Ah, the patch and maintenance schedule notification. It’s the necessary evil every MSP has to send out, but let’s be honest—it can feel like telling your clients you’re about to pull the plug (literally) on their productivity for an hour or two. But fear not! Done right, it’s like informing them you’re about to perform IT magic, keeping their systems running smoothly, securely, and without any fire drills.
In this post, we’ll walk you through why you need to send this thing in the first place (no, “just because” isn’t enough), what needs to be in it, and give you an example that’ll make you look like you have everything under control—because you do, right?
Why Your Clients Need Maintenance Windows (and Why They Shouldn’t Hate You for It)
Think of regular maintenance like brushing your teeth. You could skip it, but sooner or later, you’re going to have a problem that requires more than just a quick fix. That’s what patching and updating is all about. Sure, your clients might not love being told their systems might go down for a bit, but they’ll hate it even more if things break at the worst possible moment because they weren’t patched properly. So really, you’re doing them a favor.
Also, without maintenance, those sneaky cyber threats you’ve been blocking for them could start sneaking in. You’re like the IT ninja keeping the bad guys out—except you’re also announcing when you’ll be coming through the front door. A little counterintuitive, but still necessary.
What Needs to Go in the Notification
Your clients don’t want a novel. They want to know the “what,” “when,” and “how bad is this going to be?” So here’s what you need to include:
- When is this going to happen? Be specific. “Wednesday at 2 AM” sounds better than “sometime when you’re asleep.”
- What systems will this affect? No, you don’t need to list every switch and router, but tell them if their server or workstation is going to reboot.
- What will they need to do? If all they need to do is save their work, tell them. If they need to pray to the tech gods, probably don’t mention that.
- Why should they care? This is where you remind them this isn’t for your amusement—it’s for their benefit. Security patches, performance boosts, the usual IT hero stuff.
- How to contact you. Because someone will always have a question five minutes after you send it out.
Now that you know what needs to go in the notification, here’s how you can sound cool, calm, and professional when you send it.
Example Patch & Maintenance Schedule Notification
At [Your MSP Name], we regularly perform maintenance to ensure that your systems remain secure and fully operational. This maintenance includes critical security patches, performance updates, and occasional system reboots. Below is our regular maintenance schedule:
Regular Maintenance Window:
We perform maintenance every [Day of the Week] at [Time], lasting approximately [Duration]. During this time, you may experience brief interruptions in service, such as reboots of your servers or workstations.
What’s Included:
- Security updates to protect against vulnerabilities
- System performance improvements
- Occasional reboots to apply updates successfully
Client Actions:
We recommend saving any open work or shutting down applications before the maintenance window begins. This ensures that no data is lost during system reboots. If you have any concerns or specific needs ahead of this time, please contact us at [Contact Information].
Emergency Maintenance:
While our regular maintenance window covers most updates, emergency maintenance may occasionally be required. We will notify you immediately in such cases to minimize disruption.
Thank you for your cooperation as we work to keep your systems running smoothly!
