Santa’s been making a list, and he’s checking it twice.
But what about CIOs? Have they been checking to see whether their support partner has been naughty or nice?
We had a long, hard think about the support and maintenance features we think organisations should have on their Christmas wish-list for their IT estates.
All you want for Christmas is… exceptional support
As with any service that you receive, you want to know that you’re getting what you pay for.
One of the ways in which providers can help their customers to understand the quality of service they are willing to offer is through the implementation of SLAs.
SLAs are agreed between a provider and a customer, and often laid out at the beginning of any business relationship – whether new or renewed.
In the case of support and maintenance for your Oracle or SAP estate, the typical SLAs offered are for response times. At least, that’s what vendors will outline in their contracts (although some are a little fuzzy around the edges at first glance).
Comparatively, third-party support providers, like Support Revolution, believe the more the merrier and that’s why we work to two SLAs for our customers; one for response times and the other for resolution times.
We have clearly defined response and resolution SLAs that have been determined for each incident priority. If you want to gain a more in-depth understanding of our approach to SLAs, you can download and peruse our guide.
These standards are all good and well, but ONLY if the provider holds up their end of the agreement.
At Support Revolution, we pride ourselves in upholding our service to the standards that our customers expect of us, so you can be certain your organisation won’t be left out in the cold.
This year, to save you from tears, stay secure and keep compliant
Other (and very popular) items on any CIO’s Christmas list are, of course, security and compliance.
These two considerations are of the utmost importance as failure to remain secure and compliant could have serious reputational, legal, and cost implications for organisations.
So, when it comes to such matters, your support partner needs to get their skates on.
Should the security of your ERP suite be compromised, or a legislative change comes into effect, you want to know that a critical patch can be actioned and applied swiftly.
And, while it’s true that mega-vendors might get started on a patch within a week, the trickle-down process of testing and applying could see the resolution dragged out for months. Well, that or they’ll consider wrapping up, and sticking a bow on, a self-help guide as a resolution for you.
We understand the importance of top-notch security, that’s why you’ll find the globally-renowned security solution, Trend Micro, in your Support Revolution stocking.
The Deep Security solution is part of our proactive approach to protecting your ERP estate, and works to keep malicious traffic out of your system.
We update Trend Micro which provides a virtual fence around your systems and means we do not touch your systems, and can secure them with minimal disruption.
The other function of our security strategy sees us using virtual patching which means a patch could be applied to your system within hours, not days.
It’s best to avoid getting your tinsel in a tangle when it comes to security and regulatory issues, but that doesn’t mean your organisation has to wait up for vendor support.
Rockin’ around with a competitive edge
Nobody likes a Scrooge at Christmas (or any other time of the year if we’re being honest), right?
Can you say, with absolute certainty, that your support provider is giving you the value for money that your organisation wants and needs?
Much like Scrooge, the vendors are rather known for their tight-fistedness.
Frequently considered a fixed cost, many organisations continue to pay exorbitant rates to mega-vendors to receive ongoing support and maintenance for their Oracle and SAP estates. But, the rising cost of support as your organisation spirals down the vendor support tiers could ultimately result in your organisation effectively paying a higher price for a lesser service.
Support Revolution much prefers the ‘giving spirit’ of Christmas and offers organisations a dedicated support and maintenance service (it’s our forte!), while reducing their support bills by at least 50%.
Sometimes, though, it’s not just about saving money, but rather uncovering an existing system’s value for money.
As a former Oracle and SAP partner (for more than 20 years), we have the knowhow to support all versions of the vendors’ products. And when we say ‘all’, we really mean all – we can even support the product versions that the vendors themselves boxed up and banished to the attic indefinitely.
This means that no organisation requires an upgrade to access our support and because we don’t impose de-support dates, you can stick with the current version of your system for as long as your organisation needs. Helping organisations to escape the costly upgrade cycle and make significant savings on their annual support bills means they benefit from improved ROI on their IT estates.
Plus, you could reinvest these reclaimed funds into other areas of the organisation, and deck your IT estate with exciting new boughs of holly.
Perhaps one of the most important factors in deciding whether or not your support partner is a gift, is if they’re helping your organisation achieve its business objectives.
A competitive advantage in such challenging markets as we’ve all experienced recently is essential to ensuring the ongoing success of any organisation.
But how exactly does your support partner facilitate this?
Well, crucially, your organisation will need the freedom to follow its own IT roadmap. That is, working towards the plans and initiatives that you consider will propel the organisation forward and safeguard its future endeavours.
A (jolly) good support partner should ensure your organisation has the time, resources, and staff to focus on its innovation and development plans. This, too, should enable an organisation to remain agile and reactive to changing markets and emerging trends.
Because support is at the core of what we do, our services are dedicated to resolving incidents as efficiently and effectively as possible.
This way, we free up your internal resources (as well as the budget, of course!) for you to continue delivering a sparkly, seamless service to your own customers.
May your days be merry and bright
If you can’t put a tick in the box next to even half the items of this wish-list then perhaps your support partner hasn’t been so nice this year.
Fortunately, the joy of third-party support is that it bundles an amazing service, significant cost savings, and freedom from unwanted upgrades into the perfect package, fulfilling your Christmas wish-list.
And, with the end of the year hurtling towards us at the speed of Santa’s sleigh, maybe (just maybe) you’re thinking about what 2022 will bring for your IT estate? If you’re not sure which direction to go in, check out our guide for some IT roadmap inspiration:
