Creative way to get 1st line support up & running

[Spoiler]

Interested to see if the intelligentsia here have any good ideas about ways of getting a solution for 1st line support.

Have just started a small systems integrator and we're looking to provide 1st/2nd line support for customers. I would expect call volumes to be fairly low for the initial period, but there may be times when us consultants (2 of us) are indisposed and we ideally want someone to be able to handle 1st line support.

We had lined up another contractor who does something similar for another systems integrator in Germany (although this is more "full-time" hours). We were probably going to pay him a retainer, then on a call-by-call basis. However, he's now pulled out citing that his current client does not want him taking on work from us. A bit odd, as he was keen to get concurrent contracts running to help out with his IR35 position, but his existing client has stopped this (sounds a bit like direction & control?). Anyway, I can understand it as he's doing pretty well for himself and appreciate that he doesn't want to rock the boat.

We're currently not in a position to take someone on full-time. Also, not having a permanent office yet, it would be difficult to take on a graduate\trainee and devote time to training them.

Worst case is we'll have to hand off support to the distributor and lose the margin. But wondered if anyone else had any good ideas or had done something similar?

[tractor]

...

Interested to see if the intelligentsia here have any good ideas about ways of getting a solution for 1st line support.

Have just started a small systems integrator and we're looking to provide 1st/2nd line support for customers. I would expect call volumes to be fairly low for the initial period, but there may be times when us consultants (2 of us) are indisposed and we ideally want someone to be able to handle 1st line support.

We had lined up another contractor who does something similar for another systems integrator in Germany (although this is more "full-time" hours). We were probably going to pay him a retainer, then on a call-by-call basis. However, he's now pulled out citing that his current client does not want him taking on work from us. A bit odd, as he was keen to get concurrent contracts running to help out with his IR35 position, but his existing client has stopped this (sounds a bit like direction & control?). Anyway, I can understand it as he's doing pretty well for himself and appreciate that he doesn't want to rock the boat.

We're currently not in a position to take someone on full-time. Also, not having a permanent office yet, it would be difficult to take on a graduate\trainee and devote time to training them.

Worst case is we'll have to hand off support to the distributor and lose the margin. But wondered if anyone else had any good ideas or had done something similar?

When declining something, people rarely tell the whole truth lest you talk them out of/into it. Blaming someone else takes the ball out of their court and leaves you pretty much powerless to persuade otherwise. Maybe they didn't like the payment model. Don't think I would especially if volumes were as low as you predict them to be - perhaps the effort was greater than the reward? Don't know what level of retainer you were offering - if it was less than significant, this may be your problem.

[Spoiler]

When declining something, people rarely tell the whole truth lest you talk them out of/into it. Blaming someone else takes the ball out of their court and leaves you pretty much powerless to persuade otherwise. Maybe they didn't like the payment model. Don't think I would especially if volumes were as low as you predict them to be - perhaps the effort was greater than the reward? Don't know what level of retainer you were offering - if it was less than significant, this may be your problem.

We didn't get as far as discussing money. I know and appreciate the reasons they didn't take the work on.

[v8gaz]

I know a guy who runs 1st line support for a number of companies. Drop me a PM if you want his details.

[Spoiler]

I know a guy who runs 1st line support for a number of companies. Drop me a PM if you want his details.

Belated PM sent, thanks.

[darmstadt]

We had lined up another contractor who does something similar for another systems integrator in Germany (although this is more "full-time" hours). We were probably going to pay him a retainer, then on a call-by-call basis. However, he's now pulled out citing that his current client does not want him taking on work from us. A bit odd, as he was keen to get concurrent contracts running to help out with his IR35 position, but his existing client has stopped this (sounds a bit like direction & control?). Anyway, I can understand it as he's doing pretty well for himself and appreciate that he doesn't want to rock the boat.

There is no IR35 in Germany and in fact if he is paying German taxes and is registered as a Freiberüfler then this is a plus for him. I've performed similar tasks (2nd and 3rd level support) to this for 2 companies in the USA while in Germany and it proved very lucrative and helped out with the Finanzamt. Maybe you want to point this out to him.

[Spoiler]

There is no IR35 in Germany and in fact if he is paying German taxes and is registered as a Freiberüfler then this is a plus for him. I've performed similar tasks (2nd and 3rd level support) to this for 2 companies in the USA while in Germany and it proved very lucrative and helped out with the Finanzamt. Maybe you want to point this out to him.

He's a UK based Ltd, living/working/invoicing from the UK. I guess he's just billing the German client.