What to expect from your IT support agreement

Your agreement is two-way and will place expectations on both you and the support provider. The key points that should be covered are:

The Contract period

Check when the contract begins and ends and how it is renewed at the end of each period.

Charges

Support providers may offer a standard number of hours' for on-site support, to be paid for in advance. Check whether you will be able to carry over unused hours to the next month, quarter or year.

The agreement should also clearly set out what the charges are, how frequent they are payable, how they are to be paid, and the consequences of late or non- payment.

Your responsibilities

You will be expected to play your part in the agreement, principally by:

Appointing a designated contact within your organisation as IT coordinator. The role of the IT coordinator is to build and manage the relationship with the support provider and to act on behalf of your staff if they are having difficulties with the provider's technicians.
Following the provider's advice on any remedial work that they recommend
Create an IT policy document for all your staff which sets out what they must and
must not do with their computers and how to report issues.
Providing adequate protection, for example by installing a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), and installing - and using - antivirus software.

What's covered?

You will need to agree a written inventory of the equipment and people who are cov- ered. If your support provider is also providing hardware maintenance cover there may be a limit to the age of the hardware they will cover. To avoid spending too much, think where you really need the hardware cover. At the bare minimum your file server should be covered on a 4 hour on-site response time. Most PCs can proably be dealt with by just paying for repairs as they arise and in any case newer hardware will be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

The provider's duties

The agreement should set out clearly exactly what the provider will be doing for you. For example are monthly site visits for routine maintenance included? What hours is their Helpdesk open for telephone and remote support? Some other points to understand are:

Will remote users be supported?

More people are doing at least some of their work from home, remote sites or other locations. What support will they need? You have less control over the equipment and software they are using, so beware of open-ended coverage.

Response times

How quickly will the provider respond to requests for help? Are there various grades according to severity? Shorter response times naturally cost more, so you need to consider how long you will be able to wait for help in an emergency. For a failure that disables your business - e.g. your server or email going down - you are likely to need a quickresponsetime. Longer response times will be adequate for single PC failures or faulty peripherals.

The process for responding to support requests

Your contract should set out the procedure, for example these three stages:

Attempting to resolve the problem over the phone, limited to say 15 minutes
Attempting to resolve it by remote access

And if all else fails:

A site visit

Much as your support company wants to help you, tensions can arise when impatient staff, desperate to get their computers back in action, demand a technician's visit. The IT company may dig its heels in, understandably reluctant to drive over to see you, at great expense, when they feel the problem could still be solved remotely. The appointment of an IT coordinator will help to save conflicts arising here. So will a clear SLA (Service Level Agreement) which sets out the procedures.

Exclusions

There will always be areas a support agreement. Be sure you are aware of these.

Resolving complaints and disputes

From time to time complaints may arise against the support company. The contract should set out a procedure for resolving them. Any good service provider will also have regular review meetings to discuss their performance with your IT coordinator.

Termination

The agreement will stipulate the circumstances in which you would be breaking the contract. For example:

If you do not pay in full and on time
If you fail to resolve problems which were already there when the contract began
If you make changes or additions to your systems without agreement.

It should also cover how the agreement can be terminated by mutual consent and what notice period is required.

It is important that your relationship with your support provider is not bogged down in bureaucracy but the most satisfactory and longest lasting relationships are those where everything is agreed and documented from the start so that there are no later misunderstandings.