Providing support and bug/enhancement services post current contract

[Murder1]

Current client is exploring various support models for the application I'm currently working on. Some of the options are to use internal staff (lack of technical skill/codebase knowledge) or your usual large IT companies (offshore staff/codebase knowledge/massive cost) but both as I've mentioned in brackets have their downsides as well as the upsides.

Whilst wanting to move on to a new contract at the end of this one, it feels to me that there is an opportunity to tender for some aspect of the support work/bug fixes/enhancements after I've left which would be folly to pass up - especially if it could help build up a concurrent client portfolio.

I therefore wondered if people had successfully tendered for work like this in the past and what structure they found works best? I was initially thinking a small retainer just to cover logging in daily and checking issues, and then an agreed rate per issue handled/answered as well as an agreed daily rate for any bug fixes/enhancements that are required. The obvious downside from their angle would be no dedicated person on a phone should things fail (although that could be priced in if they really required it), but they would retain the services comparatively cheaply of someone with codebase knowledge.

[northernladuk]

First question.. Are you sure you will be able to fulfill this commitement whilst you are in another role? Will you have the bandwidth and flexibility to respond in agreed times even while on new client site? I would imagine the client would want some response times or some agreement you can do the work in a reasonable amount of time.

[Murder1]

First question.. Are you sure you will be able to fulfill this commitement whilst you are in another role? Will you have the bandwidth and flexibility to respond in agreed times even while on new client site? I would imagine the client would want some response times or some agreement you can do the work in a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks for responding, and a very good point. I am very confident that the amount of daily issues would be manageable given the current levels of usage/issues.

I'd also be totally up front with the client as to the fact that I'd be doing anything in conjunction with another contract, maybe even drop the retainer angle and just provide 2nd/3rd line support in the evening and weekends where required. I'm totally flexible which was why I was wondering if others had provided such services and what structure they went for.

[Hex]

Thanks for responding, and a very good point. I am very confident that the amount of daily issues would be manageable given the current levels of usage/issues.

I'd also be totally up front with the client as to the fact that I'd be doing anything in conjunction with another contract, maybe even drop the retainer angle and just provide 2nd/3rd line support in the evening and weekends where required. I'm totally flexible which was why I was wondering if others had provided such services and what structure they went for.

I've done it when I was working part time for a client. I would check email on the days I wasn't working - maybe 5 to 8 times a day. I'd charge them an hour for this. If it was half a day I'd charge them half an hour. If I had to reply to emails, read extra long emails or do any further work then the clock started on top of the one hour flat rate for checking emails. I billed in multiples of half hour. I set my hourly rate from my daily rate when I started working part time (divided daily rate by 8).

Needless to say, you will require a contract laying out the terms if you decided to go ahead with this.

[Murder1]

I've done it when I was working part time for a client. I would check email on the days I wasn't working - maybe 5 to 8 times a day. I'd charge them an hour for this. If it was half a day I'd charge them half an hour. If I had to reply to emails, read extra long emails or do any further work then the clock started on top of the one hour flat rate for checking emails. I billed in multiples of half hour. I set my hourly rate from my daily rate when I started working part time (divided daily rate by 8).

Needless to say, you will require a contract laying out the terms if you decided to go ahead with this.

Thank you

[Gentile]

Current client is exploring various support models for the application I'm currently working on. Some of the options are to use internal staff (lack of technical skill/codebase knowledge) or your usual large IT companies (offshore staff/codebase knowledge/massive cost) but both as I've mentioned in brackets have their downsides as well as the upsides.

Whilst wanting to move on to a new contract at the end of this one, it feels to me that there is an opportunity to tender for some aspect of the support work/bug fixes/enhancements after I've left which would be folly to pass up - especially if it could help build up a concurrent client portfolio.

I therefore wondered if people had successfully tendered for work like this in the past and what structure they found works best? I was initially thinking a small retainer just to cover logging in daily and checking issues, and then an agreed rate per issue handled/answered as well as an agreed daily rate for any bug fixes/enhancements that are required. The obvious downside from their angle would be no dedicated person on a phone should things fail (although that could be priced in if they really required it), but they would retain the services comparatively cheaply of someone with codebase knowledge.

I tried that business model before, twelve years ago. I charged former customers about £300 pcm for unlimited telephone support. I didn't make any money at it, because I had to employ someone to take the calls, and rent an office for them to work from. I had ideas of building up enough customers to make it profitable, but it never really worked out that way. It ended up that onsite contracting was just subsidising that loss-making part of the business, so I closed the office and took up full-time consultancy instead.

I think you're doing the right thing by having a call-out charge as well as the basic support fee. And you can save costs by using your mobile rather than maintaining a fixed support line. I still think it'll be a difficult balancing act to get right, though, providing telephone support whilst avoiding short-changing your existing project client.

[sunflower]

You could offer some days or a couple of weeks training the internal staff before you leave the project so they would get more up to speed and offer 3rd line support yourself.

[Murder1]

Thanks to those for responding, I've floated the idea of providing "some" support (2nd/3rd line) potentially free of charge so we'll see how discussions go.

The idea being here is to try and keep my name in the frame for future development work which may be required, and which I'd be able to provide alongside any existing contract.

As with anything like this I trust the client and know I wouldn't be answering emails/calls for hours a day without recompense. If nothing else I want the client to be left knowing that if they need/want some work doing they can contact me quite informally to discuss it.