Question 1

What is an SLA (Service Level Agreement) in IT support?

Accepted Answer

An SLA is a formal commitment defining the level of service you can expect from your IT provider — including response times, resolution times, uptime targets, and escalation procedures. It sets clear expectations on both sides and provides a benchmark for performance measurement. All Dubai IT AMC contracts include a written SLA.

Question 2

What are typical IT support response times under an AMC?

Accepted Answer

Dubai IT AMC provides: Critical issues (system down, affecting multiple users) — remote response within 30 minutes, on-site within 4 hours. High priority (significant business impact) — remote response within 2 hours, on-site within 8 hours. Medium priority (degraded performance) — response within 4 hours. Low priority (minor issues) — response within 1 business day. Exact SLAs are agreed contractually.

Question 3

What is the difference between response time and resolution time?

Accepted Answer

Response time is how quickly an engineer acknowledges and begins working on your issue. Resolution time is how long it takes to fix the problem. Response times are guaranteed in the SLA; resolution times are harder to fix contractually since complex issues may require vendor support or hardware replacement. We always aim to communicate estimated resolution times clearly.

Question 4

What happens if my IT provider misses an SLA target?

Accepted Answer

Your contract should specify remedies for SLA breaches — typically service credits applied against future invoices. More importantly, recurring SLA breaches indicate a systemic problem with the provider. Review escalation paths, root cause analysis procedures, and whether the provider has adequate staffing and tooling to meet commitments before signing.

Question 5

How do I log a support request with Dubai IT AMC?

Accepted Answer

You can log requests by phone (24/7 helpdesk) or email. For managed clients, a ticketing portal provides full visibility into open and resolved tickets, response times, and engineer notes. We recommend always logging requests through the agreed channel — verbal requests are not trackable and may not receive guaranteed SLA treatment.

Question 6

What is a critical vs. high vs. medium vs. low priority IT issue?

Accepted Answer

Critical: complete system or service outage affecting all or most users (e.g., server down, internet offline, email not working company-wide). High: significant impact on a team or key function (e.g., a department cannot work). Medium: degraded performance or a workaround exists (e.g., one PC very slow, printer offline). Low: minor inconvenience, no business impact (e.g., software preference change, password reset).

Question 7

Does Dubai IT AMC provide support outside business hours?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The helpdesk is available 24/7 by phone and email. Critical incidents outside business hours are handled by our on-call engineer. Planned after-hours work (server maintenance, network upgrades) can be scheduled for evenings or weekends to minimise business disruption.

Question 8

How many support requests can I make under an IT AMC?

Accepted Answer

Dubai IT AMC imposes no ticket limits or incident caps. Unlike some providers who throttle support after a certain number of requests, our AMC model covers unlimited support calls. This means your team will use support when they need it rather than avoiding requests to save 'credits'.

Question 9

Can I measure the performance of my IT support provider?

Accepted Answer

Yes — insist on monthly reports covering: ticket volume and trends, average response and resolution times vs. SLA targets, recurring issues, system uptime, and security events. Dubai IT AMC includes monthly system health reports in all AMC contracts. These reports help both sides identify improvement areas proactively.

Question 10

What is proactive IT support vs. reactive IT support?

Accepted Answer

Reactive support fixes problems after they occur. Proactive support prevents them: monitoring systems for early warning signs, applying patches before vulnerabilities are exploited, replacing hardware before it fails, and capacity planning before systems become overloaded. An IT AMC with proper monitoring and maintenance should be predominantly proactive — reducing the volume of reactive incidents over time.

Question 11

How do I evaluate and switch IT support providers?

Accepted Answer

Evaluate on: SLA terms (are they clear and enforceable?), team qualifications and certifications, local presence (on-site capability in Dubai/UAE), security posture (do they practice what they preach?), references from similar businesses, and pricing transparency. To switch, ensure your new provider performs an infrastructure audit first. Dubai IT AMC manages the handover process and obtains all necessary documentation from outgoing providers.

IT Support & SLA — FAQs

Have a question not covered here?