Hosting and support
Hosting and support for the systems we build
Building it is where it starts. Running it is most of the relationship: keeping it up, backed up, secure and in step with the business, for as long as you keep it. This is what that covers, and what it doesn't.
The short version
One fixed monthly fee, agreed at the same time as the build price and starting on the day the system goes live. No minimum term and no notice period.
| Hosting | In the UK, on mainstream infrastructure. Certificates, domains and updates handled. |
|---|---|
| Backups | Every night, stored away from the live system, kept for thirty days. |
| Monitoring | Checked every few minutes that it is up and answering, with certificates, disk space and failed background jobs watched too, so we usually know about a problem first. |
| Security | Cyber Essentials certified, patched and kept current. Access to anything administrative is limited to known addresses, and a member of your staff working from somewhere new can authorise their own, with a code sent to their work email, rather than waiting for us. |
| Logs | Who did what, and when, kept on every record. System and access logs retained so a question about last March has an answer. |
| Changes | New fields, reports and statuses, with what the monthly covers agreed at the start. |
| Support | Direct to the team that built it, 8am to 6pm weekdays and Saturday mornings. |
| Your data | Exported in a standard format whenever you ask. |
| Growth | New sites, users and modules added as a change, not a rebuild. |
Hosting, backups and monitoring
The parts you don't see
- UK hosting
- Nightly backups, kept thirty days
- Checked every few minutes
UK hosting. Your system runs on mainstream UK infrastructure rather than anything of our own making. The certificate that puts the padlock in the browser, the domain it lives on and the updates underneath it are all ours to keep current. There is nothing for you to renew.
Nightly backups. Every night the system is backed up to somewhere that isn't the machine running it, and each backup is kept for thirty days. So a problem with the live system doesn't take the backups with it, and a mistake noticed a fortnight later still has a copy from before it was made.
Monitoring. The system is checked every few minutes to see that it is up and answering. That is why we usually know about a problem before you do, rather than finding out when somebody rings.
Security
We are Cyber Essentials certified, assessed independently against the government-backed scheme. The systems we host are patched and kept current as part of the monthly, not as an extra you have to ask for.
Your data is hosted in the UK and never shared. Where we process personal data on your behalf, we do it under a written data processing agreement, and you remain the controller of it. Our processor terms, backup policy and sub-processor list are available on request.
Changes as the business changes
Small, and larger
A business doesn't stand still for its software. A new status you actually use, a field the auditor now wants, a report for the Monday meeting.
Those are the changes the system is built to take. Where your quote includes an allowance for ongoing changes, the monthly covers them, and the quote says what that allowance is. It is normally the sort of thing taking under half a day.
Growing is a change rather than a rebuild too: another site, more people logging in, customers or subcontractors with logins of their own. A new module or a second system is a new job with its own fixed price, agreed before it starts, the same way the first build was. The multi-site systems and customer portals pages show where that usually leads.
Support
Who answers
- 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday
- Saturday mornings
- 0161 388 2444
Support goes direct to the team that built your system. No call centre, and no explaining the business again to somebody new. The person who answers knows why the system works the way it does, because they made it that way.
If your team uses an app on iPhone or Android, the app is looked after the same way: updates, store listings and new features handled by us.
When something goes wrong
Software is looked after because things do go wrong: a server has a bad night, an update to something underneath behaves differently, or somebody deletes what they shouldn't have.
| Who notices | Usually the monitoring, which checks the system every few minutes. That is how we tend to know before you do. |
|---|---|
| If you notice first | Ring 0161 388 2444 in support hours. You are talking to the people who built it, not passing a message along. |
| Who fixes it | We do. The system is documented as it was built, so nobody is working it out from scratch. |
| If data is lost | The nightly backups go back thirty days and are stored off the live system, so there is a known point to go back to. |
| Who pays | Our own defects are fixed at our own cost. |
Your data
Your data is yours. You can have a full export in a standard format whenever you ask, including on the day you leave, and we will show you how on day one. It is never held hostage against an invoice.
Either side can end hosting and support at any time. If you end it, we give you your data and help you move. If we end it, we give you reasonable notice and do the same. The full wording is in our terms of business.
Honest answers
Anything else, ask us. We would rather answer a question than have you guess.
What happens if something happens to you?
It's a fair question, and we'd ask it too. Every system is documented as we go, hosted on mainstream UK infrastructure rather than anything of our own making, and backed up every night to a separate location. Your data can be exported in a standard format whenever you ask.
Is the monthly fee fixed?
Yes. It is agreed in writing at the same time as the build price, and it starts when the system goes live. Anything larger than the changes your quote allows for is priced separately before it starts, never added afterwards.
Can we leave?
Whenever you like. There is no minimum term and no notice period. We hand you your data in a standard format and help you move.
Who else can see our data?
Your data is never shared. Our sub-processor list is available on request, and where we process personal data for you, it is under a written data processing agreement with you as the controller.
Talk to us
Tell us what the business runs on now and what you'd like it to do. We'll tell you what building it, and then running it, would involve.
Ring, 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings, or use the form below. Pick what you'd like to keep track of, add a line if you want to, and leave a name and a way to reach you. If you'd like to see the kinds of system we look after first, they are on the services page.