So you’ve implemented a new CRM, communication tool, or other technology and you are not quite ready to ‘do it on your own.’ Where do you turn to get the additional support that you need to either complete your implementation build, attack new functionality or features, and/or assist your team in fully adopting new technology or processes? Technology service firms (including Kennedy & Company) offer this type of support in a variety of ways. We recognize that every institution has different strategic goals and initiatives that drive its approach to choosing and implementing technology and therefore seek support for that technology in different ways as well.
Common Support Contracts are structured in one of the following ways:
Project-Based
- This approach is common when a client has a specific project or initiative they are trying to tackle and they want our assistance getting it over the finish line. Is your team looking to build a new application or workflow? Implement Single-Sign on? Build a handful of outreach or engagement campaigns? If so, we will work with you to fully understand the work you would like to accomplish and define key metrics of success. We will then scope out an estimated number of hours we anticipate the project will need – taking into consideration how much your team would (or would not) like to be involved in the process.
- Once this is agreed upon we will commence and deliver the services according to a defined project timeline and schedule we will create together.
Hours-Based
- This is our most common approach for clients who are unsure of how much support they will need in a given time period, or need support for a variety of tools or functionality. Is your team in need of extra bandwidth to handle help requests from users, or expertise to support ongoing growth and development of your CRM and related tools? In this case, we offer a ‘bucket of hours’ that can be drawn from upon request.. Once requested, Kennedy & Company will investigate and either resolve or, when needed, propose a solution for approval. Once your team has approved us moving forward, we will conduct the work and invoice monthly for the hours consumed.
- The best part? No ‘use it or lose it!’ That means if you have a contract with us for 100 support hours and only use 5 hours of our time in one month and 25 the next, we will charge you for 5 and 25 hours respectively at our agreed-upon hourly rate. There is no expectation or requirement for our clients to fully use (and thus pay) for any time that is not used.
- An additional benefit from this model is that clients can step in to be as involved or not in the work with our team. At times, some clients prefer to be hands-on in a customization with us so that they can more efficiently learn how to further develop or manage the customization. This model allows clients to become more involved in a way that also reduces the number of hours required from our team for the support.
Retainer-Based
- This is the most typical model in the services industry. The retainer approach is good for clients who have perhaps recently gone ‘live’ with a product or tool yet feel their team does not have the full capability to manage the tool on its own just yet. This approach is also appealing to schools who have a vacancy or new hire in a key position such as a CRM admin.
- In a retainer-based support model clients lock in a discounted hourly rate and guaranteed availability. Work will be tracked and capped at a certain number of hours per month, typically over the course of a 6 or 12 month agreement. Additional hours, if required and agreed upon, can be tapped into and will be billed at our standard hourly rates for the work requested.
Why use Additional Managed Services when I get support right from my CRM vendor?
Most technology vendors offer upgraded support packages for their products and, so it does not always seem clear why you would want to contract with a firm like Kennedy & Company instead of, or in addition to that support. However, it is important to ‘read the fine print’ on these support packages. Oftentimes there are restrictions in place in terms of who can submit a support ticket, and how they must be submitted. Turnaround times are also important to pay attention to and may vary depending on the topic or type of request. Does the package include training on new and existing products for your users or only build and configuration assistance? Finally, these vendor support packages – of course – only cover products owned and supported by that vendor specifically. This means that even if you pay for the ‘gold standard’ highest level of support, it will only cover that specific tool.
Support from an implementation or support partner looks quite different from many of these vendor packages for a few reasons. Here are a few distinct differences between the technology vendor and the services Kennedy & Company offers (you will need to confirm the differences as you search for a services firm most fitting your institution):
- We support many systems. When we partner with clients, we take a holistic approach to supporting your technology, always considering both the current state and your future needs and goals.. In some cases this is the difference between maintaining (and paying for) multiple support contracts with multiple product vendors vs. having one contract with just our team.
- We understand the higher education landscape beyond technology. Our collective team experience in higher education means that while we can certainly help you with bug fixes or configuration in your CRM, we can also help you work on leveraging the technology in a way that drives enrollment/retention goals and works toward other institutional strategic priorities.
- We offer familiar faces. Because we are a small team, there is no ‘handoff’ between our managers and developers that help you implement and those that manage support. This means that we can often dive into issues a bit more quickly because of the prior knowledge and context we have of the work you are doing as a unit and/or institution.
- We offer a flexible approach. We do not have a formal ticketing system where your request will fall into a queue and be ‘answered in the order it was received.’ We will work closely with your team to identify issues as they come up and track and address tasks in the order of priority for your institution.
- We don’t want you to pay for services you don’t need. We want you to get the support you need, in the way that works best for your team. Sometimes for our clients that means they need open access to any knowledge our team has on an hourly basis as needed. Sometimes that means the client puts up its own guardrails around what their staff can and should work with us on. Regardless of which approach you choose, our goal is that you are getting the service you need from our team while also facilitating growth and confidence around the tool(s) for your own team.