Without a Support Plan, ABC Accounting thought they had very little need for computer services. There was an issue with a virus on a PC, but one of the staff members borrowed some anti-virus software from a friend and this seemed to fix the problem. Errors were also noted on the back-up reports, but these were thought to be fairly minor (anyway, it was no-one’s responsibility and soon forgotten).

A month or two later, 3 of the PC’s were drastically infected with viruses and were inoperable for almost 2 days. (Synaxis was called onsite to diagnose the problem, and found that new anti-virus software was required. This was purchased, installed and all 3 systems cleaned.) Given that these users generally bill out between $60 and $150 per hour, this proved to be a very expensive exercise.

Three months later, the staff came into the office one day only to find that the server had crashed. Synaxis was called and an engineer was soon onsite to investigate. It appeared that the server’s hard drive had failed - a new one was sourced and all software was re-installed. The engineer then loaded the latest back-up tape only to find that the back-up had not functioned properly for 3 weeks. By the time the server hard drive was replaced, software re-installed, and the back-up system reconfigured, the issue had cost ABC Accounting 2½ days of 5 user’s productivity, 20 hours of service, and 3 weeks of lost data.

On the Essential Support Plan, ABC Accounting invested in 2 hours of Scheduled Onsite Maintenance per fortnight. One of the first issues raised was that the virus protection was inadequate - the business subsequently upgraded to a later version and checks were performed to ensure the software regularly downloaded new definitions.

Further maintenance identified several back up errors which were all rectified immediately. When the server’s event log was checked, it showed indications that the hard drive was in danger of failing. When presented to the manager in the Systems Analysis Report, a decision was made to replace the existing hard drive (this was done whilst ABC Accounting had their weekly meeting to minimise lost productivity).

During the regular visits, Synaxis was also able to help users with minor issues (error messages, email troubleshooting etc.)

Benefits of using a Support Plan
Over this time period, a Support Plan saved ABC Accounting money on IT. Services (even though more service had been provided), users had more support for day-to-day issues, the server’s hard drive was replaced before it failed, the back-up system did not fail, and the only down-time experienced was planned. The business was also able to avoid any unplanned IT. expenditure and the systems ended up in much better condition.

Without a Support Plan, XYZ Retail (head office) had Bill (a staff member) to help with day-to-day IT. problems. (Bill’s main role was as a regional manager and the more time he spent on IT., the less time he had available for his actual role in the company.) Bill often helped sort out user problems (printing, permissions, applications, etc) but used Synaxis IT for larger scale problems (either calling engineers out on site, or using the help desk service).

After a month or so, several stores reported problems accessing the network remotely (meaning that they could not connect to head-office and upload their data). Synaxis was called out and fixed the problem by reconfiguring the Virtual Private Network settings. Several PC’s also began reporting problems. Synaxis was again called to diagnose these issues and in some cases, replace parts. Meanwhile, Bill was continually bombarded with questions about desktop faxing - for some reason, it never seemed to work very smoothly.

Two months down the track, the internet router failed. Once again, Synaxis came out onsite and spent a day reconfiguring it. During the same month, the Web/Mail server was struck with a serious virus. The company’s website was offline and staff could not send or receive email for almost two days.

On the Systems Support Plan, XYZ Retail (head office) invested in 3.5 hours of Scheduled Onsite Maintenance per week. Initially, some issues were identified with the way the internet router was set up and also with the way the remote stores dialed into the network.

Through the user support provided, several hardware issues were identified with the PC’s. Replacement parts were provided for these systems free of charge (2 x RAM, 1 x video card,1 x floppy drive, and 1 x motherboard). Virus definitions were kept up to date on both servers, also ensuring that these were distributed properly to all users.

The engineers were also able to improve the way the desktop faxing software was configured and show staff how to make better use of these features. Maintenance was particularly focused on addressing some issues that were identified with the Mail/Web Server. Through reconfiguring some software settings, the Mail/Web continued to run smoothly.

Consequences of not using a Support Plan
Although XYZ Retail thought they’d save money by using an internal person for IT., with less focus, and a narrower set of skills, experience and resources, the IT. systems were not kept well-maintained and the result was downtime in email and the web site, as well as several occasions when remote access was unavailable - proving very costly for the business. In addition, money was spent on replacement parts (that would otherwise have been covered under a Maintenance Plan), users continued to experience issues with desktop faxing, Bill’s job suffered and staff were permanently frustrated. The business, I.T. systems, and Bill would all have been better off under a Support Plan.