Phonon Support SLA
- Manoj Chettiar
Objective
Communications systems are a crucial point of contact of any enterprise with the end customer. Our objective is to maximize the uptime of our hosted systems. It is our constant endeavor to maintain service uptime above 99.5% calculated quarterly. While our infrastructure design continuously enables us to exceed this target, any outage or trouble needs proper management and escalation.
Continuous generation of system performance logs by the systems and proactive review of these logs by our technical support team ensures that we continuously monitor the health of any applications provided by us. Any irregular performance can be quickly detected through these logs. These logs are continuously monitored by our Engineering Support Team through proactive alerts and scheduled system checks. While we have our internal checks and processes, customers with any support requirements can contact us with their complaints. This document is thereafter used as a reference manual for handling any support-related issues.
Problem Reporting and Support
All faults or errors can be reported via any of the following media:
Logging on to our support site: http://help.phonon.io/portal/.
Via email to help@phonon.io.
Via phone call to our support desk at 0265 6123 666 or 09978889490
In case of Severity 1 requests – the error needs to be reported on 0265 6123 666 or, (after office hours for Severity 1 requests only) on mobile phone number (0) 9978889490.
Normal business hours for customer support are 09:00 AM to 06:00 PM, Mondays - Fridays; Company Holidays excluded. Severity 1 support is provided 24 hours x 7 days a week.
Scheduled system maintenance including change requests will be completed during low-call volume periods and with advance planning with our customers.
The customer is expected to check the functioning of all support systems including IP connectivity and remote databases for their proper functioning while raising any trouble request for system outage.
Severity Levels
Severity | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Severity 1 | A major fault causing serious disruption to business activity and preventing the use of the application for the purpose for which it was designed. | No requests being handled or recorded by the application. Loss of data or data connection critical to the application. |
Severity 2 | Significant fault causing the service not to operate in accordance with the specification but still usable with difficult. (E.g. by means of a work-around solution or on part efficiency), with some disruption to business activity. | System not working at full licensed capacity. Improper updates or failures in update processes. |
Severity 3 | Minor fault causing the service not to operate completely in accordance with the specification but with no disruption to business activity. | Data formatting problem. Reports not being generated properly. |
Severity 4 | All other requests for service – from general usage questions to recommendations for product enhancement or modifications and calls passed on to us for information purposes. The impact on customer is non-critical. | Training requests. Report design changes. |
The calendar for periodic log check-ups of the telecom application system at the customer location will be finalized with the customer during deployment. During normal operations, a monthly log review of the telecom application system will be conducted by Phonon.
Support Levels
Every account on hosted infrastructure gets 99.5% uptime commitments at no additional cost. Additionally, we have offered premium and professional support plans with higher uptime guarantees, status reviews, analytics, and dedicated support that is required for business-critical operations and services at additional cost.
Below is the list with support plans that every account can subscribe for additional support as needed:
Description | Free | Premium | Professional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uptime Commitment | 99.50 % | - | - |
| 2 | Uptime Guarantees | - | 99.50% | 99.50% |
| 3 | Guaranteed Response Time during business hours | 8 hours | 4 hours | 1 hour |
| 4 | Email & Phone Support for first one month, business hours |
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| 5 | Email Support, business hours |
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| 6 | Phone Support, business hours |
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| 7 | Email Support, 24x7 |
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| 8 | Phone Support, 24x7 |
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| 9 | Named support engineer |
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| 10 | Support escalation line |
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| 11 | Business Analytics along with Account Status Review |
| Quarterly | monthly |
Target Response and Resolution Times
The target response time is the time taken by Phonon to respond to a reported problem and to confirm with the customer that the problem is being managed. The starting point for the target response time is the time recorded when the customer reports the problem to Phonon, and the finishing point is when Phonon calls or emails the customer contact to acknowledge reporting of the problem request by the customer.
The target resolution time is the time taken from logging of the problem by Phonon to the time a workaround or error solution is provided. Target response and resolution times need to be adhered to as under:
Description (Support Plan) | Free | Premium (Pricing: INR 50,000/- per month per account) | Professional (Pricing: INR 100,000/- per month per account) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Target Response Time | Target Resolution Time | Target Response Time | Target Resolution Time | Target Response Time | Target Resolution Time | ||
Business Hours: 09:00 AM – 06:00 PM (Mon-Fri) Excluding Company Holidays | Severity 1 | 8 hours | 1-4 business days | 4 hours | 8 hours | 1 hour | 4 hours |
Severity 2 | 8 hours | 2 business days | 4 hours | 1 business day | 2 hours | 1 business day | |
Severity 3 | 8 hours | 2 business days | 8 hours | 2 business days | 4 hours | 2 business days | |
Severity 4 | 2 business days | As per business requirement | Next business day | As per business requirement | Next business day | As per business requirement | |
Out-of-Business Hours
| Severity 1 | Next business day | As per normal SLA | 2 hours | 8 hours | 30 minutes | 4 hours |
Severity 2 -4 | 2 business days | As per normal SLA | Next business day | As per SLA | Next business day | As per SLA | |
This includes both hardware and software-related outages. However, in case of hardware requiring any replacement for on-premise solution, hardware will need to be shipped from the local warehouse to the Customer site. This equipment will be shipped within twenty-four hours of the outage being noticed and installed within forty-eight hours of the outage has occurred.
