Having answered this question, the next step is to find a partner who can offer the service. There are a couple of things to consider here. Firstly, most companies deliberately exclude out-of-hours support from their normal contracts and consequently will look to charge you significantly more for the service as an extra. This means that you will be paying a hefty price for peace-of-mind you are in all honesty not likely to use very much.
Linked to this is the fact that because of the costs involved in offering a round-the-clock service many IT support companies will claim to offer it, but in reality provide nothing of the kind. This will require you to do your homework on the company beforehand to make sure they have made the necessary investment in infrastructure and staffing to provide a responsive and quality service.
You may think it sounds a bit of a risky and costly exercise in finding the right partner to provide 24/7/375 IT support cover. But, there is a more flexible and low-cost option that provides all the benefits and peace-of-mind of 24/7/365 IT support at a fraction of the cost.
By buying prepaid blocks of IT support time (similar to pay-as-you-go phone minutes) you can get access to IT support 24/7/365. This provides the peace-of-mind and service levels of a fixed and expensive annual support contract, but if you do not have a problem, you are not being charged. Furthermore, these prepaid blocks should not have an expiry date on them. So that if you have no problems for say 2 years they are still valid when you eventually do have an issue.
Save up to 40% and choose the service level YOU need WHEN you need it
From work we have done with our customers in this area, we have calculated that this can help you cut your annual IT support costs by around 40% when compared to a fixed annual contract – all with the same high level of service.
The advantages don’t end there as you can make the decision as to how urgently a problem needs fixing. Some things need solving straight away (whether that is the middle of the night or Sunday morning) while others can wait till the next working day. Either way, you choose exactly the service level you need and use up the appropriate number of blocks based on the service level you have selected for that particular problem
Surely, a more cost-effective and flexible way of keeping your IT running 24/7/365 in these cost-conscious times!
ZED ONE offers their prepaid support option ZED Blocks: the complete pay-as-you-go business IT support service from as little as £9 a case. To find out more click here.
What do you think – Eat as much as you like IT Support - I would be interested in receiving your comments about this