Why software maintenance?
Maintenance is focused on continuously providing finished systems with the necessary updates, fixing update bugs immediately and thus ensuring that the system works safely.
Advantages
Don’t push your luck. Editable websites (content management systems) are ultimately software, and software on the Internet can unfortunately be hacked.
Continuous updating of software is the best protection against attacks from the network because updates often include important security improvements. Of course, we have a few more tricks up our sleeves to create even more protection. Unfortunately, there is no 100% protection on the Internet (even the American intelligence agency NSA could be hacked), but the risk can be significantly reduced with appropriate measures.
A nice side effect of up-to-date software is also that the web applications thus generally harmonize perfectly with new browsers and operating systems in the future and your investment in the website remains secure. Because the Internet is constantly evolving at a rapid pace.
1. Premium Support
Our premium support for our “Managed” maintenance packages offers decisive advantages, beyond mere maintenance:
After completion of your website, you will still have a contact person for all technical questions during operation, who is 100% familiar with the system due to the maintenance and does not have to get a picture every time, which is time-consuming and costly.
We also have a good overview of the context of the project and know the people involved: almost like a project management, we can communicate with the designers, layouters, content editors, SEO teams, legal advisors, web hosts, email services directly over the short wire when problems arise or technical things need to be decided or upgraded.
2. Better Security
Unfortunately, countless hackers around the world try to gain access to interactive websites that are controlled by a content management system, such as WordPress. Such hacked websites are then used and rented for illegal purposes of all kinds.
We “harden” the security of your website against typical attacks through targeted measures, on the server and in the code of your website, e.g. through special settings and plug-ins or an upstream “firewall”.
In addition, we keep the CMS system and the installed plug-ins up to date, so we perform all necessary updates for you in a timely manner. This provides you with a high level of security and compatibility for future requirements.
In addition, you fulfill an important requirement of the GDPR, which obliges you to keep software that manages personal data (including content management systems) up to date.
3. Speed
Fast-loading websites play an increasingly important role in success.
Users with mobile devices in particular no longer have the patience to wait long for a page to load. In search engine optimization (SEO), speed is also an important ranking factor for mobile websites and ensures an improved presence in the search results of Google & Co.
In addition to sufficient hardware equipment, which our business server offers, speed also depends on the software.
We configure your content management system to run fast and smoothly and install and manage specialized cache plug-ins.
4. Backups & recovery
Depending on the maintenance package, we regularly back up your data, in addition to the backups that in many cases the web hoster provides.
If something should go wrong with the ongoing use of your website, we will take care of making your website usable again quickly. If the new error is difficult to locate or repair, then can easily switch back to a previous version.
Our backups back up the database and all files at the same time, so that everything matches at the time of the backup (“snapshot”). In case of recovery, data, files and software can then be restored exactly as they were at the time of the backups.
The special feature of TBA maintenance
We use a self-developed monitoring software to reliably monitor certain processes and website states and additionally monitoring systems from the web cloud.
This significantly increases the speed of response to problems compared to manual, purely deadline-based checks.
Certain necessary commercial layout plug-ins (content builders) licensed by TBA that we have used for our designs may continue to be used by you free of charge during the term of direct connection maintenance; in that case, we will continue to pay the annual licensing costs. Which plug-ins these are exactly in your case depends on the individual case, we will be happy to inform you of these on request.
The choice is yours!
Opt for the inexpensive basic cover or our premium cover with additional benefits.
The packages essentially differ according to the purpose of the website:
- For the first year, we recommend the STANDARD package for marketing websites, as many customizations are still the norm here. These require greater attention to maintenance as well.
- Is it a somewhat older marketing website where hardly anything is changed? Our BASIC package is sufficient.
- Is it a well-frequented website, e.g. with shop and user areas?
Our ADVANCED package then offers many premium extras. - If you need an external, technically experienced store manager for customer questions and store administration, we also offer individual packages.
Questions and answers
Why maintenance?
My website is up and running after all. - Maintenance unnecessary?
Not a good idea.
When we deliver a website, it is technically up to date and running as a matter of course. Even if unexpected errors should occur later, which can never be ruled out with technically complex websites, these will, of course, be corrected by us within the usual warranty periods.
However, the Web continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The times when a website is developed once like a brochure and the web project is completed afterwards are also over in technical terms. Updates for content management systems, for example, come almost weekly, and among them may be components important for the security and stability of the system.
If website software is not kept up to date, hacking is only a matter of time, often with consequences for the company's reputation, sales, operational processes. And usually also means a breach of the GDPR obligation that should not be underestimated.
Also, it is easier and cheaper for the web team to develop the website if the technical structure of the website is up to date and 100% known to us.
Think of maintenance as an investment in the long-term value of your intricately built website.
Are the automatic updates from WordPress enough?
Yes, and of course we use the feature wherever it makes sense.
However, this mechanism should not be relied upon without reservation. Larger version jumps are often only possible manually, as accompanying tasks and compatibility checks have to be carried out.
