When a system problem stops the company, I want support immediately, so I am not sitting between people who cannot work and a provider who has not replied.

Job context

Who

Whoever is the contact point with the provider

When

While the incident is happening

Trigger

A whole team unable to work and nobody answering

Situation

The support level was decided in a contract long ago

Constraints

There is no way to fix it yourself

5 Pains

• Response times are measured in hours

  High

  While a whole team is stopped.

  Root cause: Support commitments follow the package bought rather than the severity

• Having to prove the fault is theirs

  High

  Before anyone will look.

  Root cause: Support processes suspect the customer's side first

• Whoever answers does not know your setup

  High

  So it must all be explained again.

  Root cause: Support is organised by queue rather than by customer

• Having to answer the whole company with no news

  Medium

  And knowing nothing more than they do.

  Root cause: The contact point receives no updates to pass on

• A higher support tier is expensive

  Medium

  And needed a few times a year.

  Root cause: Support is sold as an annual tier rather than at the moment of need

5 Desired Outcomes

• Get a response in minutes when work stops

  Functional

• Not have to prove whose fault it is

  Functional

• Speak with someone who knows their setup

  Social

• Have news to give the company

  Social

• Pay for higher support only when needed

  Functional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Raise a ticket in the support system

  Product

  The official channel, queued in order of arrival.

• Go straight to the original salesperson

  Workaround

  Far faster than the official channel, usable only a few times.

• Buy a higher support tier

  Product

  Solves it, paying for a year to use it twice.

• Build a fallback for when it breaks

  Workaround

  The only self-reliant answer, effort spent on someone else's problem.

• Say publicly that support failed

  Behaviour

  It genuinely works, spending a relationship you still need.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• Support is sold as an annual tier because tiers make revenue predictable, while the real need appears as the severity of one moment, and the two units do not meet.

  Why existing solutions fail: Selling at the moment of need makes support revenue unpredictable and forces the provider to hold capacity for peaks, so the tier model persists because it suits the seller, and small customers pay for what they never use while large ones still wait.

  Potential opportunity: Support escalation purchasable at the moment of the incident, priced per event rather than per year.

• The contact point stands between a company that cannot work and a support queue, and neither side considers keeping that person informed to be their job.

  Why existing solutions fail: Providers measure themselves on time to resolve rather than on time in contact, so interim updates are extra effort helping none of their numbers, and whoever absorbs the internal pressure has nothing to offer.

  Potential opportunity: A committed update rhythm separate from the fix commitment, so the contact point always has something to say.