7 things you get from us with Software Maintenance Assurance Why Software Maintenance, Evolution, and Technical Assistance protect your investment and make your work safer
	Dear End User, Dear Business Partner, in the next couple of minutes I am disclosing to you the real truth about one of the most controversial topics that customers meet when dealing with software: the agreements covering software maintenance, evolution, and post-sales technical assistance. I have been often said that most companies consider paying a fee for the maintenance as a duty, an annoying tax to escape away with great joy. I don't know if you share the same vision. If yes, do you know why you see that as a duty? Because you are tired of dealing with suppliers who are so hard to reach, not transparent in their terms and conditions, bill you over everything, and fail to deliver the level of service you expect. None of them shows to you anything happening behind the scene, and nobody provides you with real value in exchange of their money. In one word, you do not know what you are paying for.    Although I don’t think this is an amazing concept, it still surprises me how many companies don’t get it right.        I think it’s about time someone finally got it right. That’s why we decided to commit ourselves to delivering fast, affordable software support, and to clearly explain what you get in our Software Maintenance Assurance program. Making the decision of buying a new software can be challenging, sometimes risky. No matter if it costs 300 or 3.000 or 30.000 or 300.000. Below are some of the questions that come in your mind: - "Will this software work for me?" - "How can I control the total cost?" - "Are there hidden costs that I wasn't made fully aware of?" - "What happens when a new version becomes available?" - "Shall I have to pay again for it?" THE REAL TRUTH IS that Software Maintenance Assurance is JUST THE BEST CHOICE you can make to protect your investment, keeping you permanently aligned with the latest technologies and functionalities, and allowing your software evolve as your needs grow. Let me also tell you that, although we have undertaken this step and we are fully commited to honour our promises, we are NOT error free. We are not an ideal, heaven company where everything flows for some magic formula. Just a few days ago, for example, I had to handle a complaint from an angry client, who was expecting a release which is coming late, too late. He was fully right. We are late because the release is suffering for an architectural mistake not foreseen in project phase. We therefore cannot deliver a solution until a piece of code has been completely rewritten, which takes time (unless we decided to be tricky, say to the Customer "it's ready", while it is not ready nor functional at all). But I don't like using tricks with our Customers, so I wanted to share with him the full picture, with NO LIES. I strongly believe they deserved to know the full truth: they are not shareholders, but they are definitely stakeholders, which is equally important for us. And since I mentioned shareholders, I want you to know that, in paying the annual software maintenance, you are not giving us money that goes directly into our shareholder's pockets. Of course a part of maintenance will hopefully result, at year end, into a company profit. But primarily, this money you are investing is a revenue source that contributes to provide a better service, to pay investments in support staff, and that helps making the products better, not just for the "next" customers, the new ones, but for you too.    So, when you buy from us, you don't just get a license of use. You don't just receive a box with a CD. Here are the 7 things that you get when you buy from us the Software Maintenance Assurance ("SMA"). We challenge you to find another software firm that would dare to make these promises.    7 things we do better      1. We’ll Respond Within 60-Minutes or Less - Guaranteed     When you call us with a problem, we guarantee that your phone call will be either answered immediately, or returned within 60 minutes or less by an experienced technician who can help.    Whenever possible, he will give you the information to unlock your software and/or access a patch or a new release fixing your problem. And if a solution is not available, he will suggest a workaround to make you able to work until the fix has been developed on purpose by our software development. If your need is not critically urgent, you can submit an e-mail to techsup@adhoc-online.com. Don't be afraid that this e-mail address sounds "generic": the mailbox is not unattended. When you write to techsup, you are writing to ALL the software department, which makes higher the possibility for you to get an immediate anwer. A Support Engineer will be promptly back to you, to address your request. Plus of course you can download updates, upgrades, and patches 24/7/365 from a web site different than our standard one, in place just to facilitate software downloads by our customers.       2. You can have a dedicated Support Engineer, working with you, just on your PC, up to 4 times a year, at no charge     When your issue is very urgent, and you need a direct, personal assistance, you can even have a Support Engineer working for you, just aside you, on your PC. You just need a PC web-enabled, and our technician will work with you, on your machine, through our Remote Support Center (based on Webex technology, that guarantees the highest levels of security and is easy to use and firewall friendly). You should not have to wait around all day for your software to be repaired. We understand how important your application is to you; that is why we offer our remote support services. Thanks to this service, we can securely access your computer via the internet so you don’t have to wait for a System Engineer to show up. No damage will be done to your data. Before we start working on your PC, we will evaluate your problem and alert you to any potential risks involved in fulfilling your job. If there are any risks, they will be explained in full, and your authorization and agreement will be obtained before anybody starts working on your computer remotely.  Our Software Maintenance Assurance includes up to 4 incidents per year (*). Every incident lasts 30 minutes: that means highly qualified support, dedicated to you only, 2 full hours a year. At our current support rates, it is an additional Euro 400,00 value, included in your contract.   