Advantage Computing has changed the structure of the organization in order to better server our client needs in 2022. We are adding Contracted IT support services geared at proactive maintenance and providing better standardization of your business network. We want clients to cover their proactive support yearly (or in monthly payments) and offer the option to prepay for regular support requests at discounted rates. Otherwise, we will continue to bill clients for our support services. We’re offering 3 options for our clients:
Break/Fix
Month to Month Contract
Waiver of Liability Required
No Proactive Support
No Service Level Agreement
Limited Remote Support
Limited Project Support
$125/hr Pricing (minimum of 1 hour)
Project Estimates ($300)
Tier 1
Yearly Contract
Server Maintenance (2hr per Quarter)
No discounts on workstations
Non-Profit Discount Rates available
10% discount on Prepaid Level 1 Support*
Remote and In-Office Support
$125/hr Pricing (1/10 hour minimum for remote support, .5 hour minimum for In-Office support)
Large Project Estimates ($200) – 1 hour minimum for onsite installations**
No after hours support option
Tier 1 Service Level Agreement (See below)
Tier 2
Yearly Contract
Server Maintenance (2hr per Quarter)
Discount on multiple svrs/workstations
Non-Profit Discount Rates available
20% discount on Prepaid Level 1 Support*
Remote and In-Office Support
125/hr Pricing (1/10 hour minimum for remote support, 1/10 hour minimum for In-Office support)
Large Project Estimates ($150) – .5 hour minimum for onsite installations**
Unplanned On-site After Hours Support $300/hr with 1 hour minimum
Tier 2 Service Level Agreement (See below)
*Level 1 Support is any basic support request that is supported by Level 1 Technicians at Advantage, this is the majority of support calls.
**Large Projects Estimates are considered any major installation or modification to your existing infrastructure or software systems. Small Projects might be simply adding a computer to the network and will not require an estimate cost as it will get rolled into the project. Hardware costs may be required up front depending on the scope of the project.
Service Level Agreements enforcement will be delayed until June 1st, 2022 as we rebuild the business. We will strive to meet the following SLA’s as we build back our staff but we thank our clients for understanding that due to lack of staffing, our response times are delayed.
Tier 1 SLA (Service Level Agreement)
| Ticket Type | First Response | Ticket Resolution |
| No Importance | NA | NA |
| Minor Issue | 2 Days | 7 Days |
| Major Issue | 1 Day | 3 Days |
| Site Down | 1 Day | 3 Days |
| Server Issue | 8 Hours | 1 Day |
| Crisis* | 8 Hours | 1 Day |
Tier 2 SLA (Service Level Agreement)
| Ticket Type | First Response | Ticket Resolution |
| No Importance | 2 Days | 14 days |
| Minor Issue | 1 Days | 5 Days |
| Major Issue | 8 Hours | 1 Days |
| Site Down | 5 hours | 12 hours |
| Server Issue | 4 Hours | 8 Hours |
| Crisis* | 4 Hours | 8 Hours |
Why are you changing your structure?
- We’ve found that clients who allow us to routinely maintain their systems have fewer support requests, fewer emergency calls and more stable network infrastructure. This means we do less work and you’re more productive – win-win.
- Stability in your budget – while the old system meant we might not hear from a client for six months or more, when they did call it was for a major outage or other issues that cost the client in unexpected hardware/labor fees. This will 1) keep us routinely supporting your systems and 2) even out your costs. It will not eliminate the emergency outages but we believe it will drastically reduce them.
- Changing Insurance environment means we need to clarify what we are doing for our clients and have a contract that clarifies liability. It also means we need to bring all our clients to business standards that are being demanded from Cyber Security Insurers.
- Does this mean you’re an MSP (Managed Service Provider) – We are intentionally trying to avoid a full shift to Managed Services. We still think the client should be in control of their primary accounts and systems. We don’t want to base our profit margin on reselling other’s services, instead we still believe in the integrity of our work and charging clients an hourly rate for our expertise.
Example Business Tier 1
A small business with 4-5 staff and 6 computers. Doesn’t call Advantage unless something breaks. Has an on-site Synology NAS for a shared folder and backups. Wants 1 hour of covered T1 support.
Yearly Fee – $921.50
Client knows their systems are updated quarterly and will be contacted if a hard-drive gets full or there is irregular activity on their network. Knows that they have prepaid for 1 hour of T1 support so they don’t worry about racking up a bill when staff call for basic help.
Example Business Tier 2
Mid-sized Business with 15 staff and about 20 workstations (laptops/desktops). On-site Server with Active Directory and Network Shares. Has a NAS for backups and web file sharing. Staff changes happen regularly so they want additional costs covered for adding and removing users and systems. Network maintenance, DNS filtering/logging and Unified Threat Management for network level protection.
Yearly Fee – $6975
Client knows all systems are maintained quarterly and workstations are monitored for issues. On-boarding and off-boarding of staff and systems are covered including 1 hour of staff training – no additional fees. All traffic on the network is both logged and protected by the firewall. 3 hours of L1 support is covered so staff are free to call with any technical questions or issues.