There are many forms of IT support, and while some of them are good for all situations, others are best reserved for specific types of technology. Commercial hardware support, for example, may need to be provided by a live technician who visits the customer’s company to replace things like hard drives or memory. On the other hand, several methods of contact will work for answering questions or providing walk-throughs for software operations.

One unique type of support comes in the form of managed it services. With managed services, certain types of support are covered under a single price. A managed web server company, for example, may include automated server monitoring, backup and recovery, replacement of failing hardware, and even necessary security updates. These services are usually included in the base price of a managed server, which makes such servers more expensive to lease than those that aren’t managed. However, investing in the management saves customers from having to find their own IT personnel to handle such issues.

In other cases, managed services are offered as separate packages, like from Transparent Solutions, offering Vancouver IT support, and Burnaby it services. This is often the case with software. In this scenario, software is sold as a standalone item, but IT support packages are also available. Often, individuals and small companies will just buy the software, while larger ones will add in a support package. Larger companies are more likely to buy support because their operations will be too severely disrupted if they have to stop their other tasks to figure out what’s wrong with a program.

Standard support services, such as the answering of questions, are usually included in the base price of software without any extra fees. These services usually provide a method of contact such as a support ticket system, phone number, or live chat. Simple questions can be answered quickly, while complex ones may take a while to figure out. A few companies, however, reserve even basic contact for people who pay for support. Everyone else gets a forum, static knowledge base or FAQ, or a combination of the two. The knowledge base is likely the least helpful form of support of all, so many companies that used to have only that have resumed offering methods of direct contact as well.