EMERGENCY & AFTER - HOURS SUPPORT SERVICES
APPENDIX Q
APPENDIX Q - Emergency & After - Hours Support Services
Overview
IT8 understands that some technology issues cannot wait until the next business day. Our Emergency & After-Hours Support Service is designed to provide responsive assistance for critical incidents that have a significant impact on a client's ability to operate.
This service is intended for genuine business-critical emergencies only. Requests that do not meet the emergency criteria outlined below will be logged and addressed during normal business hours.
Service Availability
Emergency & After-Hours Support is available outside of IT8's standard business hours for eligible incidents.
Support is provided remotely wherever possible. If an onsite response is required, additional travel and onsite service charges may apply.
Response times are based on the severity of the incident and the information available at the time the request is received.
What Qualifies as an Emergency
IT8 defines an emergency as an unexpected technology incident that prevents all or a substantial portion of a client's business from operating.
The following situations are considered eligible emergencies:
Entire Business Offline
A complete loss of access to business systems, preventing normal operations for all users.
Examples:
- Complete network failure
- Core infrastructure outage
- Business-wide system outage
Internet Outage Affecting All users
Loss of internet connectivity impacting the entire business where operations cannot continue.
Examples:
- Office-wide internet outage
- Primary connection failure affecting all staff
- Critical connectivity loss preventing access to cloud services
Server Unavailable Affecting Business Operations
A server failure or outage that prevents access to critical business systems or data.
Examples:
- File server unavailable
- Domain controller failure
- Application server outage
- Virtual server failure
Business Critical Application Failure
Failure of a core application required for the operation of the business.
Examples:
- Accounting system unavailable
- Practice management software outage
- ERP or CRM system unavailable
- Industry- specific software preventing staff from working
Company Wide Email Outage
An issue preventing the organisation from sending or receiving email across the business.
Examples:
- Microsoft 365 email outage affecting all users
- Exchange service failure
- Business-wide mail flow interruption
Backup Failure Requiring Immediate Recovery
A backup or recovery issue where business-critical data restoration is required immediately.
Examples:
- Failed disaster recovery event
- Corrupted backup set during restoration
- Urgent recovery required following system failure
Cybersecurity Incident
Any suspected or confirmed security incident that could impact the confidentiality, integrity or availability of business systems or data.
Examples:
- Ransomware attack
- Business email compromise
- Data breach
- Unauthorised access
- Suspicious account activity
- Malware causing operational disruption
Where appropriate, IT8 may immediately implement containment measures to reduce business risk, including account suspension, session revocation, device isolation or service restrictions
What Is Not Considered an Emergency
The following are examples of incidents that will generally be handled during standard business hours:
- Password resets
- Individual user issues
- Printer problems
- Software installation requests
- New user setup requests
- General troubleshooting
- Non-critical application issues
- Slow computers
- Training or support enquiries
IT8 reserves the right to determine whether an issue qualifies as an emergency.
Emergency Support Process
When an emergency is reported, IT8 will:
- Assess the severity and business impact
- Create an incident ticket
- Begin investigation and remediation activities
- Provide progress updates where appropriate
- Escalate to vendors or third parties if required
- Document the incident and outcome
Where necessary, multiple IT8 resources may be engaged to resolve major incidents.
Client Responsibility
To enable prompt assistance, clients should:
- Provide accurate details regarding the incident
- Nominate an authorised contact person
- Be available to assist with troubleshooting where required
- Provide access to systems, devices and facilities if requested
- Report cybersecurity incidents immediately upon discovery
- Provide site access
Delays in communication or access may impact response and resolution times.
Third- Party Dependencies
Some incidents may involve services controlled by third parties, including:
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
- Microsoft
- Cloud service providers
- Telecommunications providers
- Software vendors
- Hardware manufacturers
While IT8 will actively assist and coordinate with these providers, resolution times may be impacted by factors outside of IT8's control.
Emergency Service Charges
Emergency & After-Hours Support is provided as a premium service and may be subject to additional charges in accordance with the client's Service Agreement, Managed Services Agreement, Rate Schedule, or Statement of Work.
Applicable charges may include:
- After-hours support rates
- Public holiday rates
- Onsite call-out fees
- Vendor coordination services
- Emergency project or remediation work
- Parking if applicable
- Out of hours and emergency cost is $275
Service Objective
The objective of the IT8 Emergency & After-Hours Support Service is to minimise business disruption, restore critical operations as quickly as reasonably practicable, and provide clients with confidence that assistance is available when a genuine technology emergency occurs.