Some words that you may often hear in terms of IT services are “Maintenance” and “Support”. If you’re not in the business of delivering IT services, these words may be synonymous to you. In fact, they are not at all. When dealing with IT Service providers, it will benefit you to remove any ambiguity about “Maintenance” and “Support” in understanding what is being provided.
Simple Definitions
So let’s define these things in their simplest terms and provide some real world examples.
What is the Context?
The context in IT terms are applications, services, hosts, etc. Any “thing” that contributes to the functionality you expect requires some level of Maintenance and Support. Combined, Maintenance and Support determine the overall Availability, Security, and Usability of the thing.
Both Maintenance and Support combined determine the overall Availability, Security, and Usability of the thing.
What is Maintenance?
Maintenance is the ongoing care and feeding of the thing. It is:
- the proactive measures to ensure the thing continues to do what it is meant to do,
- regularly performed on a schedule,
- determines the ultimate availability of the thing,
- critical to ensure the Availability and Security of the thing.
What is Support?
Support is the activity of restoring or enhancing the functionality of a thing. It is:
- the reactive measures to return the thing to a desired state,
- performed as a result of an event,
- critical to ensure the ongoing Usability of the thing.
What You Should Know
So what does this mean to you? If you subscribe to any IT Services, both Maintenance and Support will determine the overall value of the service to you. Here are the takeaways:
- Maintenance applies to the systems/services, code, and content of the thing. Like your house or car, without adequate Maintenance, the thing will ultimately fail.
- Hosting does NOT typically include all the maintenance required. It only provides for the Maintenance of the systems(network and hosts) required to deliver the code and content, not maintenance of the code OR content itself.
- Lack of adequate Maintenance is the primary reason that the thing:
- does not perform as desired through failed code resulting in lack of Availability and Security exposure (hacks),
- and drives up reactive Support events needed to restore the thing to its desired state.
- Support is the people and process by which a thing is restored when needed (when some event happens).
- Lack of or inadequate Support:
- degrades the usability of the thing,
- delays the restoration of the thing when an event occurs,
- erodes customer confidence in the thing.
Summary
In dealing with any IT Service Provider, it is important you not only understand the Maintenance and Support being provided, but make sure you are getting the levels of each you need to have peace of mind in knowing your “thing” will perform as needed for the duration. While the levels of maintenance and support vary depending on the thing being provided, you should never assume you need none of either unless you are a gambler.
... Make sure you are getting the levels of each you need to have peace of mind in knowing your “thing” will perform as needed for the duration.
At CMHWorks, we provide many levels of Maintenance and Support, and can tailor one to meet the needs of your thing. For more information see:
