we start with how your business works, not a product list.
Sources: DSIT, Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 · Indigo service desk data, September 2026.
Chapter 7 of 8 · All chapters
Get a free technology assessment
One of our consultants will review your IT, security, connectivity and phones, then give you practical recommendations. No obligation.