Many companies make large investments in software and hardware, but have a habit of overlooking the aspect of investing in technical support to protect the investment.
- How will hardware or software performance affect current projects and their deadlines?
- Who will provide support to hardware and software when problems arise?
- What are the financial implications of a system failure on the business?
- What steps are in place to protect hardware outside of its standard warranty period?
When a significant IT failure incident occurs there is a consequential loss of profits and amassing of costs. The cost of IT failure includes lost business, lost profit, the cost of repair; the fixed and variable operating costs wasted during the downtime and associated costs that are felt throughout the business.
What our clients say about our support...
(Data collected from Excitech's Support Call Feedback Portal from a sample size of 250 responses.)
Is the cost justifiable?
Hardware Failure
A complete server failure, requiring the need for a new server, data replication, setup and configuration could result in a minimum of three working days of downtime.
The average cost of an employee to an organisation has recently been estimated at £40 per hour. Assuming a company employs ten staff this equates to £400 per hour or (assuming a 7.5 hour working day) £3,000 per day.
Software Problems
With any business critical software, technical support is essential. This may be provided by a CAD/IT Manager, however one could argue that finding solutions to high-level IT or CAD problems is not the most effective use of their time and, when issues do arise, what other tasks suffer whilst a solution or workaround is sought and does the time taken affect critical project deadlines?
Assuming the average cost of a CAD/IT Manager to an organisation is £50 per hour and a solution or workaround takes 6 hours to solve, the cost of utilising the CAD Manager’s time to solve this problem would be £300.
However the associated costs whilst a solution or workaround is found could be significantly higher. Could the problem be significant enough to stop the design team working and if so could impending deadlines be compromised? |
Customer Testimonials
"I was very impressed, phoned up around 9.10am to log the call and the issue was resolved around 9.30am (20 Minutes). Thank you!", Costas Constantinou,
Pascall & Watson Architects.
"I just wanted to add that the person I spoke to was extremely helpful and I was very impressed with how quickly he managed to help me get my problem resolved.", Andy Wood, Halcrow Group.
“Always helpful and are always prepared to solve problems large and small. Very good service.”, Kathryn Sanderson,
Rivington Street Studio Architecture.
"Excitech support has always been a good service!!",
Sarah Petherick – In2Design.
"Quick response, found problem, fixed. Excellent. Thanks.",
Richard Boyle, EDF Energy.
What are the key benefits?
Develop a more effective workforce: Individuals and teams can focus on their core job activities rather than having to spend time solving problems thereby improving efficiency and increasing competitiveness.
Keep up with new technologies: A positive approach to support allows your organisation to grow its IT infrastructure safe in the knowledge that it is protected.
Cost effective IT support: Reduce the need for dedicated IT support staff whilst protecting against business downtime during critical projects.
Specialist knowledge: By choosing Excitech as your preferred support provider you will be gaining access a wide range of professional industry-specific expertise. |
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See the results of the most recent Excitech survey into CAD systems
Excitech launches its new portal with CPD certified videos covering Autodesk 2011 software including AutoCAD 2011 and Revit Architecture 2011