IT Vendor Support: Don’t Hamstring Your Helpers

When looking at a vendor for any IT investment, consider their support practices. Continuing vendor support is a critical part of any successful implementation. Most tech companies have switched to remote support offerings. This is a real time-saver while seeking resolutions. 

We began offering remote support about 10 years ago. Now, remote vendor support offerings are the rule, rather than the exception. Many companies have invoked standards surrounding remote offerings. While you may want to restrict access for security’s sake, there are a few key points of clarification to make your initiative more successful.  What can you do to empower your vendors to give you the support you deserve? 

Give Them Permissions!

Make sure that you are clear and capable of supplying the permissions and tools that they need. If your software requires an update, your vendor may need to log in with administrative access. This allows the application to write to certain folders or registry values in the system. If you need to restrict internet access on servers, make sure your vendors have a way to move files in and out. Ask if there are websites that you can whitelist to allow for seamless communication. 

Let Them Have A Work Station, Too! 

If you have policies that prohibit installing applications on the server, ( Microsoft Office, for instance), offer a dedicated workstation to mimic the user experience as well. Sometimes you can offer a temporary workaround. A location where they can copy the issue keeps vendor support productive while the issues are investigated.

If You Have To Watch, Be Available!

Some regulated companies require attended access. If this is the case for your company, make sure that you have someone available shadow the vendor for connection needs. This results in a faster fix.

Set Recording Requirements.

Set reporting expectations in advance. Most remote support technologies make this easy for your vendor to provide. Set expectations for the frequency that best supports your company. 

Trust Your Vendor Support.

Remember that all environments are different. It may take some investigation to understand the nature of the problem. Software products talk to other systems. A system problem can show up as a bug in an application. A symptom in one component doesn’t mean that that component is the problem. Trust your vendor. If you don’t, that’s a bigger problem.

Make Vendor Support Part of the Team.

If you work with many vendors on a particular project or initiative, make sure they can access each other. Empower vendors to communicate. 

Vendors and customers want the same thing, successful implementation. Systems aren’t static and have a lot of moving parts. Operating systems and application updates can impact the usability of the system. They need ongoing maintenance. Sometimes, you might encounter a problem that even the developer hasn’t seen before. Be patient with vendor support. If you’re lucky they might just name the bug after you.