Re: monthly support plans

Other than selling block of hours, this is the only type of maintenance
support plans that I offer at this time.

--
Rick Faria - MCSE / A+
RDF Technical Services - www.rdfts.com
Email: support at rdfts dot com


"Dan" <Dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3A187823-D1DE-41A8-B78A-F7EDA8181447@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
..Thanks for the detailed response Rick and also to Cris. It has
definitely
given me some ballpark concepts. Rick,,,I was wondering though how much
does
your highest plan cost if you don't mind my asking ?

Regards
Dan

"Rick F" wrote:

Here is a subset of my contract (Actual contract is 5 pages). I charge
$100
per month for this and is optional for my clients. Every single client
choose to sign up though. :-)

I takes me on average at least 2 hours per month per client. Maybe 3hrs
on
some but overall I look at it as looking out for my clients and getting
somewhat paid for it and re-occurring revenue. I also find that it
actually
creates additional billable hours when you identify issues that need to
be
addressed.

Scope of Services for Maintenance Contract:

Maintenance Services provided to computer equipment attached to the local
area network, excluding printers and peripherals. The purpose of the
agreement is to keep up-to-date with software patches and monitor the
well-being of the entire computer network. To take a proactive approach
to
maintaining software and issues that might arise.



Provided maintenance services described below:



· Will maintain properly licensed Microsoft computer software
with
up-to-date critical software patches provided by Microsoft for software
that
is supported by said company. Will update patches within 7 days of
release
or sooner.

· Immediate (within 24 hours) updates to time sensitive patches
as
addressed by Microsoft.

· Server Status Reports will be configured to be emailed to
consultant's email address automatically, and will be reviewed daily for
any
critical or warning issues. Microsoft Small Business Server clients only.

· Server's Event Logs will be email to consultant's emailed
address
automatically, and will be reviewed on a weekly basis for any critical or
warning issues. Microsoft Small Business Server clients only.

· Issues found in Status and Event logs will be researched to
determine cause and resolution will be presented to client for further
action. (billable time)

· Will maintain properly licensed third party computer software
for
any patches provided by vendor. Client will need to inform Consultant of
any
patches and make available for deployment.

· Internet Intrusions will be automatically configured to
Consultant's email address and will be reviewed. Intrusion will be
researched and associated parties will be addressed. Microsoft Small
Business Server Premium clients only.

· Antivirus software will be monitored on a weekly basis to
ensure
automatic updates are working correctly. If virus outbreak is evident,
then
immediate (within 24 hours) monitoring will take place to make sure
Antivirus will catch said virus. This is dependant on availability from
vendor.

· Will inform Client of any recommendations to enhance
performance
and reliability of computer network.



What maintenance services will not provide:



· This is a monitoring and patching service, it does not cover
any
projects or computer problems that may arise.

· Updates to computers that are turned off at night. Need to be
logged off from Windows or restarted at the end of the day.

· Configurations changes outside the scope of monitoring.

· New workstation setup.

· Any program errors or issues with functionality of software.

· Any program upgrades, either from incremental versions or
full.
Example: v6.1 to v6.15/v6.2 or v.6.1 to v7.0

· Any issues that are not described above in the Provided
Services
section.





Note: Any other issues will be billed separately by the hour or deducted
from pre-paid block of hours, if purchased.


--
Rick Faria - MCSE / A+
RDF Technical Services - www.rdfts.com
Email: support at rdfts dot com


"Cris Hanna" <crisnospamhanna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:A52AFB9C-AA6D-4955-BA5D-F24DA1298396@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Is it just you? Do you have others working for you?
There's at least a thousand answers to this one

Typically the purpose of selling support plans is:
1) Be able to forecast monthly/annual revenue
2) Provide a level of proactive support to your clients

You could say, have them pre-pay 2-3 hours and offer to review the
morning
email monitoring report, review the backup status and say critical
patches
for Server and workstations.

Any work beyond that, gets billed at the normally hourly rate.

Consider "locking" them in with a written agreement for 6 months or 1
year. Your customer will feel you're looking out for them. And it will
probably result in considerable additional work.

--
CRIS HANNA [SBS-MVP]
---------------------------------
Please only respond in the newsgroup. Do Not Contact Directly.
MVPs do not work for Microsoft.
---------------------------------------
Sent via Windows Mail on Vista Ultimate connected to SBS R2
"Dan" <Dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DA27F44C-BABF-4E84-93F8-C7137692F3EA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Folks,

Looking for some tips to structure monthly support plans, like what
type
of
support should be provided and how much should the charge be.

Thanks in advance
Dan






.

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