Maintenance Contracts
Why your needs will vary and how we meet them
Maintenance Contracts
Why your needs will vary and how we meet them
- 2 minute read
Support and maintenance are often used interchangeably when it comes to websites and apps, but there are some important differences and what you need will vary based on your product.
For small websites using off-the-shelf CMS systems, most of the day to day maintenance can be done in house. This usually involves a few button clicks and a short wait while the CMS updates itself to the latest version. Occasionally you’ll get a prompt about a major change, for which you may need to call on us to assist.
We think of this as ad-hoc support and we don’t put maintenance contracts around this type of occasional engagement. This is because we think that ongoing monthly fees are disproportionate to the amount of involvement we have over the course of a maintenance contract. This is not to say you cannot call on us, on the contrary, in this model you engage us on demand, and we’ll simply charge you our standard hourly rate for the time we need to resolve the support request.
For larger more complex websites and apps, ad-hoc or on demand support is not enough to keep the wheels turning. This is because there are changes happening around us that we need to respond to in order to keep things running smoothly. As an example, take any mobile app on your phone and you’re instantly thinking along the right lines. Apple and Google will update iOS and Android regularly as they discover new security issues, or performance improvements, or simply release the next version with all the shiny new features. If apps are not maintained they will eventually reach a point where they either no longer work as designed, or worse, cannot be submitted into the app stores due to not meeting minimum requirements. When an app reaches this stage it is a much larger investment to get things working again than to regularly maintain the app and keep up to date with all those smaller changes. Think of a car engine, if you service it regularly it’ll go on for years, but if you neglect it entirely it’ll probably seize up, but not before some significant damage has occurred. Damage in the case of a broken app or web service can be brand reputation, customer dissatisfaction, loss of revenue or place significant strain on partner relations.
Maintenance contracts are designed to keep everything ticking over and minimise any bumps in the road. Regular maintenance and updates will keep your product running smoothly and will ensure your customers receive the service they demand.
With all of that being said, maintenance contracts are not the structure in which to introduce new features or large scale change. These should be scoped as separate concerns and the maintenance contact updated to cover any new maintainable elements at the conclusion.
As always we'll guide you through your options and ensure you have the support that is the most suitable for you and your product.