IT maintenance contract in Lyon

We regularly take over setups whose owner cannot say what their contract includes. Sometimes they have been paying for years for services they do not use; sometimes they believed something was covered when it was not, and find out at the worst moment. Here is what a contract should state clearly.

The six points a contract has to state

The scope. Which machines, which servers, which software. Is a machine added six months later covered automatically, or does it need an amendment?

What is included and what is not. Monitoring, updates and advice belong to the follow-up. Replacing a part, reinstalling a machine or a long job are generally charged separately. Both are legitimate; what is not legitimate is vagueness.

The response times. Not just a headline figure, but what it means: time to respond, or time to restore service? The two have nothing in common, and that is often where misunderstandings start.

The hours covered. A fault on a Saturday morning in a shop does not carry the same weight as one on a Tuesday afternoon in an office.

What belongs to you. Administrator passwords, access to the backups, documentation of the setup. A contract that leaves you dependent on your provider to take back control of your own infrastructure is a bad contract, whatever the price.

The exit terms. Duration, notice period, renewal, and above all what is handed over to you at the end.

What ours contains

• A documented initial review, which is yours to keep.
• Regular visits, at a frequency matched to the size of the setup.
• Monitoring of disks, backups, updates and antivirus.
• A real restore test, not a ticked box.
• User support for everyday questions - see user support.
• Documentation kept up to date: access, procedures, an inventory of the setup.
• Advice on upcoming replacements, so investment can be spread out.

And what is still charged

Better written here than in an appendix: hardware replacement, a full reinstall of a machine, data recovery, installing a new server or network, and long jobs on a major incident. These are quoted for, as they would be for any customer.

What it costs

The price depends on the number of machines, whether there is a server, the level of availability expected and how often we visit. We put together a proposal after the review, not before: a rate quoted without having seen the setup is a rate that will be revised.

A useful yardstick for deciding: compare the annual cost of the contract with what a single day of complete shutdown would cost you. For many organizations the answer is immediate. For others, it shows the contract is not necessary - and that is a valid answer too.

Changing provider

It is something we handle regularly, and the sensitive point is always the same: recovering the credentials. Before cancelling, make sure you obtain the administrator passwords, access to the backups and to the hosting accounts, and the existing documentation. We help you draw up that list, then take over the setup with a full review.

The questions to ask any provider

Including us. If the answers are vague, that is a signal.

• Who holds the administrator passwords for my machines?
• Where are my backups, and when was a restore last tested?
• What happens if I cancel: what is handed over to me?
• Are the hosting and domain name contracts in my name or in yours?
• How long before someone steps in if everything stops on a Tuesday morning?

That last question deserves an answer with a figure in it, not a sales line.

Without a contract is possible too

Many of our business customers have worked on demand for years, and it suits them. See business IT support and small business maintenance.