Disaster struck Dunn Corp. on a quiet night in January 2006. The $20-million building-materials supply company in Daytona Beach, Florida, was shutting down for the night when portions of its new IP communications voice system simply stopped working.

IT Manager Alexander Bingham surveyed the damage and determined that the failure required a reload of Cisco Unified CallManager software. Then he called his service and support contractor.

Veytec, an Orlando-based Cisco Premier Certified Partner and SMB Select Partner with IP communications specialization, had representatives on site within two hours and had the system up within eight hours. Then they stayed for another 22 hours to ensure the problem didn't recur.

"We had never received that kind of service from anybody else," Bingham says. "That's the kind of dedication I'm looking for."

Regular Maintenance or Roadside Assistance?

Establishing the right level of support with the right reseller requires time and effort. First, decide whether you want turnkey support or per-incident response:

• Turnkey support is a high-level comprehensive service that covers just about every type of IT concern or problem a business can have, and often brings multiple resources to bear.
• Per-incident response is simply that; if something breaks down, the reseller fixes it.

"For these mission-critical systems, we wanted the guarantee of knowing any problems would be fixed immediately," Bingham says. "We wanted someone with an intimate understanding of how we operate as a company as well as the equipment and solutions we use. We know they are committed to helping us, whatever it takes."

Veytec guarantees to fix major emergencies that involve Cisco equipment within four hours. If it can't, it will serve as Dunn's liaison with Cisco technical support experts under a standard Cisco SMARTnet service contract, which provides around-the-clock access to the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and hardware replacement by the next business day.

A Range of Tools and Service Delivery Options

The support process is another major consideration in selecting a reseller partner. Advanticom Inc., a Cisco Premier Certified and SMB Select Partner, offers a three-tiered approach to troubleshooting: remote, onsite, and as a liaison to Cisco. Advanticom guarantees onsite response within four hours and recently installed GPS in its trucks to expedite the time between dispatch and onsite response, says CEO Denise DeSimone.

Advanticom also offers strategic IT assistance. For example, it helps Pittsburgh's 1250-employee Mercy Behavioral Health use technology to improve its service and efficiency, according to Richard Ong, the facility's director of information systems and telecommunications. Initially, this meant consulting on which IP-based technologies and products to buy. Today, it includes suggestions on how to maximize profits and minimize costs.

Like Advanticom, some resellers use the Cisco Lifecycle Services framework, which is a detailed methodology based on six phases:

• Prepare
• Plan
• Design
• Implement
• Operate
• Optimize

Because it involves resellers sharing their expertise on advanced technology with their customers, it amounts to a strategic partnership that extends beyond one or two isolated incidents.

Advanticom's service and support have brought Mercy Behavioral Health significant cost savings. Ong says that the support contract is "worth far more" than what the organization pays for it.

Gauging the Performance to Expect

The elements essential to good support and service contracts are communication and a focus on the overall lifecycle of a solution, according to Eric Goodness, principal research vice president at Gartner. A good reseller will help you stay up-to-date with new technologies and inform you when a vendor is changing its products or delivery methods.

The costs for service and support vary depending on:

• The terms of the contract
• The size of your company
• How frequently you require support.

Many resellers charge a standard annual fee, while others bill per incident. But the return on investment from support contracts is usually worthwhile, especially considering the costs of ad hoc responses to IT emergencies, notes Goodness.

The biggest challenge with support contracts is managing expectations. You should have service-level agreements (SLAs) that detail specifically what your resellers will and will not deliver in certain situations.

But beyond the contract, you also must manage expectations internally. Otherwise, employees may incorrectly assume one of two extremes: that the reseller will always have systems working flawlessly and fix problems within nanoseconds, or that the network will languish abandoned and without attention.

It's beneficial to everyone involved to explain to your employees what support they will and will not receive from the reseller, advises Ong. For example, employees should know when the reseller will be performing maintenance, upgrades, or other services. It helps to tell them how often the reseller will visit and how long it usually takes. Such openness keeps employees aware of and interested in how the reseller can help them.

"It might be obvious to you that a reseller is the best choice for support," Ong says. "Convincing your employees may take a bit more work."

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About the Author

Matt Villano is a freelance writer and editor based in Half Moon Bay, California. He wrote about retail technologies in the second quarter 2006 issue of iQ Magazine.

iQ Magazine, Third Quarter 2006