Less than five percent of MSPs worldwide have obtained an MSP Verify (or equivalent) certification or audit. Has Yours?
Weston Technology Solutions is a managed IT company, more specifically referred to as a Managed Service Provider (MSP). Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are IT companies that focus on keeping your business technology and systems operating and optimized as well as provide tech support and services to your company and its people.
At Weston, we believe that accountability and transparency are important and part of our “Integrity” core value (ask anybody on our team, and they’ll tell you the rest of our core values). We continuously push ourselves to make measurable improvements in our on-going effort to better the lives of others (our clients, co-workers, and community).
Giving the keys to your business’ technology over to another company is sometimes a scary proposition and you should have confidence in knowing that your MSP acts the way an MSP should be acting. As part of this, our latest effort was to achieve the MSP Verify & Cyber Verify certifications by MSPAlliance and have achieved this certification.
“The MSPV certification program strengthens our commitment to providing our clients with secure, consistent and well-documented managed IT services,” said Brock McFarlane, Weston’s CEO and founder. “Knowing that your IT partner is operating in a way that meets or exceeds industry standards is critical to business owners in today’s high-risk environment. This third-party audit showcases that we are doing things in a way that gives business owners peace of mind.”
What is MSP Verify & Cyber Verify?
Established in 2000, the International Association of Cloud & Managed Service Providers (MSPAlliance) is a globally recognized compliance association and accrediting body for the Cyber Security, Cloud Computing and Managed Services Provider (MSP) industry. The MSPV was the first certification created specifically for the managed services and cloud industry.
The MSP Verify certification is for managed service providers, designed to provide assurance, generate trust, and communicate transparency to businesses shopping for managed IT services. Cyber Verify was specifically designed for outsourced service providers and the businesses they service. To give greater transparency and assurance when it comes to the cyber security practices of the service provider.
Every MSP Verify certification comes with a written report with the entire process documented, validated and signed by a third-party accounting firm (contact us if you’d like a copy of that report). The MSP Verify (MSPV) has been reviewed by governmental agencies and regulatory bodies across the globe and is used and accepted in five continents around the world.
As with any other substantive certification of this type, the MSPV certification must be renewed annually.
What Does the Audit Look For?
There are ten control objectives of the Unified Certification Standard and underlying controls that constitute crucial building blocks of a successful managed services (and cloud computing) practice. Once the provider’s organization has completed all MSPV documentation on all applicable control objectives, the results are then examined by an independent third-party accounting firm for verification and signing of a public facing report.
The Ten Control Objectives the Audit Covers for the MSP Verify Certification
Customers who select a company that is part of the MSPV can also rest assured that their IT solution provider has met and exceeded the following standards dealing with:
- Objective 1: Governance
- Objective 2: Policies and Procedures
- Objective 3: Confidentiality and Privacy
- Objective 4: Change Management
- Objective 5: Service Operations Management
- Objective 6: Information Security
- Objective 7: Data Management
- Objective 8: Physical Security
- Objective 9: Billing and Reporting,
- Objective 10: Corporate Health.
“The MSPV certification is a rigorous process that benchmarks and verifies the quality of the company providing cloud and/or managed services,” said Celia Weaver, MSPAlliance president. “We are very proud to have Weston Technology Solutions as a member
of this elite community of MSPs and cloud providers.”
Ask Your IT Company if They Are Audited
Has the company you work with for IT support gone through a third-party audit? We believe that any business you give full access to (whether it’s IT services or even janitorial) needs to be fully vetted and checked before you give them keys to the kingdom. A third-party audit like this helps you sleep better at night.
Could Weston’s managed IT services be right for your business? We focus on supporting businesses with 20 to 250 employees where we serve our clients as either their entire IT department or in a hybrid arrangement where we offset an internal IT staff with our team and extensive resources and experience.
Curious about the difference an audited IT company can make for your company? Let’s discover how we can help your company with our CompleteCare IT services. Contact us today.
Jake Ortman is the communications manager and scapegoat for Weston Technology Solutions. Everything is Jake’s fault. He drinks way too much soda and has a volume level that goes up to 11. Weston Technology Solutions has been serving the Pacific Northwest since 1994, providing people-friendly managed IT services to small and medium-sized businesses with offices in Bend and Anchorage. jortman@weston-tech.com.