4 x   Click here to download a Coupon (*) NOTE: actual number of incidents depends on software. 4 is the number of coupons for Docs, DocsWeb, OCR2PDF. Contact sma@adhoc-online.com for information on other products. If you are an End User, once you'll have tried this "online" experience you will be amazed by how easy and effective it was! If all these calls do is save you one or more days on hold, you will bless the SMA Program every time you use your coupons. If you are a Business Partner, just consider how many System Engineer's visits you can save (labour time, travel expenses, etc.), and how satisfied your Customers will be for the personal assistance they have had. This service will pay for itself many times over!    3. Talk to a real human being. And No "Geek Speak" What is the oldest, most effective best practice that all companies have forgotten? Giving their customers the possibility to dial a phone number, hear a live voice, and talk to a human being! When you are tired of unreliable suppliers who are impossible to reach, then it's time you give us a call.     Furthermore, you deserve to get answers to your questions in PLAIN ENGLISH. Not native English, but plain English. Our technicians will not talk down to you or make you feel stupid because you don’t understand their “geek speak”.   4. Software Evolution - Get any new releases without additional charge What is another important factor when you spend money in a software package? Knowing that your are making a long term investment, which will guarantee to you the best functionalities, today as well as tomorrow. Isn't annoying realizing that, had you bought 3, 9, or 15 months later, you would have had a better product, with more features? Software lifecycle demonstrates that there are always features that you would need, and were not included in the release you bought. So what? should you make a multi-step investment? do you like running such risk? That's why keeping the pace with software evolution is so important. Thanks to our Software Maintenance Assurance, you can take advantage of the latest version without paying any additional charges for any future updates/upgrades. If you consider that we deliver at least 1 or 2 updates (i.e. from 1.1 to 1.2) or upgrades (i.e. from 1.1 to 2.0) per year, this is a huge saving. The cost of upgrade is 60% of the cost of the list price. Software Maintenance may vary, depending on the product, between 15% and 20%. So, if you paid your license 1.000 Euro, your annual fee is - say - Euro 150. What would be your expenditure if you would like to upgrade to 2.0? 1.200 x 60% = 720 Euro In 2 years you spend 1.150 vs 1.720, that is you save 570, more than 50% of your initial investment! Furthermore, annual cost of SMA is fixed. If you start spending 150 in SMA the first year, you will always pay the same amount, without increases, until you discontinue the software. No surprises. Certain costs you can budget year after year.    5. Accurate billing - Guaranteed Every bill you receive from us is guaranteed to be accurate and detailed. You’ll know exactly what you are paying for. No more one-line “mystery” bills that don’t outline what you are paying for. No unpleasant or unexpected surprises. If any mistake is made, no headaches: we will promptly double check and address your enquiry. Should you have any question, or require any clarification, our administrative support is committed to handle your issue and settle within 5 working days.    6. Red Emergency Telephone, available 24/7/365 Have you been treated with no respect by other software vendors? Do you think they did not give you the attention you deserve? This is not our case. Any Customer (End User or Business Partner) who subscribes our Software Maintenance Assurance, receives an envelope containing: SMA contract, inclusive of all the terms and conditions and the service levels we commit to release all needed contacts numbers and e-mail's 4 Coupons for the personalized technical calls AND    a very unique "passpartout", that you can use in case of red emergency, no matter if that is Sunday, Christmas, January 1st, or 3:00am overnight: I WILL BE SHARING WITH YOU - IN A PRIVATE, RESERVED ENVELOPE - MY PERSONAL MOBILE PHONE NUMBER Not a dummy phone. The true one. The one that I always bring with me, in my pocket, on my desk, in the car, during a Sunday walk with my children. If you are in trouble, and you need a urgent feedback, feel free to give me a ring. I cannot guarantee that I can solve immediately your issue, but I can certainly leverage whatever is possible in Ad Hoc to help you.         7. 100% Unconditional Satisfaction Guarantee You deserve complete satisfaction with our products and services. We will do whatever it takes to make you happy: no hassles, no problems. If at the end of the 12 months period covered by the SMA Program, upon the renewal, you will tell us that you were not satisfied with the quality of the service you got, you can either ask a full refund, or renew the next 12 months for FREE.        WHAT TO DO NOW HOW TO ACTIVATE/RE-ACTIVATE YOUR SMA PROGRAM If you are an actual End User or Business Partner already benefitting of our SMA Program, print out this page and download the coupons for your personalized assistance calls (or to transfer them to your Customers, if you are a Business Partner). These are tools you can start using right away. If you would like to receive an updated version on paper of the whole SMA Program, and activate/re-activate your SMA Program, please let us know and we will mail to you: - copy of the SMA contract, signed by me - this page, to enclose at the SMA - the coupons - a Contacts Sheet with all technical shortcuts: phone, fax, e-mail, web - the private envelope with the Red Emergency Telephone Number - the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee Certificate FILL IN THE FORM TO RECEIVE THE SMA PROGRAM ON PAPER Once received your SMA Program Kit, just countersign one copy of the contract, fax it to +39-02-87399063, and mail it back to us.   If your SMA Program has expired, or it was never activated, contact us at sma@adhoc-online.com, and we will provide you with all the information and the quotation to start (or re-start) the program.   If you are a Prospect who is evaluating any of our software and Ad Hoc as your next software supplier, submit your questions to sma@adhoc-online.com and we'll provide you with any further information.    Sincerely, Andrea Tonacchera President Ad Hoc Consulting S.r.l.