In addition, certain (sometimes system-critical) modules are better updated manually and in a specific order in an optimal way; these special features would be overlooked by an automatic system.
Sometimes an update also affects the caches (website caches on the web server) and this data must also be updated manually afterwards.
Since automatic updates are also a source of problems and, in the worst case, can crash a website or disrupt its layout, we maintain all updates manually for critical websites to prevent any outages and temporary visual impairments.
Can I do the maintenance of my website myself?
Yes! - Most of the work we offer in the service packages can theoretically be done by a customer himself, especially if he has his own IT department.
What to consider here:
- Your team should have solid basic knowledge (HTML, FTP, CMS).
- They require certain training periods and additional routines.
- Internal resources that you and your team spend internally on maintenance,
- you could also invest in your core business.
- You assume a safety risk for neglected or failed maintenance, for example
with consequences for system stability and security (DSGVO). - Third-party software module providers often update their modules
with simultaneous functional enhancements.
Adjustments to the overall system may be necessary here. - Systems maintained by us are faster and
more cost-effective to process if there are change requests.
Please note: Maintenance intervention by third parties may void our warranty for the software product, as well as independent changes to software components and system settings.
Under no circumstances, however, do we advise you to consider maintenance as "unimportant", to refrain from it, and to simply take your chances. It is then usually not a question of if something will happen, but when. Downed websites mean hassle, loss of business and damage to your image. Later repairs can quickly become expensive.
Weighing cost savings and effort
Even if all goes well, does that really save money? Only you can answer this question, if you calculate the effort against it: Maintenance requires working time, the will to familiarize yourself with an unrelated topic, experience with computers and the Internet, but also the discipline for a certain regularity. But do you want to put that on yourself or your team? For us, the work is everyday and routine, for you it may not be.
We "harden" the security of your website against typical attacks through targeted measures, on the server and in the code of your website, e.g. through special settings and plug-ins or even an web application "firewall".
In addition, we keep the CMS system and the installed plug-ins up to date, so we perform all necessary updates for you in a timely manner. This offers you a high degree of security.
In addition, you fulfil an important requirement of the GDPR, which obliges you to keep software that manages personal data (including content management systems) up to date.
Is there absolute protection?
No. These days, if a professional hacking team is targeting your website, it's almost impossible to completely protect yourself. However, targeted attacks have not yet occurred with our customers.
Our service closes security gaps that have been brought to our attention by third parties or other sources very quickly.
A data backup can also be kept on hand just in case, so that the website can be put back online quickly and easily if necessary.
When maintenance?
There may be cases where we cannot offer maintenance at our low bundle rates:
1. websites not created by the TBA
If the site is not built by TBA, we cannot offer our regular maintenance packages because we do not know your system.
However, you can ask us for an individual offer.
2. website has not been maintained for a long period of time
If the website we have created has remained without maintenance for a long period of time, we cannot offer our regular maintenance packages because we do not know the exact technical state of your system 100%.
Here, too, you can ask us for an individual offer.
If your WordPress system has already been hacked (usually due to failure to perform maintenance), we offer solutions to eliminate the consequences of a hacker attack.
In special cases, our maintenance can not continue to provide full service:
1. customers with admin access
If customers want full access rights to their content management system or file system, maintenance must be performed by the customer and their IT department.
In this case, we cannot provide any maintenance guarantees, since all critical settings of the system are then also accessible to the customer and may be beyond our knowledge.
That would be like rebuilding the engine of your car and if it doesn't run any more, the original manufacturer has to fix everything for a fixed price.
2. translations into specific languages
If the website contains translations into languages we are not familiar with, we can offer maintenance to the extent of the BASIC package at most. We speak fluent German (native) and English, and have good basic knowledge of French and Spanish.
3. unknown customer modules
If there are modules on the website on customer request, which we do not know or do not recommend, we offer our maintenance only limited, the scope must then be agreed separately.
3. API connections to third-party systems
Software connections to third-party systems (API) and their management is not covered by our standardized maintenance contracts.
In most cases, however, appropriate modules are offered by the third-party provider and the provider takes care of the data communication itself. Examples: Payment and shipping service providers, accounting software, email delivery services.
Should the TBA know or even have recommended the external provider, we can of course assist with linking and administration.
You still want additional maintenance?
In exceptional cases, we offer our BASIC and STANDARD packages in a slimmed-down version for your support: with no guarantee of success and no free website repair after update problems.
- General answers to questions about managing a web store are usually easy to find on the Internet, as we only use common store software that has a large user base. The concrete evaluation of many recommendations and their technical implementation often requires the involvement of technically skilled admins, but not every customer has their own trained IT staff to do this.
- In addition, the security requirements under the GDPR are higher, as personal data and financial data are collected on the server. Web stores are popular targets for attacks.
- When it comes to the web store, speed is of the essence. Webshops are very complex and consume a lot of resources. In addition to an optimized server, it also needs well-selected modules and settings optimized for speed.
Here we therefore recommend - depending on the need for technical expertise in store management - our ADVANCED package or even an individual agreement in which we provide technical advice and support to your store administrators.