Services · Support & SLA
IT support services and SLA: a clear agreement for when something breaks
Our IT support services and SLA agreements set out agreed response times, agreed severity levels, an agreed way to report a problem, and an agreed process for what happens next, for companies in Canada, the UK, the Gulf and Pakistan.
Why it matters
Why a support agreement is worth having before something breaks
Every business system fails eventually. A server runs out of disk space, a certificate expires, an update changes how a screen behaves, or a supplier changes something your software depends on. What separates a small inconvenience from a lost day of work is usually not the fault itself, but how quickly the right person hears about it and how clearly everyone knows what happens next.
Without an agreement, IT support is informal. People email whoever they last spoke to, nobody is sure how urgent something really is, and the same problem is explained three times to three different people. An IT support services agreement with an SLA replaces that guesswork with a shared set of rules: how a problem is reported, how it is ranked, how quickly we respond, how often you hear from us while it is being fixed, and how we report on it afterwards.
SLA stands for service level agreement. It is simply a written promise about the level of service you will receive. Ours are deliberately plain: they use ordinary words, they name the hours we cover, and they separate the time it takes us to respond from the time it takes to fix, because those are two different things and you deserve to know both.
What is agreed
What a software support and SLA agreement sets out
Four things agreed up front, so nobody is guessing when something breaks.
Response times
Agreed response times for each priority level, measured from the moment your request reaches us through an agreed channel.
Support priority levels
Agreed priority levels, so every problem is ranked the same way and a small question never blocks an outage.
How to report a support problem
An agreed way to report a problem, with the details we need so we can start work straight away.
What happens next under the SLA
An agreed process for what happens after a problem is reported, from first reply to a written summary.
Severity levels
Software support and SLA severity levels
Every problem is placed in one of four levels. The level, not who shouted loudest, decides the order we work in.
Critical severity
The system is down or unusable, or data is at risk. Examples: nobody can log in, the website is offline, a payment or approval process has stopped completely.
High severity
A major feature is broken with no workaround. Examples: reports will not run before a deadline, an integration has stopped passing data, one department cannot work.
Medium severity
Something is broken, but there is a workaround. Examples: a screen displays wrongly, an export needs an extra manual step, a scheduled email is late.
Low severity
A question, or a small request. Examples: how do I set this up, can we change a label, can you add a user, a cosmetic improvement.
Support tiers
Software support and SLA tiers compared
Standard, Priority and Critical cover, side by side. Times are first response targets, counted inside the hours of cover for the tier.
| Coverage | Standard | Priority | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Internal tools and low risk systems | Customer facing systems or systems tied to revenue | Systems the business cannot run without |
| Hours of cover | Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 local time | Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00 local time, plus Saturday 9:00 to 13:00 | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for Critical and High; Priority hours for Medium and Low |
| Response: Critical | 4 business hours | 1 hour | 30 minutes, any time |
| Response: High | 1 business day | 4 hours | 1 hour, any time |
| Response: Medium | 2 business days | 1 business day | 4 business hours |
| Response: Low | 3 business days | 2 business days | 1 business day |
| Updates during a Critical incident | Every 4 business hours | Every 2 hours | Every hour until a workaround is in place |
| Target workaround: Critical | Within 2 business days | Within 8 hours | Within 4 hours |
| Communication channels | Email and support portal | Email, support portal, chat and phone | Email, portal, chat, a dedicated phone line and a named escalation engineer |
| Monthly maintenance & updates | Quarterly patching and updates | Monthly patching and updates | Monthly patching, plus emergency security patches outside the cycle |
| Monitoring | Uptime check with email alerts | Uptime and performance monitoring, alerts handled in cover hours | 24/7 monitoring with alerts to the engineer on call |
| Backup checks | Backup verified quarterly | Backup verified monthly, restore test twice a year | Backup verified weekly, restore test every quarter |
| Reporting | Quarterly summary | Monthly service report | Monthly service report and a quarterly service review call |
Business hours and days are counted in the local time of the office that supports you (Canada, the UK, the UAE or Pakistan). Response means a real reply from a named engineer who has read your request, not an automatic acknowledgement. Workaround targets apply when a workaround is technically possible; a full fix may take longer and we tell you why.
How we measure
How we measure response, workaround and resolution
Many agreements quote a single response time and leave the rest vague. We separate the moments that matter so that you can hold us to each one:
The clock starts when your request reaches us through an agreed channel with enough detail to act on, and it pauses only while we are waiting for information that only you can supply. We record every timestamp so reports show real figures, not estimates.
