Sitecore Support Options for the Enterprise

Implementing Sitecore can be challenging, especially for companies who are new to it. But no matter the level of experience, everyone needs help from Sitecore experts at some point during — and after — a Sitecore-powered site launches.

Who Can Give You Sitecore Support?

Official Sitecore Support

One of the good things about Sitecore is that it offers you plenty of options when it comes to getting official assistance. There are two kinds of support, Standard Support —which includes open source support from the Sitecore community — and 24x7 Premium Support— a support service with increased levels of responsiveness. Typically, Premium support is channeled through Sitecore partners to ensure that the customer has an experienced implementation partner in their corner providing direct support.

Read more about Sitecore’s support options: Sitecore Support Options

Sitecore Partner Support

Through trusted Sitecore partners like Oshyn, Sitecore can deliver closer and faster support that’s specifically tailored to your needs. Sitecore partners are proven specialists with the know-how necessary to give you all the support you need to make the most of Sitecore. A partner can not only help you build a better experience but also create plans and deploy a long-term strategy to ensure maximum success during your product lifecycle.

Types of Sitecore Implementation Support

When working with a Sitecore partner like Oshyn, you can expect two main types of support: support during implementation and post implementation.

Implementation Support

Implementation support is a planned approach to integrating new software to the existing organizational structure to enhance operations and improve system health. An implementation partner can guide you through a series of planned tasks.

All Sitecore implementations are different, and to avoid issues you should begin with a comprehensive Sitecore architecture document that outlines your requirements and gives every stakeholder visibility over what the implementation will entail so as to avoid nasty surprises in the future.

For a successful implementation to work, you need to establish the timeline by meeting with key stakeholders. This should also include your Sitecore implementation partner if you’re using one. The timeline will provide a rough estimate of how long the project is going to take and can help you to plan for potential downtime where software may be unavailable.

These are some of the activities that compose Sitecore implementation support:

• Determine implementation type
• Create an implementation document
• Establish a timeline
• Outline expectations
• Understand costs
• Implementation process

Post-Implementation Support

After every project is complete, you want to conduct a post-implementation review to get the most out of your Sitecore installation and the project you’ve created in it.

After completing a project, you want to make sure that your team achieved what they set out to do. In a project, the objective isn’t to simply deliver a product; but to deliver a product that addresses a specific customer need.

In fact, not conducting a post-implementation survey can harm even the best-laid project; it’s also a good idea to do a post-implementation check sooner than later while the project’s details are still fresh in your team’s mind.

A trusted partner who is an expert in Sitecore can ensure the implementation continues to work well as market conditions change. With comprehensive post-implementation support, you learn more about how your implementation is working with end-users and what needs to be done to keep your installation running smoothly.

These are some of the activities that compose the post-implementation support:

• Usability testing
• Benchmarking
• User group research
• Creation of implementation roadmaps

The process of implementing a new digital experience platform (DXP) is a crucial investment for any business, but it can also be daunting for inexperienced or non-technical users. There are so many variables to consider and many ways things could go wrong. That’s why Sitecore support is so necessary.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, or your developer isn’t experienced in Sitecore, you’re in for a bumpy ride.

So if you’re looking to implement Sitecore for your business, or it’s already implemented and want to get the most out of your Sitecore installation, this article is for you.

Why Seek Implementation Support?

Software implementation can be a long and potentially cost-intensive process depending on your particular situation and needs.

Discovery

• Determine implementation type
• Create an implementation document
• Establish a timeline
• Outline expectations
• Understand costs

Design and Implementation (4-6 Weeks)

• Brand Exploration
• UX Design
• User Analysis
• User Journeys
• Technical Architecture
• Feature and functional analysis

Implementation

• Environment setup
• Feature development
• Continuous integration/ implementation CI/CD
• Testing
• Deployment

Post-Implementation Support

• Monitoring
• Feature enhancements
• Continuous scanning and testing

Read more about our Sitecore implementation services: Sitecore Development and Integration.

The 7 most common Sitecore support scenarios

Let’s dig a bit deeper into the types of situations where you may need support. Below we describe the various scenarios that lead a company to purchase Sitecore support services. Then we identify the best level of support for each scenario, and describe the features you should expect to receive.

Consider this your checklist for finding and evaluating not only the best support services for your needs, but the best Sitecore partner who can reliably provide them for you.

Scenario #1: I need my content editors and marketers to be able to use Sitecore confidently.

If you want your marketers and content editors to be self-sufficient, you need personalized Sitecore user training customized to your implementation. You need a Sitecore partner to provide them with detailed training documents.

With any user training, the following should be included:

• Hands-on training customized to your implementation and your team’s individual needs.

• A step-by-step training guide personalized to each individual’s job responsibilities, which features screenshots of your specific implementation.

• Video recording of the live training administered by the Sitecore partner to your team.

Scenario #2: I need my own IT team to be self-sufficient.