Escalation
Escalation is the formal notification of a problem to progressively more senior levels of management within Phonon and the Customer Contact Group, to enable appropriate actions to be taken by both parties to address the problem.
Escalation levels and target wait times available to only personalize support level are defined as below:
Escalation Level | Phonon | Client | Severity 1 | Severity 2 | Severity 3 | Severity 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | TBC | TBC | Immediate | 1 day | 2 days | 4 days |
B | TBC | TBC | Immediate | 4 hours | 1 day | 2 days |
A | TBC | TBC | 30 minutes | 2 hours | 4 hours | 24 hours |
Each time a problem is escalated to the next level; at the time of escalation, Phonon will contact the appropriate Customer representative with an update on the estimated time to resolve the problem. Contact details at each escalation level amongst the contact group will be shared and updated between Phonon and the customer on initiation of the contract and updated as and when any change occurs.
Support Reviews
Reviews are important for our business processes, learning from our experience and providing high-quality support to our customers. Support level reviews are conducted internally as per the below schedule:
On a quarterly basis; and
After any Severity 1 outage that took longer than the target resolution time to be closed.
Guarantees: SLA breach and Credit Compensation
Phonon will provide credit compensation to the customer who subscribed to an additional support level (Professional) defined in the support level. These credit compensations will be provided in the next bill as discounts for each SLA breach.
For example: In case, the support team is not able to respond to the issue or provide a resolution within the stipulated time frame then it will be considered as an SLA breach. Target response time will be measured from the moment an email or a phone call describing the issue is received from the customer.
Please refer to the below table for more details on SLA breach and credit compensation provided to Professional support plan on monthly support plan rental fees paid that will be calculated based on SLA breach of each severity level:
Severity Levels | Credit per SLA breach |
|---|---|
Severity 1 | 20 % |
Severity 2 | 10% |
Severity 3 | 5 % |
Severity 4 | 5 % |
Phonon will support a 99.5% uptime guarantee provided to Premium and Professional support plans through credit compensation billed value as per the below table:
Uptime Commitment | Credit compensation |
|---|---|
<99.5% | 5 % |
<99% to 95% | 15 % |
<95% to 90% | 25 % |
<90% | 100 % |
Limitations:
Uptime guarantee and Support SLA exclude force majeure conditions including but not limited to, acts of God, such as earthquakes, flooding, and man-based events such as rioting, arson, government enforcement, and restrictions, etc.
Credit will be provided as a rebate in subsequent invoices. The maximum credit will be limited to a one-month value of support plan rental paid by the customer. Credit will be provided only in the case the customer has no dues remaining with Phonon at the time of the SLA consideration.
In the case of an on-premise solution, uptime guarantees, and Support SLA are limited to application server uptime only. Any downtime of telecom services providers such’ as PRI lines; SMS gateways or SMTP providers are excluded from calculations.
In the case of an on-premise solution, we can provide a personalized onsite support plan for dedicated assistance that may be required.
Definitions
Technical Support Services: “Technical Support Service” is defined as the technical assistance that Phonon will provide for the Licensed Software and deployed applications. Technical Support Services include access to support engineers who provide technical assistance and advice on Phonon’s products and deployments. Technical Assistance includes access to Workarounds or Error Corrections during the Term of the Maintenance & Support Agreement, but technical assistance does not include any new system releases, other editions or options of the Licensed Software, or any installation or consulting services. Any change request in call flow or application design will require the initiation of a Change Control Request.
Fault or Error: A “Fault” or “Error” means any verifiable and reproducible failure of the Licensed Software or application to materially conform to the functions as described in the Solution Design Documentation that materially affects the operation and use of the Licensed Software or application. Phonon shall determine whether any failure of the Licensed Software to materially conform to such functions as described in the applicable Solution Design Documentation constitutes a Fault or an Error for the purpose of the Support Agreement and shall also determine if it is a Severity 1,2,3, or 4 Issue.
Work-around: A “workaround” is a solution to a fault or an error on the system that allows the system to regain functionality but needs further work or fine-tuning for a complete solution.
Targeted Resolution Time: The “targeted resolution time” is the time within which Phonon will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide a Workaround or Error Correction. If a Workaround or Error Correction is not provided within the identified timeframe, Phonon will continue to use commercially reasonable efforts to create an Error Correction or reduce the severity of the Error and provide periodic updates to the Licensee.
Error Correction(s): “Error Correction(s)” means either: (a) a modification to the Licensed Software or deployed application that corrects a Fault or an Error; or (b) a Workaround. Error Corrections do not include any functionality changes, feature additions, or product upgrades/ enhancements.
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