What is it?

We support and maintain WordPress websites we have developed and–where possible–others as well. Our support clients choose us for the high quality of the service we offer, reasonable cost, and the simple peace-of-mind of knowing your website is in good and capable hands.

For all-in-one managed hosting and support offer customers our WP Flex managed WordPress hosting service. In cases where clients prefer to host their own website we offer Website Support & Maintenance (WSM) packages.

Our support service packages are provided under a (typically) annual, standard support agreement. Each support agreement specifies a balance (in hours) of support time which can be used at the client’s discretion over the course of the support term. Time spent on support tasks is tracked and logged using our project management system Teamwork.

What do they cover?

The mix of services is flexible, but a typical agreement comprises the following range of services:

Essential Support

All support agreements, even those without a support time balance, include Essential Support. This is the minimum support level we are able to offer our customers. It is priced at 384,000 yen per year (billed monthly) and includes the following:

  • Maintenance of development environment (full copy of website file system, system documentation, website and server access details, as well as all collateral received from Client)
  • Updates (WordPress & plugins)
  • Prioritized response to system emergencies (e.g. – server down, website hacked, etc.)
  • 24/7 monitoring of website availability and performance
  • Web-based project and task management system

(Essential support does not cover time spent on support tasks, requests, emergencies, and the like. What you are getting is software updates, support readiness, the guarantee of a prioritized response to emergencies, and website monitoring.)

If you have a support time balance you can use it for any combination of the following support activities.

  • Website Support and Maintenance 
    Content management (creating or revising web pages of other HTML content), website operation, web and graphic design, image editing and optimization, data collection and reporting, and other administrative or operational tasks.
  • Application Support 
    Programmatic updates (coding), database and/or functional enhancements to be performed at the discretion the Client, security and corrective updates to WordPress and installed extensions (where possible) when such updates are released.
  • Project Management 
    Telephone and email communication related to support work and tasks, in-person and remote meetings, planning, scheduling, and reporting.
  • System Administration 
    Administration of website hosts (changing hosting settings, communicating with hosting provider, responding to service interruptions, etc.), databases (creating databases and DB users), and domains (registration of new domains, DNS record management) for each site or system covered.
  • Design & Creative Support
    Content creation and design for the web, social media, online ads, email, or offline use.

Why do I need one?

If you have design and technical resources available in-house then chances are you don’t need one. If you do not, however, you should seek the support of a talented and reliable agency like Netwise. 😉

The reason for this is that things invariably break or go wrong, and you need someone to jump in and take care of things when they do. Moreover, CMS software is constantly evolving to meet new requirements, remain secure, and provide the best performance. Regular updates are a fact of life, and often a critical necessity! Having someone to take care of updates and security patches quickly and correctly can make the difference between smooth sailing and disaster.

Finally, websites themselves are also meant to evolve and grow. Creating new content, adding features, optimizing for search engines or performance are key to maintaining your website as an effective tool for your business. Working with a partner to make sure these things happen can have a major (positive) impact on your bottom line.

Sounds great, but what does it cost?

That’s easy. Our support clients pay 360,000 yen per year per website for Essential Support and then additional fees based on the allocation of support time built in to the agreement. Our flat rate for support hours of 10,000 yen/hour is competitive and reasonable, especially considering that it gives you essentially unfettered access to a complete agency team of designers, developers, marketers, and strategists.

In order to decide how much time to include, we normally ask clients to provide us with the following:

  1. List of all typical, month-to-month recurring support activities they expect for the coming year
  2. Projects and initiatives planned for the coming year

Based on these we calculate a monthly average and a projects total. Multiplying the monthly average by 12 and adding the projects total to it gives us the suggested support time balance for the year!

Why an annual balance and not monthly?

We’ve been doing this for a looooong time, and what we found with monthly balances is that we would often use too much or too little time each month. Clients felt like they were paying for nothing, or we felt we were working for too little. Spreading the time out over a year–and tracking usage meticulously–helps us account for the peaks and troughs that are normal in support engagements.


Want to know more, or request a formal support quote? Click the link in the sidebar and give us a shout! We’re happy to talk about how we can help.

 

Looking for fully-managed WordPress hosting and support? We’ve got just the thing for you! Check out our WP Flex managed WordPress hosting service.

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