Square is Now Available Through Costa Systems: Hardware, Pricing & Local Irish Support
What Should a Business Actually Expect From Technical Support?
When everything is working, technical support probably isn’t something you think about very often.
But when your till stops responding during a Saturday evening service, a card terminal won’t communicate with your EPOS system, or an unexpected issue prevents staff from doing their jobs, the quality of the support behind your technology suddenly matters a lot.
For businesses that depend on technology every day, support shouldn’t simply be a phone number included with the product.
So what should you actually expect?
Being Available Should Mean More Than Accepting a Support Ticket
You’ll often see technology providers advertise extended or even 24/7 support.
But it’s worth looking a little closer at what that actually means.
Can you speak to someone outside normal business hours? Is that person able to investigate and resolve the problem? Or are you simply able to submit a ticket that will be dealt with when the appropriate team becomes available?
For a business operating Monday to Friday, that distinction might not seem particularly important.
For a restaurant in the middle of Saturday night service, a hotel operating around the clock or a retailer during its busiest trading period, it’s a very different story.
Good technical support should reflect the hours your business actually operates.
A Fast Response Isn’t Necessarily a Fast Resolution
Response times are an easy metric to advertise.
You report an issue and receive an acknowledgement within a few minutes. Technically, you’ve received a very fast response.
But your problem might still be there.
Businesses should be thinking about resolution, not simply response.
How quickly can somebody understand what has happened, access the system where appropriate, diagnose the problem and get the business operating normally again?
That’s ultimately the measurement that matters.
You Should Be Able to Speak to Someone Who Understands the System
The first person you reach can make an enormous difference.
There is a difference between explaining your problem to someone who records the information and escalates it, and speaking directly with someone who has technical knowledge of the system you’re using.
There is an even greater advantage when the support team understands how your particular setup works.
At Costa Systems, for example, support is provided directly by the team responsible for installing and supporting our systems. Many issues can also be investigated remotely, allowing technicians to work on the problem without waiting for an onsite visit.
It’s a relatively simple approach, but an important one: when a business needs technical help, getting access to someone capable of actually helping should be the priority.
Support Shouldn’t Start When Something Breaks
Some of the best technical support happens before there’s ever a support call.
Proper system configuration, testing and staff training can prevent many avoidable problems from happening in the first place.
The same applies after installation.
Systems need to be maintained. Software changes. Hardware ages. Staff change. Businesses themselves evolve.
A good technology provider shouldn’t disappear once installation is complete and reappear the next time something goes wrong.
At Costa Systems, staff training forms part of the installation process, while ongoing remote support and system monitoring continue afterwards.
That’s how support should be viewed: as an ongoing part of the relationship rather than an emergency service attached to a product.
Sometimes Remote Support Isn’t Enough
Remote access has transformed technical support.
Many software, configuration and operational problems can now be diagnosed and resolved without anyone travelling to the business.
But hardware is still hardware.
Equipment can fail.
When that happens, the important question becomes what happens next.
Is the business expected to package equipment and send it away? Is an engineer dispatched? Is replacement equipment available? And how long could the business potentially be operating without an essential piece of its setup?
Costa Systems takes a replace-rather-than-repair-on-site approach to hardware failures, helping minimise the amount of time a customer is left without functioning equipment.
Again, the important principle extends beyond EPOS: businesses should understand the escalation process before they need it.
Good Support Can Be Proactive
Technical support is usually thought of as reactive:
Something breaks. You call. Someone fixes it.
Modern technology allows support to go further.
Monitoring can identify warning signs, system health issues and potential hardware problems before they develop into something more disruptive.
Costa Systems uses hardware status monitoring across its EPOS systems to provide its support team with information about the condition of terminals and flag potential hardware issues.
Preventing an interruption is always preferable to responding to one.
Ask About Support Before You Buy the Technology
Support often gets pushed towards the bottom of the list when businesses compare technology providers.
Features are easier to compare.
So are hardware specifications and prices.
But once that technology becomes part of your daily operation, the company standing behind it can become just as important as the technology itself.
Before committing to a provider, there are some simple questions worth asking:
Who actually answers when I need support?
What hours can I reach them?
Can I speak directly with a technician?
Can problems be investigated remotely?
What happens outside normal office hours?
What happens if hardware fails?
What happens if the first person can’t resolve my problem?
Does support continue after installation?
The answers tell you considerably more than simply seeing “24/7 support” on a brochure.
Technical Support Should Keep Your Business Trading
Ultimately, businesses don’t buy technical support because they want to spend time talking to technicians.
They buy it because they don’t want technology problems interfering with their business.
The best support is often the support customers barely notice: systems installed correctly, staff properly trained, problems identified early and issues resolved quickly when something does go wrong.
At Costa Systems, we’ve built our support model around that principle. Our Irish customers have access to technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Because when your business doesn’t stop at 5pm, your technical support shouldn’t either.
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