Five moments we put numbers and names to:
- Response: the time from your request reaching us to a reply from an engineer who has read it, confirmed the severity and told you what happens next.
- Update: how often we contact you with progress while a Critical or High problem is open, even if the update is that we are still investigating.
- Workaround: the time to a temporary way of working that gets the business moving again while the proper fix is prepared.
- Resolution: the point where the cause is fixed and you have confirmed the problem is gone. Resolution depends on the cause, so we agree targets by severity rather than promising one number for everything.
- Review: a short written summary after every Critical incident covering what happened, why, and what changes so it does not repeat.
Process
What happens when you report a problem to IT support services
Six steps, the same every time, so there are no surprises in the middle of a bad day.
- 1
You report it to IT support
Use the support portal, email or the phone number in your agreement. A short description, a screenshot and the time it started are enough.
- 2
We confirm the severity
An engineer reads your request, confirms the severity with you, and replies inside the agreed response time.
- 3
IT support investigates
We reproduce the problem, check recent changes, logs and monitoring, and tell you what we have found.
- 4
A workaround from support
Where possible we put a workaround in place first, so the business keeps moving while the real fix is built and tested.
- 5
Support fixes and verifies
The fix is tested, released at an agreed time, and you confirm the problem is gone before we close the request.
- 6
We report back on the SLA
For Critical incidents you receive a written summary with the cause and the steps taken to prevent a repeat.
Scope
What a support agreement includes and what it does not
Clear boundaries protect both sides. An agreement for IT support services covers keeping the systems named in it running, secure and up to date. It is not a blank cheque for new development, and we say so plainly at the start.
Not included, but available as separate work with a quoted scope: new features, major redesigns, data migrations, training for large groups, third party licences (available through our software licensing service), and faults caused by changes made outside our control, such as someone editing the server without telling us. If a request falls outside the agreement we tell you before any time is spent, and we quote it so you can decide.
Included in every tier:
- Investigating and fixing faults in the systems named in your agreement.
- Answering how to questions and helping your team use the software correctly.
- Applying security patches, updates and agreed maintenance on the schedule for your tier.
- Monitoring, backup verification and reporting at the level your tier specifies.
- Adding and removing users, resetting access and small configuration changes.
Coverage
IT support services across four countries, with real out of hours cover
ApexGenTech works from Canada, the UK, the UAE and Pakistan. Spread across time zones that stretch from North America to South Asia, the offices are more than a convenience: they are how we provide genuine round the clock cover on the Critical tier without asking one small team to stay awake all night.
Standard and Priority IT support clients are served by the office closest to them in time, so conversations happen in your working day. Critical clients benefit from all of them: a problem raised in the evening in Canada can be picked up in the working day of our teams in the UK, the UAE or Pakistan, and the reverse, with a named engineer on call holding responsibility at every hour and a documented handover between teams so nothing is lost in transit.
Public holidays are respected by each office. For Critical and High severity problems they make no difference to the response time. For Medium and Low requests the next working day of the supporting office counts.
Managed IT
Managed IT support for cloud, servers and people
Many clients want more than an SLA for one system. Managed IT support means we look after the whole environment: Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, servers in the office or in the cloud, laptops, backups and the people who use them. A remote help desk answers everyday questions, while senior engineers handle the harder problems and plan improvements.
Backup and disaster recovery deserve special attention. A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan. We set clear recovery targets, keep copies away from the main system, test restores on a schedule and write down exactly who does what if a site or server is lost. The UK National Cyber Security Centre small business guide is a good plain language summary of the basics we put in place.
Security is part of managed IT support too. Patching, multifactor sign in and good backup habits stop most attacks, and our cybersecurity services add training, testing and audits on top.
What managed IT support covers:
- Remote help desk for everyday IT support
- Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace administration
- Cloud and server monitoring and patching
- Backup and disaster recovery with tested restores
- Licence and renewal tracking
Escalation
A clear support escalation path
Most problems reaching our IT support services are handled by the first engineer who picks them up. Occasionally you will want a senior person involved, or a problem is not moving as fast as you expected. The escalation path in your agreement removes any awkwardness about asking.
Level one is the support engineer assigned to your request. Level two is the senior engineer or technical lead for your system, who joins when a problem is Critical, when a High problem passes half its target time, or when you ask. Level three is a director, who is informed of every Critical incident and who personally owns the relationship if the problem is not resolved within the agreed targets. Contact details for each level are written into your agreement, and using them never counts against you.
