Compuquip

In the traditional IT consulting model, a client would call for support and the IT provider would send a resource, usually at an hourly rate that was dependent upon the skill of the engineer +/- any discounts provided. The way the client knew they were ‘getting what they paid for’ was because the engineer showed up and did the work. They saw him/her walk in the door and then eventually walk out the door. Take the time spent on site multiplied by the hourly rate and you have the bill. The SLA (Service Level Agreement) involved client requests for service that were satisfied by us delivering a resource within an expected time to fulfill the contract obligation.

The world of IT Services has changed completely in the past 12 to 18 months and now MSPs (Managed Service Providers) are forced to provide reports on SLAs that involve complex terms like ‘Ticket Acknowledgement’, ‘Ticket Escalation’ and ‘Average Time to Resolution’.

Sounds complicated, right? It doesn’t have to be. Most executives just want to make sure their network is working, their users are getting support, and IT is being utilized efficiently.

At Compuquip, we believe in complete and total transparency and work very hard as a team to provide transparency to our clients. Below is a simplified sample of how we measure SLAs using the status of each request for support:

• NEW status – We hear you and have received your request for service. Our target is to confirm we received your request and create a ticket within 15 minutes of the issues being identified, whether it’s via email or phone.
• ASSIGNED status – We looked at the issue, looked at our resources and have assigned it to the best person to fix the issue. Our target is to assign the ticket to the best person to work on it within 20 minutes of a new ticket reaching our system.
• IN PROGRESS status – We started working on the issue. Our target is to begin working on the issue after researching the potential resolution within 4 hours of the ticket hitting our system.
• RESOLVED status – The issue has been taken care of and we are waiting for confirmation from the user. Our target is to resolve the issue to the user’s satisfaction and with confirmation within the same business day (8 Business Hours).

Of course there are a number of things that could hold up the resolution, including our team, such as:

1. Needing more information from the end user that reported it (Waiting on Client status),
2. Identifying a part that is broken and a replacement that needs ordered (Waiting on Parts status),
3. The client does not want to proceed until they get approval (On Hold status)
4. The end user is currently busy and wants us to work on the issue at a later date (Scheduled status).

Our goal is to provide total transparency surrounding the status of the issue and in return we ask that our clients communicate as effectively as possible with our team and be on the look out for updates that may require action on the their part.