SUPPORT POINTS - MULTI VENDOR SUPPORT

Modern IT systems are extremely complex and often when things go wrong, identifying the exact issue can be difficult and time consuming. Vendor support is good if the issue can be identified within a vendor technology. Simplify IT support points have been designed to provide a one stop support service covering multiple technologies. The aim is to provide a one stop support system covering multiple technologies. This can be used for level 3 fast escalation, P1 rapid fix. This can also be used for holiday cover or to bridge skills gaps within an organisation. Why hire a network expert if you only need this skill for a few hours a month?

In terms of outlining the value of this proposition we often look at the cost of employing a 1st line or junior IT Support person - At the time of writing the average salary is around £22 - 25K per year (https://uk.indeed.com/career/1st-line-support-engineer/salaries) (excluding National Insurance, pension etc) which makes the proposition of outsourcing to experts who can ‘wear multiple hats’ quite appealing.

To put this into perspective; The average salary for IT infrastructure Manager / IT Operations Manager is around £64,500.00 but could be anywhere from £37,000 – £95,000.

Sources: 

https://www.checkasalary.co.uk/salary/it-infrastructure-manager 

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/manager-it-operations-salary-SRCH_KO0,21_IP2.htm 

https://www.reed.co.uk/average-salary/average-infrastructure-manager-salary 

This goes someway to explaining why so many businesses who maybe only have a small IT footprint on site, have chosen to outsource IT to specialists. The added benefit of the support points through SIT is that; we can escalate to 2nd and 3rd or even 4th line / consultant level at the same cost of 1 point per hour spent on the problem. (Our Support procedure and SLA are mentioned further on in the document.) 

Another advantage of a points contract for smaller organisations is there’s no “per person” cost, the points cover everyone in that organisation, from 2 users to 1000 users. Until the points expire or are consumed.

CONTRACT DURATION

All contracts are valid for 12 months from date of purchase or until all points are consumed, whichever is the sooner.

If required additional points in the year can be purchased at the same rate as the initial contract.

SERVICE DESK CORE DELIVERABLES

The support points cover the following areas under its core deliverables, these technologies are expected to not require escalation and will therefore realise the fastest possible resolution times.

Microsoft 

• Server and Client 
• Microsoft Active Directory Services
• Office 365 Services
• Azure Identity Services

VMware

• vSphere 

Cisco 

• DUO Authentication Service
• Umbrella
• Endpoint Security
• Unified Computing System

Proofpoint Email Security

HPE Compute Servers

DELL Compute Servers

NetApp Solutions 

Symantec Backup Exec

Any products listed above are deemed within the scope of support, providing the vendor supports the product versions deployed. Where the vendor does not offer support, Simplify IT support desk will deliver on a reasonable endeavours’ basis.

CALL LOGGING TIMES

The contract is based on support during normal business hours. Monday through Friday, between 09:00am. to 5:00pm. UK local time. Designated local holidays are not considered Business Days.

Out of hours cover can be arranged for the contract term if required but is not part of the standard support contract.

Ad-Hoc out of hours support can be arranged by pre-agreement with your account manager. There will be a charge of two support points per day, but calls will then be logged at normal rate.

For any customers without pre-arranged out of hours cover we will offer out of hours support on reasonable endeavour basis and will be subject to availability. Calls will be logged at double rate with a one point surcharge per incident.

POINTS CONVERSION

If you require an engineer to attend site you can swap your support points at a rate of 7 points per day during normal business hours. This is bookable by pre-arrangement only and subject to engineer availability.

Once resource has been booked and confirmed normal cancellation rules will apply. Cancellation with more than 3 days’ notice, 0 points. Cancellation with less than three days’ notice but more than 24 hours 1.5 points, less than 24 hours’ notice, 3 points.

Out of hours engineering resource can be arranged by pre-agreement with your account manager.

SLAs

Simplify IT target is to respond to all new cases with-in 2 hours or less. Cases will be assigned a priority based on an initial triage and the case routed to the correct engineering resource.

SLA response times are measured from the point of the ticket being created in Simplify IT’s ITSM toolset.

PRIORITY 1 (P1)

P1 Response Time: 2-hour response during normal business hours, 3-hour response outside of normal business hours. All calls should be logged and responded to by telephone.

P1 Definition: Priority 1 is defined by a system that is down, unable to serve data, is in a state of frequent or repeating “panic” or “hang,” or is in a state of degraded performance sufficient to prevent normal business operations. At this level, both Simplify IT and the customer must commit to around-the-clock action and involvement by all necessary and appropriate personnel and systems until a mutually agreeable workaround is provided and the priority level is downgraded.

