Re: Proactive or Reactive service?

From: TK - M/T Box Computers (terry_at_removethis.mtboxcomputers.com)
Date: 03/19/05 

Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 15:31:21 -0500

Thanks for posting Rick. I'm not quite done with my outline yet, but it is
basically intended to get my non-service agreement clients on either a
service agreement, a retainer agreement, or just monthly service at my
normal rates. Obviously in business the primary goal is to make money.
However, my business partner and I love technology, are big SBS fans, and
firmly believe that monitoring and normal maintenance are the BEST way to
prevent system down-time and assure everything continues to run smoothly.

In the end, I will end up with four groups of clients. In essence, they are
as follows:

Service agreement clients: these are clients that are under a yearly service
agreement for XX hours per month at a discounted rate. These hours cover
monitoring, normal monthly maintenance, and general onsite support (planned
and unplanned). These clients are billed monthly for the support, and are
free to use the support hours as they see fit. Any overage of hours, as
well as parts and materials, are billed the beginning of the following
month.

Retainer agreement clients: much like the service agreement clients, except
they are not bound to a yearly agreement, but much like with a lawyer they
must carry a positive balance for their retainer account. These clients
also receive a discount as well as normal maintenance. This assures us that
our services are covered.

Call-before-service clients: these are clients that we call on a monthly
basis and notify them of work/maintenance/service that needs done (at least
that which we are aware of). The client then has the ability to agree or
defer. This is really intended for clients that realize they need monthly
maintenance but don't want to commit to anything. There is no discount for
these clients, but they still receive regular monitoring (daily reports,
etc.) that will be billed monthly.

The remaining clients will be under no agreements or obligations, will not
receive any discounts, and will not receive monitoring. These clients will
be in 'reactive' mode only. With luck we will not have any SBS clients in
this category (this should be reserved for our residential clients!).

As a side note, all of the above services are based on discounted hourly
rates, but the client still pays for what they use. Therefore, I feel okay
with including the removal of spyware as the client is still paying for this
time and it would be in their best interest to prevent this occurrence. We
also do our best to train our clients on how to prevent this from happening.

Sorry this post is so long, but hopefully it will help others.

-TK
M/T Box Computers

"Rick F" <rick.REMOVE@rdfts.REMOVE.com> wrote in message
news:eHEFAoKLFHA.732@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>I personally would not include spyware cleanup as this could eat your lunch
> unless the prerequisite was to purchase anti-spyware software (not the
> free
> scan on-demand ones...something like CounterSpy). I have spent hours and
> hours messing with spyware all because of users that have no concern what
> they download and install (none of it ever has a business purpose). And
> sometimes having to reformat and install everything back. I think you put
> cleanup as a monthly routine, the owner is going to think, big deal about
> spyware, Terry is going to clean it up for the same cost that I am already
> paying him monthly. You charge him for spyware cleanup, his/her attitude
> will change in regards to what their employees on putting on the
> computers.
> What I have done, is have a seminar with all the employees AND BUSINESS
> OWNERS to educate them on spyware which surprisingly helps more than you
> think. But if a computer has spyware because of the actions of an
> irresponsible employee, that is by the hour buddy. :-)
>
> Curious, what were you planning on charging for your service contact to do
> this?
>
> --
> Rick Faria - MCSE / A+
> RDF Technical Services - www.rdfts.com
> Email: support at rdfts dot com
>
>
> "TK - M/T Box Computers" <terry@removethis.mtboxcomputers.com> wrote in
> message news:OvwsTY8KFHA.2648@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> The backup logs and test restores are good, and as you mentioned should
>> be looked at. I'm comfortable with the AV every 30 days because we have
>> Trend Micro at all of our SBS sites. Basically this is just a look to
>> make sure things are still working correctly. If virus activity were to
>> dramatically go up, we would receive an automatic email letting us know.
>>
>> Thanks for you input, and maybe with lots of input it will help all of us
>> with providing proactive service to our clients (or our own systems for
>> the business owners out there that monitor this NG).
>>
>> -TK
>> M/T Box Computers
>>
>>
>> <wedor> wrote in message news:uRKG0T8KFHA.2952@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>>> How about testing the back-up by restoring random files and checking the
>>> logs. I check the back-up logs daily.
>>>
>>> I don't know that I would want to wait a month to look at some things
>>> like A-V, a lot can happen in 30 days if someone's system isn't updating
>>> properly or the server program isn't functioning correctly
>>>
>>> I do updates when they come out, waiting doesn't always seem prudent.
>>>
>>> I think proactive is superior but it is difficult to sell to some
>>> clients as they just can't or won't see the advantage. I had a client
>>> who would have accused me of wasting their money if I patched for
>>> possible problems, they had no issue with paying me for emergency calls
>>> to fix the damage when they got hit by something that could have easily
>>> been prevented. I also find it easier to prevent than to try to clean up
>>> all the little odds and ends that keep popping up later if you don't
>>> find all of the damage right away.
>>>
>>> I forget which bug it was but in the summer of 2003 I patched most of my
>>> clients against a possible bug except the one that would have accused me
>>> of wasting thier money, they were the only company affected when it hit
>>> and paid far more to fix it then than they would have if I had patched
>>> them first, they never even consider the cost of downtime for their own
>>> employees.
>>>
>>> You can lead these people to logic but you can't manke them think.
>>>
>>> "TK - M/T Box Computers" <terry@removethis.mtboxcomputers.com> wrote in
>>> message news:%23w01XF8KFHA.2796@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>>>> I'm working on a proposal for some of our SBS clients that are not
>>>> currently under a support agreement. In the proposal I want to outline
>>>> some of the things that should be done on a consistent basis to
>>>> prevent/avoid small issues becoming major issues. I was curious how
>>>> many of you simply respond to client issues as they arise, or how many
>>>> are proactively taking care of the client networks.
>>>>
>>>> Ideally I would like to outline some of the services that should be
>>>> addressed on a monthly basis. Some of the things I've listed are:
>>>> Daily review of server performance reports and usage reports
>>>> Monthly service packs/updates/security fixes on the servers and
>>>> workstations
>>>> Monthly review of the server AV console (check for patterns, updates
>>>> are okay, etc.)
>>>> Monthly checks/updates of antivirus software for all machines
>>>> Monthly checks/cleanup of spyware / malware / adware for all
>>>> workstations
>>>> Software updates and support as-needed (custom software like tax
>>>> programs, etc.)
>>>> Hardware maintenance and cleanings (every 6 months, depending on
>>>> environment)
>>>> Network security analysis (every 6 months)
>>>> Intranet & website design and updates (as requested / needed)
>>>>
>>>> Is there anything else that some of you are doing that I have not
>>>> listed?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for your input.
>>>>
>>>> -TK
>>>> M/T Box Computers
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

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