Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- Question 1, Do I need to have a service agreement to work with NetService Management?
- Question 2, Do you do work remotely so that travel to my office isn't necessary?
- Question 3, When is routine maintenance performed? Our office is very busy during the day and we want to avoid interruptions?
- Question 4, How long is the term for a service agreement? Am I obliged to stay if I no longer want to?
- Question 5, What is your response time in the event of an emergency.
- Question 6, Do you charge for travel?.
- Question 7, How much life should I expect from a desktop computer?
- Question 8, Many Cloud services are offered today. Do we still need a server in the office?
- Question 9, So you provide any Cloud services?
Answer 1:
No. While a service agreement is often the most economical way to manage a small network, many of our clients simply pay for services as they need them. However, a service agreement ensures rapid response in the case of an emergency.
Answer 2:
Yes. We avoid travel whenever possible which is about 90% of the time. You should have a designated staff member on site that can help with some basic troubleshooting. We don't expect a lot from them but occasionally we lose access to a machine and need someone there to restart it.
Answer 3:
For our clients that have a service agreement, maintenance is performed after hours and does not interfere with business operations.
Answer 4:
Our standard service agreement is for one year. Either party can terminate the agreement at any time, for any reason, with a one month notice.
Answer 5:
We take emergencies very seriously and respond as quickly as we can, even when there is no service agreement in place. A service agreement will guarantee specific response times. If any part of your infrastructure is critical enough to warrant an emergency, then it's worth putting measures in place to mitigate the risk, or eliminate it altogether.
Answer 6:
Yes we charge for travel. In general for Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island the charge is a little less than half our service rate. Every situation is different, and for clients on service agreement there is no travel charge during regular business hours.
Answer 7:
The life of a desktop computer is anywhere between 3
and 6 years. Low-cost and refurbished computers are
typically already one or two years behind current technology, so
their expected life is shortened by that much. Over the course
of years computers appear to slow down because we come to expect
more. A staff member that was getting along fine with
their 3 year old computer suddenly gets a new computer at home.
The performance difference is startling and they will now find
their desktop computer at work irritatingly slow!
Answer 8:
Every case is different and a business with one or more
small offices should consider their options carefully. If your
staff is mostly mobile, cloud services make sense. Many people
don't realize that a server in the office is also a server in
the Cloud and can be used just as effectively as a third party
Cloud provider. The number of users is a consideration
also and it rarely makes sense to have your own Exchange server
on premise for 2 or 3 staff members. Conversely, with 10
or more in house users there may be justification for an
in-house Exchange server. Our years of experience can tell
you what the best option is for your business!
Answer 9:
We partner with a number of vendors, and are constantly
evaluating new ones to provide Cloud services. These
services include spam filtering, hosted Exchange, Office 365 and
Web hosting. We also offer a broad range of backup
services including Carbonite Individual, Carbonite Business, and
the very advanced Accellerite (formally Doyenz) for unparalleled
disaster recovery in the Cloud.