I'm wondering how alot of the smaller web hosting companies offer 24x7 support.. If your a 1 man show what do you do??

offer it because you feel pressured?? and wakeup during the night to check emails? :).

Let out this big secret.. I know 1 man shows aren't up 24x7 (it would be cheaper to hire somebody then to pay for all that caffeine)

Originally posted by Sprynex
I know 1 man shows aren't up 24x7 (it would be cheaper to hire somebody then to pay for all that caffeine)

I think you answered your own question ;)

If you are a one man show you cannot provide 24/7 support unless they have a different definition of 27/7 then I do.

To me it means having someone monitoring tickets/support emails every minute of the day.

Ofourse judging by the number of start up hosts in the webhostingforum that offer 24/7 support they obviously DO have a different defination of 24/7 support.

More power to them but I need my 3 hours of sleep every day. :D

Originally posted by Pilgrim
unless they have a different definition of 27/7 then I do.

Out of curiousity, what IS your definition of 27/7? ;)

Originally posted by Pilgrim

To me it means having someone monitoring tickets/support emails every minute of the day.

Shame on you for not fully reading my wonderful essay :D

:edit: *cough* whoops. Shame on myself for not SPELLCHECKING my wonderful essay. Thx Sprynex ;)

I think he was nagging on you for putting "27/7" not 24/7 :).

So if you a little bit bigger then small, you grab somebody to do the night shift.. do you actually hire somebody locally and have an office to take the calls?? Hire somebody off the internet and let them run your email/live chat session??

I for one can't say I have 24x7 support.. I am usually up and logged into our support system until 12 - 2 am, but our hours only show as until 6 pm..

I don't offer 24/7 support. The servers are monitored 24/7 and I am paged if any service goes down. The data centre is staffed 24/7. I check my email at a minimum every 4 hours 24 hours a day (over WAP if I need to). Tech support is provided during business hours. It's tough starting small - but I'm thinking big :D

An alternative to starting as a one man band is to go into partnership with 3 or 4 people - but such a business structure is very risky in itself.

I also want to know what is your definition of 24/7 support. Does it mean questions must be answered instantly. Is within 6 hours ok?

In my case, I forward all sales and support emails to my cell phone (SMS) so I will be notified instantly when I have new email.

Coffee, lots and lots of coffee :D

Originally posted by NetworksData
I also want to know what is your definition of 24/7 support. Does it mean questions must be answered instantly. Is within 6 hours ok?

In my case, I forward all sales and support emails to my cell phone (SMS) so I will be notified instantly when I have new email.

Well your honest, yeah within 6 hours is good.

I think answering email within 6 hours is quality support.

By my definiation it's not 24/7 though...

Hehe, sorry didn't mean to nag, just couldn't resist pointing it out. It's all good ;)

I'll never forget sleeping at the keyboard.... never.

:sleeping: :yawn: :wavey: :sleeping:

I was lucky to begin with a team of two. We both worked 16hr a day shifts, 7 days per week, covering each other's away time.

Many times we did work 27/7 shifts. There were many times we had to pull even longer ones.

Thank goodness we have more help now ;)

24/7 == being right there waiting for the client request every minute of every hour of every day of the year. It does not mean leaving the support desk unmanned to sleep, shower, shop, go to school, etc and to do that truthfully (and w/o putting yourself in the hospital) you require more than one person.

Yep, listen to Deb. :)

We're still small, just me and my support tech. I do 16 hours a day on average and between us we have things covered. If I have to duck out, I always make sure Justin is ready for action.

I could not possibly imagine being away from the office and not know that there is someone waiting to pounce support tickets or on a server that drops etc...

Originally posted by Pilgrim
I think answering email within 6 hours is quality support.


Maybe I'm neurotic, but 6 hours is way too long. A few tickets might fall through the cracks, but if my people can't respond to customers within an hour I get cranky.

You are right, alchiba. But "within 6 hours" does not mean "after 6 hours", almost everytime customers are answered within 1 hour or even 5 minutes but they are expected to wait 6 hours in some occasion.

hire someone who lives in the opposite side of the earth from you, so that when its night time were u are, he'l be online during the day.

Are you mad ????

Hire an aussie? Never ! :D

Just hire someone from a different time zone :)

When I think of hiring somebody... I think payroll, I think massive complications :).

I do every aspect of my business legally, and I don't want to cut corners by hiring somebody online and paying them without taxes... I mean.. i've seen people willing to work for X per ticket.. that isn't a per hour or salary rate.. how do taxes work with that??? how about people out of the country??

If I don't have to pay taxes on paying them, surely I can't claim it as an expense??

What are the going rates for somebody to do online support?

Another concern is that if I say we offer 24x7 support, that means EVERY way possible.. including phone.

Thanks for all the comments so far guys :)

Bring them on as consultants or service providers, not employees. They should be a legal business themselves. Then you are simply paying another company for providing a service. No different than paying the phone company to send phone calls to your phone.

Originally posted by Sprynex
I don't want to cut corners by hiring somebody online and paying them without taxes... I mean.. i've seen people willing to work for X per ticket.. that isn't a per hour or salary rate.. how do taxes work with that??? how about people out of the country??

If I don't have to pay taxes on paying them, surely I can't claim it as an expense?? In the US there are two approaches. What labgeek said is right, if they have an EIN themselves (Employer Identification Number) you don't have to report what you paid them at all; they're taking the responsibility. Usually that will happen if you hire another company, but it also be one person who has incorporated or formed an LLC.

If it's just an individual, you can still pay them non-employee wages. Then you don't withhold taxes; they are responsible for self-employment tax. Instead of a W-4, you file a Form 1099 on their wages with the IRS as long as the amount is above a certain threshold (I think it's $400, maybe $600).

But there's a catch to that: because it could be used to avoid paying taxes, the IRS really is wary about it and there are specific and confusing regulations about what kind of work qualifies and under what situations you can do it. Basically it hinges on the amount of control over the work product, work place, and hours of work, that each party has. If you're going to take this approach and aren't sure, you should get the opinion of an accountant or lawyer well-schooled in tax issues.