If you want your internal developers and your IT team to be completely self-sufficient, consider Sitecore co-development and consulting. In this scenario, a team of experts would assist with writing a Sitecore architecture document, performing code reviews, filling in and augmenting your development team where necessary, and being on call to answer any questions and troubleshoot issues.

The following should be included with Sitecore co-development and consulting services:

• Guidance and education on Sitecore solution architecture and development planning.

• Side-by-side developer coaching and code reviews.

• Remote staff augmentation as needed.

Scenario #3: I need a team to manage our deployments.

Anytime you make an enhancement to your site, you’ll need to deploy it—first to a QA or UAT environment and then to production. You need an expert to figure out the proper process and protocol you should follow to deploy enhancements to your particular Sitecore implementation. This is where deployment support comes in.

The following should be included with deployment support:

• Proper setup of a code repository that includes specific consideration of each deployment target.

• Setup of a build process that maps to each deployment target and includes processes for both front-end CSS and JavaScript builds as well as back-end builds.

• A well-documented, easy-to-follow process for moving code, database, configuration, and content changes through the various deployment targets.

• A proper strategy for keeping the site live while deployments are underway. This may include using database backups, load balancer configurations, and taking servers on and offline in a specific order.

Scenario #4: I need a team of Sitecore developers to be continually adding new functionality and content to my website.

If you’re struggling to build (or you don’t want to build) your own internal Sitecore development and support team, but your marketers and content managers need someone to implement their vision, you need a team of Sitecore developers who can be on call during regular business hours.

The following should be included with this form of 9-to-5 support:

• Sitecore-certified developers who live and breathe Sitecore, who are assigned to work on your company’s implementation.

• You and these developers should know each other on a first-name basis, and they should care deeply about responding to your needs in a timely and professional manner.

• A dedicated project manager that is familiar with Sitecore, who can respond to questions on the fly, and ensure your developers are making promises they can keep.

Scenario #5: I need a team of Sitecore experts who can identify performance issues with my site and fix them as needed.

As your business grows and more visitors hit your site, performance will degrade—even when your site was implemented properly the first time. On a well-built site, there is always degradation to be expected over time as your traffic grows. If, on the other hand, you have a poorly-implemented site, there are a whole host of things that can go wrong from the beginning.

Either way, you need a dedicated Sitecore partner who understands all of the things that affect site performance and can implement solutions that optimize yours.

The following should be included with Sitecore performance optimization services:

• A Sitecore audit that is specifically designed to identify performance issues. The audit should include a priority list that shows which items will make the biggest impact and what order you should address them in.

• The audit should be conducted by senior-level Sitecore experts who are deeply familiar with the various aspects of optimizing Sitecore performance.

• Performance optimization services should only be conducted by Sitecore-certified developers who are exclusively focused on Sitecore development, server configuration, and performance optimization in particular. These developers should be dedicated to your account and deeply familiar with your particular implementation from participating in the Sitecore audit–not just assigned to you by round robin.

Scenario #6: I need a team of Sitecore pros I can call on in emergencies.

Have you ever accidentally taken down your entire site, or made a change you didn’t know how to undo? If not yet, it will happen eventually. And when it does, you’re going to need a team of Sitecore specialists, on-call and ready to respond and remedy the issue whenever there’s an emergency.The following should be included in Sitecore emergency support:* Less than one hour response times.

• Full system access and the ability to directly make changes to your environment.

• Deep familiarity with your specific Sitecore implementation.

• Training and documentation on how to avoid another potential mishap in the future.

Scenario #7: I want to sleep soundly at night, knowing I have a team available after-hours.

If your site has a history of stability issues, and you can’t afford to have it go down in the middle of the night, you need 24/7 Sitecore support. You need a team of Sitecore experts dedicated to monitoring your servers 24 hours a day, and ready to take action 7 days a week, in the event of an outage.

The following should be included with 24/7 Sitecore support services:

• Enhanced server monitoring that alerts your Sitecore partner before you even know there’s an issue.

• Reliable, extremely knowledgeable, and highly experienced Sitecore-certified developers who will begin addressing and fixing the issue immediately upon receiving server monitoring alerts.

• Full system access and the ability to directly make changes to your environment.

• Deep familiarity with your specific Sitecore implementation from participating in the Sitecore audit or reviewing audit documentation.

Oshyn: Full Support During and After Sitecore Implementation

Maintaining your website after implementation can be tricky, and wrangling every loose end might be cumbersome for teams that lack experience using Sitecore. Oshyn is a Sitecore Partner, which means that we’re certified as Sitecore experts and can help you build and maintain your site.

Oshyn Maintain is a service specially designed for companies already leveraging Sitecore but needing an extra hand to keep your site fresh, effective, and trouble-free. We give you ongoing site support, code maintenance, and feature development, all delivered by well-seasoned Sitecore experts who know what to look for and what to fix if errors arise.

Oshyn’s managed maintenance service provides the monitoring, bug fixes, and enhancements necessary for any well-run site. Get the peace-of-mind that comes with a stable and constantly-improving site.

If you want to learn more about our Sitecore maintenance service, read more here: Sitecore Improvements and Maintenance.