From ‘hourly’ to ‘unlimited’: A better approach to software support
This is the second blog about our updated (as of June 2025) approach to pricing for development and support. You can read the previous article here.
Billing by the hour for basic technical support can be lucrative for custom software developers, but we’ve seen that hourly-rate billing also generates something unexpected and undesired:
Silence.
Because we had a track record of starting the clock every time clients contacted us, they usually wouldn’t reach out for simple questions or minor issues. In many cases, once a project was completed we wouldn’t hear from that client again until something went wrong.
We realized that billing clients for fielding questions or investigating bugs, and not just for time spent coding, wasn’t building stronger relationships. Without intending to, we were discouraging users from telling us about minor problems, sharing ideas, or just asking questions to help them get more out of their investment.
We want to change that dynamic.
Skeleton Key now offers a monthly subscription for Managed Solution Support (MSS), which includes:
- Unlimited investigation of reported issues, bugs, or outages
- Unlimited “quick fixes” to minor problems
- Unlimited general consulting to discuss new challenges, opportunities, and solutions
- Basic solution monitoring for performance and optimization
In addition, MSS subscribers receive priority access to our resources, as well as discounted rates for development and after-hours emergency support.
Preventing value loss by being proactive
I’ve written about the importance of treating root causes of issues rather than symptoms, using flooded basements and leaking roofs as examples.
As mentioned above, it’s better for our clients when we can identify problems quickly and minimize their impact. That’s why we’re offering MSS subscribers unlimited investigations into not just outages, but issues and bug reports as well.
There’s another opportunity to spot potential problems that many clients aren’t taking advantage of today. Many custom software solutions are hosted on-premise without active monitoring, despite the fact that the code to enable monitoring is readily available. Offering basic monitoring with MSS subscriptions for no additional charge will help us see some early warning signs of problems.
Even with monitoring, it’s inevitable that some issues will occur and that they may lead to downtime. But we’re confident that this new, proactive approach will reduce the frequency of severe issues — which is why we’ll be giving our MSS subscribers priority, ahead of our other planned work, whenever they reach out to us for support.
Thinking strategically and preparing for the future
Finally, we can help clients plan for the future of their organizations by encouraging them to keep us looped in on their goals and challenges. That’s why we’re offering MSS subscribers unlimited general consulting to discuss new features, new problems that custom software could solve, or new business opportunities they want to pursue.
To be clear, clients who don’t subscribe to MSS can still take advantage of all these opportunities on an à la carte basis, with the understanding that our monthly subscribers will have priority access to resources and scheduling.
But we believe there’s more value for all involved when we work more closely together, which is why we’re making it easier to keep the lines of communication open.
The alternative, silence, is worthless to everyone.
To learn more about Managed Solution Support (MSS), reach out to your Skeleton Key account manager or project lead, or contact us to set up a call.