PRIORITY 2 (P2)

P2 Response Time: 4-hour response during normal business hours, 5-hour response outside of normal business hours. The primary contact method will be by telephone.

P2 Definition: Priority 2 is defined as a system that is experiencing an infrequent, isolated, or intermittent “panic” or “hang,” or is in a state of degraded performance that allows business operations to continue but at an inconsistent or less than optimal rate. At this level, Simplify IT is committed to use all commercially reasonable efforts to provide a workaround and/or restore normal operations as quickly as possible

PRIORITY 3 (P3)

P3 Response Time: 8-hour response during normal business hours.

P3 Definition: Priority 3 is defined a system, or cluster that is experiencing an issue, anomaly, or cosmetic defect that inflicts little or no business impact and a viable and mutually agreeable workaround or hardware/software upgrade exists to mitigate the problem. The primary contact method will be by email / support portal.

PRIORITY 4 (P4)

P4 Response Time: 16-hour response during normal business hours.

P4 Definition: Priority 4 is defined as a normal customer request being made for information regarding the installation, configuration, use, and maintenance of equipment. This includes administrative inquiries. There is no impact on customer’s production systems or business operations. The primary contact method will be by email / support portal.

DESKTOP SUPPORT

Simplify IT can provide support services which will eliminate the need to have local IT staff, and can supplement their existing IT team.

Customers can log support using our client portal which monitors and logs all incidents, out of hours support is provided by our dedicated helpline which uses a duty engineer for all P1 calls. 

https://www.simplifyit.co.uk/contact-us 

Customers can also reach the support desk via email and phone to log tickets. 

support@simplifyit.co.uk / 0345 1243442 

Out of hours support has not been included in this proposal, should customers require this, then a further scoping call is required.

CALL LOGGING

All urgent support cases (i.e. P1 or P2) should be logged by calling our support team on 

0345 124 3442. 

All customers with NetApp SSC (Previously ASP) contracts must log all support cases with Simplify IT. All calls that are attempted to be registered directly with NetApp will be rejected by NetApp. To avoid delay in receiving support please log directly with ourselves. 

You can log a support case with Simplify IT using the following methods:

TELEPHONE (P1 / P2)

Our support desk is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week meaning you can always reach one of our highly skilled technical consultants. For all priority one and priority two calls you should initially engage our support team by calling us on 0345 124 3442.

SUPPORT PORTAL (P3 / P4)

For priority 3 and priority 4 calls these can be logged by visiting our support portal. Please note the support portal is only monitored for new calls during normal business hours. 

To open a new call using the support portal please visit http://support.simplifyit.co.uk. 

Individuals do not need to be registered to submit a support ticket on this system, however your company email domain address must be listed in our trusted email list. This ensures ticket creation can only be initiated by those companies that have a valid support contract with Simplify IT. 

If you don’t already have an account registered please email support@simplifyit.co.uk to request one is created. 

On the ticket creation form you will be asked for the following information:

• Email Address 
• Product 
• Priority 
• Subject 
• Description

On the ticket creation form you will be asked for the following information:

Email Address 

Please use your corporate email address so we can link your support case automatically to your company. 

Product 

To log a call with Simplify IT you will need to have a valid support contract in place. Please select the type of contract you are logging the call against. If you have multiple contract types please pick the one relevant to the call being logged. The contact type choices are: 

• Managed Services Support Contract 
• NetApp (SCC) Support Contract 
• Other – General Support 
• Support Points Contract

Priority 

For all calls logged using the support portal the default priority should be either P3 or P4. If you select P1 or P2 the SLA’s for P3 we will be applied until the call is acknowledged by an engineer.

Description

Please provide a detailed description of the problem you are experiencing.

Attachments

Please include any relevant attachments to aid in quick diagnosis of the issue, i.e. screen shot of error message, log files, etc… 

You can add an attachment up to 50MB in size by clicking the “ATTACH FILE” link at the bottom of the form.

EMAIL (P3 / P4)

For priority 3 and priority 4 calls, these can be logged by email using support@simplifyit.co.uk. Please note this email address is only monitored during normal business hours. 

Please ensure you send this email from your corporate email address so we can link your support case automatically to your company.

Subject 

Please provide a concise but descriptive overview of the call being logged, i.e. Volume Offline, Failed Cooling Fan, Compatibility Check, etc… 

Description 

Please provide a detailed description of the problem you are experiencing or the question you are asking.

Attachments 

Please include any relevant attachments to aid in quick diagnosis of the issue, i.e. screen shot of error message, log files, etc…