For medium- and large-sized businesses there will be sufficient resources for going through the proposals, offers, pitches and various other protocols of selecting a service provider. But for small businesses it's a whole other ballgame and here are some guidelines on making a decision that has your company win the game.

1.Local vs National

For a small business, it can make quite a difference dealing with someone who's based locally rather than some national outfit with agents all over the place if only because the local guy is much more likely to be connected to other local businesses. That means you could get connected to them too through them.

Certainly, knowing that someone is local and where they are locally means that if you ever have any serious problems with them and you need to send ?round the heavies (policemen, not mafia) then there is a great deal less to be handled.

Of course, you're planning on not getting that state of affairs, so working with a local business is again going to work in your favour: the little guy has a reputation to uphold because he probably lives around there and does business with other local businesses.

Which is my last point in this section: local guys work harder. They probably own the business and may even deliver most of the service it provides and that means they take it all much more seriously than an employee of a national corporation who will likely move on to better pay somewhere else as soon as possible.

2.Sole Trader vs Established Corporation

If you're opting for a local business, then this criteria may not make much difference to you since if the local guy isn't a sole trader then he's still very likely hanging out with his staff most of the time. In other words, you still have almost direct access to the person who's reputation is most at stake and will make things happen for you.

That said, an established business with at least a few IT staff will be more reliable over time. After all, the sole trader does need to go on holiday sometime and who's going to as good a job as him while he's away? How do you get support when he's taken ill?

Moreover, whilst there are many very well organised sole traders the very process of incorporating and looking into all the legal matters does force a business to take care of the important stuff ? such as insurance, contracts, accounts and so on. That process will weed out a lot of the lazier folk and ultimately serve the client's interests ? your best interests, that is.

3.Qualified vs Experienced

One of the fantastic opportunities of the IT services industry has been the phenomenal growth since its inception not too many decades ago. This has meant that formal qualifications were less important than the ability to do the job and those with experience and skills have been greatly rewarded even without the degrees and diplomas.

But how does that all translate for you, the small business director?

Here's a summary of how qualifications play off against experience and you'll have to decide for yourself and your budget what combination is most beneficial.

>Qualified, no formal experience: often these folk quite overrate their skills and demand more (they do have to pay for the expensive education after all).

>Qualified plus formal experience: the best combination but also the most expensive. They have the theory plus the real life knowledge but it will cost you to get them on board.

>No qualifications, little formal experience: these IT service providers will be the least expensive, probably the most enthusiastic, but also will take the longest to get a problem resolved ? at least until their experience builds up. Check for very enthusiastic home IT projects or long-term IT interests and passions ? otherwise they're probably just wannabes.

>No qualifications, plenty of experience: sometimes the best in the business because they don't mess about with theory and just get straight to producing results. Often not as expensive as the qualified guys ? especially with high-end skills ? but very often more socially skilled since they've had to get out there and talk to people and use their personality to generate confidence in their abilities.

Those are only general guidelines and there are always exceptions to the rules, so don't bet your house on any of it. However, it is meant to provide you with at least a little insight into which path is going to be most beneficial for you and your small business in selecting an IT service provider.