Web Maintenance Flat Fee - Budget with Confidence

Barbara Buckley / Aug 30, 2022

Let’s be honest, web maintenance is not a sexy topic. It doesn’t offer the excitement of an amazing new UX design project, and it doesn’t feel all shiny, techy, and state-of-the-art. Yet, it is essential, and ignoring the need for web maintenance can seriously impact your business.

When planning your annual spend on a website, it’s common to focus on the new features or improvements you aim to make to the site to optimise the digital experience for your end-user, and essentially ensure that you achieve your business targets. However, before you even get to these improvements, it’s often vital to perform some general housekeeping or web maintenance which can add unexpected costs and also push back your timelines – both of which can be frustrating.

But before we investigate the benefits of web maintenance and flat fees, let’s first discuss exactly what is classified as web maintenance. For this, we spoke to our Lead Project Manager, Isabel Racine, who nicely summarised the topic.

When it comes to security, imagine your website as a house; each security gap resembles an open window. We can't tell you how likely it is that someone will break in but the more windows there are open, the easier it gets and the more valuable items there are stored in the house (e.g. personal user data), and the area you live in (e.g. banking sector), the less justifiable it becomes even leaving one window open.

- Isabel Racine - Lead Project Manager - Amazee Labs

In a nutshell, when you ignore regular web maintenance, the safety of your website is compromised and things simply don’t run as smoothly as they once did, or potentially could.  

OK, Web Maintenance Is Important, But What Are The Benefits Of Paying For It On A Monthly Flat Fee Basis?

1. Planability

By opting for a monthly maintenance flat fee, you can avoid nasty surprises! You have a clear upfront overview of the cost of keeping your website healthy and secure, and that enables you to make better and more accurate budgeting decisions regarding additional improvements, or new features you wish to add. 

2. Security

Your site is kept up to date and constantly secure. This is beneficial when you are adding new features as they are easier to implement. If you have a tight deadline for implementing a new feature to your site, the last thing you want to be doing is dealing with historical, unaddressed maintenance issues.

3. Fewer Overheads

This is about the day-to-day practicalities. The Maintenance Engineering Team takes care of checking the site, creating the tickets, and initiating outstanding updates autonomously without any interaction needed from your end.  Once again, this frees up your resources to be used elsewhere.

What Is Included In The Monthly Flat Fee And Is The Cost The Same For Everyone?

The monthly fee is calculated based upon various factors including the size, number of modules, and general complexity of your Drupal website. 

All Drupal Core, Drupal Modules, and PHP updates are covered by the flat fee (excluding Drupal alpha/beta contribution modules). Additionally, all major version updates are included e.g. from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10.  All project management, meetings, checks, and organisation related to the flat fee efforts are also covered within the monthly flat fee.

Again, the goal of this flat fee set-up is to ensure that our clients have peace of mind knowing that the regular maintenance of their website is effortlessly handled by our team.

The flat fee from Amazee Labs is exactly how I like to work:  "KISS", meaning keep it simple and smart. The costs are predictable and I know that our Fleet Portal is always up to date. This saves time, nerves, and of course money in the end.

- Pascal Spiegel - Head of Key Account Management Fleet - AMAG Automobil und Motoren AG

In closing, regardless of the size and complexity of your Drupal site,  Amazee Labs offers the development knowledge and project management expertise to find the right solution for your business. To understand more about our service offering and how Amazee Labs could simplify your web maintenance, set up a meeting with our Client Engagement Manager, Ricardo Luchsinger, or simply get in touch. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!