This guide is written by an IT supplier. Read it with that in mind.
We supply and support IT for a private hospital in Abuja, among other clients, so we have an interest in how you choose an IT partner for a private hospital. We have tried to write the questions we would want a hospital to ask of anyone, including us. Where we say what we do on a point, it is there so you can test it. Everything else here applies to whoever you shortlist.
The people who usually make this call are a hospital administrator and a medical director, sometimes with a board behind them. Neither is an IT specialist, and neither should need to be. The questions below need no technical background. They need a supplier to answer in writing.
Integrity: is the equipment what it says it is?
Is the stock genuine and new?
Ask for the serial numbers of the units being quoted, or at minimum a commitment to supply them at delivery. Then check them yourself. The major manufacturers run warranty lookup pages on their websites. Enter a serial and you see the model and its warranty status, often with the country it was sold for. A machine whose warranty started many months before your purchase sat somewhere before it reached you, and some of its cover is already gone.
Region matters too. Some manufacturer warranties are serviced only in the country of sale. A unit bought cheaply from another market can turn out to have no usable cover in Nigeria.
What we do: we record every serial at delivery against the desk it goes to, and register warranty in the hospital's name. You can check every one.
Is the spec honest?
A quote that says "Core i5 desktop, 8GB, 256GB" is not a specification. It describes a hundred different machines of different ages. Ask for the exact manufacturer model and part number on every line. If the supplier will not put a model number on the quote, they have not decided what they are going to deliver.
Then ask the more revealing question. What would you cut? A supplier who understands hospital workloads knows that most hospital management systems run in a browser or a light client, and that an SSD matters more than a faster processor. Their answer tells you whether they are specifying for your desks or for their margin.
What we do: our proposals are line-itemed with exact models, and they say where a cheaper option is enough.
Are the warranty terms in writing?
Verbal warranty is no warranty. Ask for a written statement that covers:
- How long the cover lasts, and from which date.
- Who honours it: the manufacturer, the supplier or a third party.
- Whether repairs happen on site or the unit has to be taken somewhere.
- Where in Abuja a failed unit goes, and who carries it there.
- What voids it. Power surge damage is a common exclusion, which is one more reason for proper UPS and earthing at critical desks.
A supplier who is confident in the stock will put this on paper without being chased.
Structure: who is there when something fails?
Who answers at 11pm?
Hospitals work at night. Ask the supplier to describe exactly what happens when the billing printer stops at 11pm on a Saturday.
Listen for a named channel and a defined path: who picks up and when an engineer is sent. Be wary if the answer is a personal mobile number. One person's phone is a single point of failure. Ask what happens when that person is ill or on leave.
Is there a written scope and response target?
Any partner who intends to support you should be willing to state, in writing, what they cover and how fast they respond and resolve by priority, including out of hours. Our piece on what hospital IT support in Abuja should cover lists the terms worth asking for.
What we do: our managed services work starts by agreeing scope and response targets in writing, before any monitoring or support goes live.
Where are the engineers?
Remote support fixes most faults. Hardware needs a person. Ask where on-site engineers are based, and how they reach your hospital at 5pm on a weekday. A promise made from across the city deserves a second question.
Will you own the documentation?
Ask who will hold the asset register, the warranty records, the admin passwords and the build image after delivery. The answer should be: you will, with the supplier holding a working copy. A supplier who keeps the admin credentials to themselves has made you dependent, whether they meant to or not.
Behaviour: does the IT partner put the hospital first?
Integrity and structure can be checked on paper. Behaviour shows up in how a supplier handles a conversation. We set out the general tests in what customer-first means in an IT company. Two matter most in a hospital, plus the one about leaving.
Do they ever say no? Ask for something you do not need. A high-end workstation for reception, say. A partner will tell you plainly it is unnecessary and explain why. A vendor will quote it.
Do they ask about your hospital before quoting? A useful first meeting is mostly questions about your departments and what each desk does all day. A supplier who quotes before asking is selling stock.
Do they make it easy to leave? Ask what happens to your documentation if you end the relationship. A partner who expects to keep your business through good work has no reason to make leaving hard.
What we do: we start every engagement with discovery, and our proposals set out the trade-offs, such as ink tank against laser, so you can decide. You can read how that works on our approach page.
References, and what to do with them
Ask for a reference you can phone, ideally another hospital or clinic. Many suppliers, us included, do not publish client names, so do not treat an empty logo wall as a warning on its own. Treat an inability to put you in touch with anyone at all as one.
When you speak to a reference, skip the general satisfaction question. Ask what happened the first time something broke, and whether the second order was easier than the first. Those two answers tell you most of what you need.
For a broader scoring framework you can use across any shortlist, see how to evaluate IT vendors in Nigeria. For what a well-run hospital deployment looks like in practice, see our seven-workstation hospital case study.
Frequently asked questions
What should a hospital look for in an IT partner?
Start with stock you can trace and warranty terms in writing. Then look for a defined out-of-hours support path and written response targets. The best sign is a supplier who tells you when you are about to overspend.
How can a hospital check that IT equipment is genuine?
Get the serial numbers and enter them on the manufacturer's warranty lookup page. Check the warranty start date and the country of sale before you accept delivery.
Should a hospital use the same company for supply and support?
Not necessarily. One party owning the problem from purchase to repair is simpler, and we make that case in one partner for IT procurement and support. It is not essential. What matters is that documentation and admin credentials stay with the hospital, so either role can move to someone else.
Is the cheapest quote a bad sign?
Not on its own. Compare quotes line by line on exact models and warranty terms first. A cheaper quote for the same model and the same cover is just cheaper. A cheaper quote with no model numbers is not comparable at all.
If you are shortlisting IT partners for a hospital now, put these questions to everyone on the list, us included. If you want to start with us, book a discovery conversation through our contact page. Our healthcare page shows the kind of work we do.
