IBM Cloud Service overview
The guidelines in this document apply only to the IBM Cloud Service offerings listed on the IBM Product Support Details page.
- If the information about the Cloud Service offering in the IBM Product Support Details page is different than the information in this document, then the IBM Product Support Details page applies.
- For IBM Cloud Service offerings not included in the IBM Product Support Details page, refer to the respective support product page for more information.
Cloud and SaaS support
IBM's Cloud Service support teams are available to assist with technical issues of varying degrees of severity. There may be occasions where the support teams may not be able to answer all your questions, but they will engage other groups within the company, including operations and/or development teams, to help provide answers to you.
Severity level guidelines and response time objectives
The following table outlines response time objectives that IBM strives* to achieve, measured from the time IBM receives your initial request for support to the time IBM provides an initial communication back to you regarding your request.
| Severity | Severity definition | Response time objectives | Response time coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Critical business impact/Service Down: Business critical functionality is inoperable or critical interface has failed. This usually applies to a production environment and indicates an inability to access services resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires an immediate solution. You must log a Service Down case within 24 hours of first becoming aware that there is a critical business impact and the Cloud Service is not available. Note: We will work with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week to resolve critical problems provided you have a technical resource available to work during those hours. You must reasonably assist IBM with any problem diagnosis and resolution. |
Within 1 hour | 24×7 |
| 2 | Significant business impact: A service, business feature, or function of the service is severely restricted in its use, or you are in jeopardy of missing business deadlines. | Within 2 business hours | Monday – Friday business hours |
| 3 | Minor business impact: The service or functionality is usable and the issue does not represent a critical impact on operations. | Within 4 business hours | Monday – Friday business hours |
| 4 | Minimal business impact: An inquiry or non-technical request. | Within 1 business day | Monday – Friday business hours |
*Please note: Response time objectives described in this document and in the IBM support guide are intended to describe IBM's goals only, and do not represent a guarantee of performance.
Customer responsibilities
You play a key role in assisting us when you have questions about or have encountered problems with your Cloud Service offering. Information that you provide about your system and/or problem is often critical to resolving your issue. The following practices can help our customer support team to better understand your problem and more effectively respond to your concerns, as well as help you make the best use of your time:
- Submitting problems electronically
- Keeping different issues (questions or problems) separate (one issue per support ticket, incident or case)
- Selecting a Severity based on your judgment of the business impact
- Keeping IBM support informed of major upgrades/implementations of your system (where applicable)
- Providing timely feedback on recommendations, so the IBM support team can close out the issue when it has been resolved. If the issue reoccurs, you may reopen the original support ticket, incident or case by resubmitting it electronically
You will be required to provide the following information when contacting support:
- Your name, company name, email address, and telephone number with extension (if applicable)
- Ticket, incident, or case number (as applicable)
- Support entitlement identifiers such as client ID, mailbox ID, or IBM customer number, as appropriate for the offering
- Product name (release level and any product maintenance level, if applicable)
- Any additional information required by the IBM support team
Availability Service Level Agreement (SLA) Considerations
You must submit a support case claim for failure to meet an availability SLA within 3 business days after the end of the contracted month. The support case must be related to a production system that is not available (a Severity 1 / Service Down case). The availability SLA for the Cloud Service can be found in your Transaction Document. Service Down is the time measured from the time you report the Severity 1 case until the time the Cloud Service is restored and does not include time related to a scheduled or announced maintenance outage; causes beyond IBM's control; problems with your content or third party content or technology, designs or instructions; unsupported system configurations and platforms or other Client errors; or Client-caused security incident or Client security testing.
Satisfaction surveys
IBM periodically surveys its customers to obtain additional feedback on recent experiences with customer support. The survey focuses on quality of support provided and overall experience. The survey results are reviewed by management. IBM reserves all rights, title and interest in and to any feedback that you provide to IBM, including without limitation, in the form of suggestions, ideas, concepts, improvements, reports and any other materials, whether written or oral.
Premium support
The IBM Software Accelerated Value Program for SaaS (“AVP for SaaS”) is an evolving suite of flexible and premium support services tailored to customers’ needs and delivered on a recurring basis for an additional charge. The offerings include:
- Client advocacy — An assigned account manager who will work with you to gain an understanding of your business objectives and how the Cloud Service offering you purchased fits into your business eco-system. Your account manager acts as a point of contact and is your assigned advocate within IBM.
- Technical account management — An assigned technical team or resource for technical consulting.
- Business support — An assigned team of product and industry experts who provide ongoing assistance to help you leverage the Cloud Service offerings to help you achieve your targeted business objectives.
- Dedicated business support — An assigned product expert to supplement the needs of your team. Provides functional expertise for a particular area of your business.
- Custom support — Assigned resources to provide you with a level of support above our basic customer support model. This may include customized after hours support, language support, and response times.
Not all premium support offerings are available for all IBM Cloud Service offerings. The level of support, service and cost for premium support are defined in the customer’s contract.
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