Support
Ongoing
support is very important. Networks can take time to reach optimum efficiency,
things can and will go wrong even on the best network. Hardware will fail and
software will become corrupted.
Support
comes in different forms
- Telephone Support
- Advantages
- Get to talk to someone (human
contact)
- Very direct (your issue is
being dealt with now)
- Disadvantages
- Can spend a long time waiting
to talk to someone
- They can’t see your problem
- Dependent on your powers of
explanation
- Dependent on you to carry out
their suggestions
- Questions to ask before buying
- What is your average call
waiting time?
- Between what hours is your
call centre open?
- What is the cost per year?
- Is there a call log system so
longer problems can be traced and linked?
- Are there
procedures
in place to escalate a more difficult problem to a more experienced
technician?
- E-mail or Online Support
- Advantages
- Easy to send screen prints of
problems
- Allows you to marshal your
thoughts into text
- Can be cheaper
- Disadvantages
- Can take some time to reply,
not immediate
- Exchange of ideas takes
longer
- Questions to ask before buying
- How long is the guaranteed
response time? If there isn’t one then how do you know anyone will take
your problems seriously?
- Between what hours are
e-mails answered?
- Is there a call log system so
longer problems can be traced and linked?
- Remote Support (Technicians connecting to your servers
and PC’s through the internet)
- Advantages
- Remote technician can see
your problem and as long as it is not hardware failure related can fix
it
- You need less powers of
description as someone can see your problems
- Disadvantages
- You learn less from the
process as it is done for you
- Questions to ask before buying
- Has the company had
experience of providing this type of support within a Hampshire school
before? This is important as the support will have to pass through HPSN
or SWAN in most schools.
- Between what times is it
available?
- How do you arrange remote
support, e-mail or phone? (See issues with e-mail or phone support)