Product Support
Ongoing senior engineering for platforms in production — including platforms we didn't build. Monitoring, maintenance and staged improvement, from the team that answers when it matters.
Quick answer
Does National Digital support software it didn't build?
Additional Context
Support is part of the product
Software doesn't stop needing engineers the day it ships. Product Support is National Digital's named offer for keeping production platforms healthy and moving: monitoring, maintenance, small improvements and an owned roadmap, delivered by the senior engineers who build our platforms — not a separate support tier. It applies to platforms we built, and to platforms we didn't.
What's included each month
The entry retainer commits one team day — eight hours — every month, drawn from engineering, design, QA and delivery as the work requires. Unused hours roll into the following month, and holding a retainer unlocks a discount on our standard rate card for work beyond the committed day. Retainers run on 30 days' notice: leaving is easy, so staying is a decision.
Engineering support, not a helpdesk
Product Support is not managed IT. We support the application and platform layers — code, integrations, infrastructure, performance, reliability — under an engineering retainer. We don't manage laptops or office networks, and we don't run a ticket queue.
Taking over a platform someone else built
Inheriting a fragile, undocumented or unsupported platform is one of the most common reasons people call us. A takeover starts with a paid technical assessment — code, infrastructure, security posture and documentation — so you get an honest read on what you own before committing to anything. The Product & Development Plan runs this assessment as its second workshop for rescue engagements. From there, most platforms move onto a support retainer; some justify staged rebuilding, and the assessment tells you which yours is.
Legacy platforms, supported through the transition
A legacy estate — an ageing WordPress install, an application on an end-of-life stack — can be supported while it moves to something better. We keep it patched, monitored and stable as a path into modernisation, not as a standing maintenance product.
Common questions
Can you take over an application built by another team?
What does Product Support cost?
Is this managed IT support or a helpdesk?
Do you support WordPress sites?
What happens if we want to leave?
Who does the work?
What Product Support costs
An ongoing engineering retainer for platforms in production — including platforms National Digital did not build. One committed team day each month covering monitoring, maintenance, small improvements and roadmap work, delivered by the senior team.
| Keeping it healthy | |
|---|---|
| The standing work that stops a production platform decaying: monitoring, patching and answering when something breaks. | |
| Monitoring, patching and dependency updatesProduction platforms decay without attention — dependencies age, certificates lapse, integrations drift. This is the work that stops that. | $560/per month |
| Incident response and fixesWhen something breaks in production, the engineers who know the platform respond — and fix the cause, not just the symptom. | $374/per month |
| Keeping it moving | |
| The improvement work that makes a supported platform better each quarter rather than merely alive. | |
| Small improvements and change requestsThe steady stream of small changes a live platform accumulates — handled inside the retainer instead of queued for a project. | $374/per month |
| Roadmap and reviewA written record of what changed and why, and a prioritised view of what should happen next. | $187/per month |
| Total Fixed Fee | $1,495 |
Payment Terms
Key Assumptions
- One team day (8 hours) per month is the minimum retainer — below that an active support arrangement isn't viable.
- Unused hours roll into the immediately following month only, are drawn down first, and have no cash value.
- Holding a retainer unlocks a 5% discount on the standard rate card for work beyond the committed hours.
- 30 days' notice either way. Larger retainers — 5, 10 or 20 days a month — are quoted on the same structure.
- Taking over a platform National Digital did not build starts with a paid technical assessment.