Support
What is it? Support for a B2B eCommerce platform involves helping businesses use the software effectively. This includes technical assistance, training, and guidance on optimizing the platform for their needs.
Why is it important? Support for a B2B eCommerce platform helps companies use the system effectively and solve problems quickly. Effective support ensures companies can fully utilize the B2B eCommerce platform's features, adapt it to their needs, and grow their business operations efficiently.
Questions to ask an eCommerce vendor:
- Do you provide onboarding materials and training?
- What levels of customer support do you offer? (e.g. 24/7, business hours only, tiered support options)
- Through what channels is support available? (phone, email, live chat, etc.)
- Is your support team located in the USA or internationally-based?
- Do you provide dedicated account managers?
- What are your guaranteed response and resolution times for different issue severities? Do you have Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?
Maintenance
What is it? Maintenance for a B2B eCommerce platform involves ongoing activities to keep the system running optimally, securely, and up-to-date. This includes regular software updates, security patches, performance optimizations, data management, system integrations, and addressing technical issues.
Why is it important? Maintenance is essential for a B2B eCommerce platform to keep the system reliable and secure. It prevents downtime, protects against threats, and ensures smooth operations, business continuity and high customer satisfaction. Regular maintenance also helps companies stay competitive by improving platform performance.
Questions to ask an eCommerce vendor:
- How do you handle ongoing platform maintenance, updates and upgrades?
- What is your process for addressing bugs and implementing feature requests?
- How often are software updates and security patches released?
- How do you handle emergency fixes or critical issues?
- What is your backup and disaster recovery process?
