Feeler for support pricing

A

aws

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i need to offer "support" on 2 applications i developed. they web based.. they pretty much help the running of an entire publisher.. from adverts to content to book keeping.

heres the crunch... after a bit of a mess.. im leaving the company.. but they still want support... like if the thing breaks / user does something stupid etc want to be able to still call me.. what do you guys think market related tariffs would be for this?

hope you can help :P
 
It would largely depend on the support medium (telephonic, VPN or on site for example) and regularity / volume - generally on site charges a lot more, including milage extra.
 
You have a few choices.
1) Sign them up with a contract with a monthly retainer. You can then decide if the retainer includes a number of support hours in a month or not and then bill them a more reasonable rate because there is a fixed amount due each month thanks to the retainer.
2) Ad-hoc. There should be a premium on ad-hoc support because not having a contract means they could look elsewhere for support. ad-hoc also means no commitment from them so your clients with contracts get priority.

I would say anything from R400/h upwards is reasonable for contract. Add 50% for add-hoc. Onsite time minimum 1hour charge. Remote and Telephonic support gets billed in 15 or 30min increments.

Bare in mind whatever you do you set well defined SLAs. I assume you will be looking for work elsewhere which means you can probably only help them after-hours. You also need to be careful what your new contract says because it may prevent you from working elsewhere.
 
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lol its not too large.. the 1 app has been stable for the past 2 years.. in the last 2 months i havent had to do anything with the apps they running fine..

going with option 1... where they pay a monthly.. the terms are.. email support.. within 24 hours i will give an answer. not necessarily a fix. will priorities it. so far 90% of the times the apps have broken its been due to issues on the server. so im thinking mebbe X amount for app support.. and if its a server thing charge them per hour to sort out the server... or X amount for apps + y amount for server. R700 per month seem ok? this doesnt include why my printer cant print etc... its limited to server going down and it effecting the apps.

no callout... all via the net - thinking of taking some time out in moz for a while. 6 years no leave etc.. hehe will be looking for work again next year
 
At the end of the day you need to be happy that the money you get out compensates you for the work you put in. You're doing them a favour by saving them from employing someone new who has to get his head around your application which could take months to do. Once he's up to speed and given your sentiments that the system is stable he'll be idle mostly and they'll be paying full time for someone who works part of the time. Use this as bargaining for the rate you charge.

@stevenv I threw R400 out as a figure given than any company offering a professional service in the IT industry is most likely to be charging at or above that level. Go get a quote on development for an application and subsequent maintenance you'd be amazed at the costs. Of course bigger companies can charge bigger fees because when the client picks up the phone someone responds. A one man show will generally have to charge less due to resource constraints (availability, knowledge etc.)
 
morkhans said:
@stevenv I threw R400 out as a figure given than any company offering a professional service in the IT industry is most likely to be charging at or above that level. Go get a quote on development for an application and subsequent maintenance you'd be amazed at the costs. Of course bigger companies can charge bigger fees because when the client picks up the phone someone responds. A one man show will generally have to charge less due to resource constraints (availability, knowledge etc.)
Click to expand...

Completely understand, was just wondering if I should get out of development and into support :D
 
Yeah, morkhans is right. I'd say that, depending on the SLAs, R400 / hour is actually very competitive.
 
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