IT Support Contracts and Encouraging Clients to Meet their Obligations
Making sure that your IT support contracts run smoothly requires commitment on the part of your clients and users, as well as consistent service from you and your business.
It is important to make sure that your clients understand that they have certain obligations. These usually include:
Logging Calls Correctly
Calls have to be logged so that issues are correctly prioritized and not forgotten.
Producing call log reports is also likely to be part of your obligation to the client.
Refraining From Using Unauthorized Or Illegal Software
Use of unauthorized software could have implications for data security and network performance that may not be instantly apparent to the non-technical.
Illegal software can place companies at risk of significant financial and reputational impact.
Keeping To Email Size Limits Or Storage Quotas
Email size limits and quotas are there so that everyone can enjoy consistent network performance and to ensure nightly backups are able to finish during out-of-hours time windows.
Communication is key. You must make sure that customers understand why these three things are essential in order for IT support contracts to run smoothly.
Many of these things may not be instantly apparent to those without a technical background.
Essential Ongoing Communications
Usually, you will find that this communication is an ongoing process.
An email to all staff reminding them of the importance of consistent fault logging may have a positive effect for a short time, making all of your IT support contracts easier to deal with.
Some time later however, users may become less reliable and start saving up issues for when you happen to walk past them in the office.
Staying Consistent
All you can do is constantly remind them of their obligations AND the sensible reasons behind them.
It is also essential that you are consistent in your actions. Insisting problems are properly logged won’t be taken seriously if you fix them anyway when they are not!
By being consistent in your message AND in your actions, you may eventually manage to train the users to do things the right way.
How do you “train” customers on IT support contracts? Share your methods below!
And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on IT Service Contract Secrets for Getting More Repeat Clients and Recurring Service Revenue.
Creative Commons Image Source: flickr DanBrady