Support Companies

[Reaper]

Hi all

 

We've been using a third line support company called Teksys for a number of years and we are considering moving. One company we've spoken to is Nouveau and I'm just wondering if anyone else has had dealings with them and what their opinion is?

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance

[Haptic]

Hi Reaper,

 

I've PM'd you as we might be able to help.

 

Thanks

[MK-2]

what did teksys do/offer your school?

would the cost of a support contract be weighed up against perhaps an entry level position at the school or do the company offer more than just technical support?

[Millgate]

Hi Reaper,

 

I've sent you a PM. We do a lot of support contracts for schools all over the country.

 

Cheers

[Reaper]

Thanks for the responses, I'll get around finally to replying to the PMs shortly.

 

Teksys mainly offered us Telephone Support for issues that we couldn't fix, the option to get an engineer in to do server updates or help us build our VM cluster etc. and we could do our hardware warranty etc through them as well.

The amount we end up spending with them per year makes them cheaper than a newer member of staff and seeing as we had to fight to get a new guy last year I don't see us being able to get one again anytime soon.

[jamesfed]

Probably shouldn't be saying this but I worked at Nouveau once - the guys there certinly know their stuff and their case management system is top notch.

[MK-2]

Thanks for the responses, I'll get around finally to replying to the PMs shortly.

 

Teksys mainly offered us Telephone Support for issues that we couldn't fix, the option to get an engineer in to do server updates or help us build our VM cluster etc. and we could do our hardware warranty etc through them as well.

The amount we end up spending with them per year makes them cheaper than a newer member of staff and seeing as we had to fight to get a new guy last year I don't see us being able to get one again anytime soon.

 

For the amount you use them, would negotiating with companies on a pay per problem deal be better? I mean if you're paying say £7,000 a year for support, do you get full value? Or would it be better to be able to be charged say £300 per incident knowing that you might only call them 3 times in a year?

[synaesthesia]

Also playing a little devil's advocate, maybe it's worth considering speaking to other schools in your cluster/nearby to see if they can offer such a service. You'll often save a packet as well as open up your networking/contacts too, sharing ideas and solutions that benefit all parties.

[Graham001]

Although we offer a complete range of managed services, which can be tailored to an individual school's requirements, my own experience is that generally primaries tend not to require a great deal of dedicated ICT support. In fact, our Primary school team equates to roughly 1 technician to 5 primary schools, with additional support provided by an additional team if required. Generally, 1 day a week for each of the schools is more than enough, with additional support only really required if one of the schools has a specific project to complete - this is where the additional support comes in.

There are also a few secondary schools that we provide assistance to, who have their own dedicated ICT support staff. To reduce their costs & ensure that their ICT support resources are fully utilised, some offer their ICT support staff to local primary schools for a small charge. This enables them to sustain plenty of work for their ICT staff, whilst providing some income to partially cover ICT salaries.

Sharing ICT support staff with another school may therefore be very beneficial to you, depending upon the regularity of your need for dedicated support. From your original post though, it would appear that your needs are quite small, so might be worth your while bringing up the subject at an ICT steering group to see if any of the other schools local to you would be open to selling you some resource.