Maintenance
Maintenance, patching, monitoring and backup checks
The best IT support request is the one that never needs to be raised. Preventive work is part of every tier, scaled to the risk of the systems you run.
Patching and updates keep operating systems, frameworks and plugins current so known security weaknesses are closed. We schedule routine updates in agreed maintenance windows, announce them beforehand, test them first where a test copy exists, and keep a rollback ready. Emergency security patches on the Critical tier are applied outside the normal cycle, because waiting for a monthly window is not acceptable when a serious flaw is being exploited.
Monitoring watches the things that fail first: whether the site or application is reachable, how quickly it responds, disk space, certificates approaching expiry and scheduled jobs that did not run. Backups are only useful if they restore, so every tier includes regular verification and, above Standard, scheduled restore tests that prove a copy can really be brought back.
Onboarding
Putting a support agreement in place
- 1
Tell IT support what you run
List the systems, who uses them and how important each is to the business.
- 2
We review them before support starts
We check hosting, backups, access and documentation, and tell you honestly about any risks we find.
- 3
Choose a support tier
Pick Standard, Priority or Critical for each system, or mix tiers across systems.
- 4
Agree and sign the SLA
Response targets, hours, contacts and scope are written down in plain language.
- 5
Go live with support
We set up the portal, monitoring and escalation contacts, and brief your team on how to reach us.
Who it is for
Who uses our software support and SLA agreements
Anyone who relies on software and needs dependable IT support.
- Businesses running Nexora
- Companies with custom software we built
- Organizations using WordPress or web applications
- Teams with SAP and system integrations
- Schools and small organisations without an IT department
- Growing companies replacing an informal support arrangement
Related: Support covers the systems we build and connect: see custom software development, AI integration, websites and the Nexora platform, and how pricing works.
Tools
IT support services backed by proven tools
Your support plan runs on tools we also license: Microsoft for identity, Veeam for backup, ManageEngine and SolarWinds for monitoring.
Microsoft licensingMicrosoft 365, Copilot, Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Dynamics 365 and Power BI.
View Microsoft licensing
Veeam licensingVeeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Data Platform and Microsoft 365 backup.
View Veeam licensing
ManageEngine licensingServiceDesk Plus, Endpoint Central, ADManager Plus and OpManager.
View ManageEngine licensing
SolarWinds licensingSolarWinds Observability, Network Performance Monitor and Service Desk.
View SolarWinds licensing
FAQ
Software support and SLA FAQs
What are the severity levels?
Critical means the system is down or unusable. High means a major feature is broken with no workaround. Medium means something is broken but there is a workaround. Low is a question or a small request.
What does a support tier cover?
Each tier sets the hours of cover, response times for each severity level, update frequency, communication channels, maintenance and updates, monitoring, backup checks and reporting.
Is the response time the time to fix?
No. Response is how quickly an engineer replies and starts work. We also set targets for updates and for a workaround on Critical problems, but the time to a full fix depends on the cause, and we tell you honestly what to expect.
Do you support software you did not build?
Often, yes. After a short review of the system, hosting and documentation, we agree what we can support and at which tier. Software we built or integrated is supported by default.
Can we choose different support tiers for different systems?
Yes. Many clients put a customer facing system on Priority or Critical and keep internal tools on Standard. Each system is listed in the agreement with its own tier.
What happens to IT support services outside business hours?
On Standard and Priority, requests wait until the next period of cover. On Critical, Critical and High severity problems are answered 24 hours a day by an engineer on call, using our offices in different time zones to cover every hour.
Do you support the software you build?
Yes. Our custom software development ends with launch and support of what we built.
What do IT support services include?
Our IT support services include a help desk for everyday problems, monitoring, patching, backup checks, user accounts and security alerts, with response times written into an SLA. You choose a tier, and IT support services cover the systems you list.
Do you offer IT support services for small businesses?
Yes. Many of our clients are small businesses without an IT person. IT support services on a Standard plan give them a named team, clear response times and help with Microsoft 365, devices and backups, without hiring in house.
How fast do your IT support services respond?
Response times depend on the tier and the severity of the problem, and they are written into the SLA before IT support services start. Critical problems get the fastest response on every tier, and every ticket shows its target time.
Want IT support services in place before something breaks?
Tell us what you run and we will talk through the IT support services tiers with you.