Enterprise Support Policies

A trust support relationship can be built upon the product technical knowledge, communication and problem solving skills of both your support team and that of Bitdefender. Also, a transparent understanding of both parties regarding their roles and responsibilities is crucial to an efficient communication. In order to ensure that your experience with Bitdefender Technical Support is as efficient as possible, it is important to define these roles and share a few best practices that can speed up the problem solving process and enhance your support experience.

I. Bitdefender Enterprise Support Roles and Responsibilities

There are currently three levels of technical support engineers working in Bitdefender Enterprise Support organization. Understanding which group you are talking to and what are their responsibilities will help you prioritize and choose the right level of support that you need.

Bitdefender Support Engineers Representative (SER):

The Bitdefender Support Engineers Representatives are your first contact while submitting a support ticket by phone or chat. Their responsibilities include:

• Accurately understand your issue and log it in our ticketing tracking system with your contact details
• Offer a first resolution if the situation you are reporting is a known-issue or a how-to issue
• Clearly communicate the support ticket id used to identify your case
• Update your account profile history and contact details (if required)

 

Bitdefender Technical Support Professionals (TSP):

The Bitdefender Technical Support Professionals are the individuals who will offer technical support and guidance if the issue has been escalated from SER. Their responsibilities include:

• Responding to Support Tickets, primarily using the e-mail and phone
• Asses the reported technical support issue from the customers’ environment perspective
• Working with other Bitdefender internal departments to resolve the reported situation
• Update your account profile history and contact details (if required)

 

Bitdefender Professional Services Engineers (PSE):

The Bitdefender Professional Services Engineers are the individuals who will offer technical services and guidance if you or your customers need to. Their responsibilities include:

• On-site environment assessment, planning and deployment for Bitdefender Enterprise products implementations
• On-site advanced product trainings
• Remote or on-site consulting services
• Act as a pro-active technical account manager for specific accounts if necessary

 

II. Bitdefender Enterprise Support Business Hours Policy

Once you contact our support representatives, on the majority of cases you will be assigned with a ticket number which will be kept for the entire troubleshooting process.

Note that Bitdefender Support Representatives might request this ticket number or any other previous numbers assigned. A specific TSP is assigned to your support ticket and owns your issue until it is mutually agreed that the support ticket can be closed. He or she will contact you by email and/or phone as appropriate during the resolution process.

The severity of the issue and the service levels of the support package that you purchase determine the speed and method of our response. Following are the business hours schedules:

North America and Canada Territory (NACA):

  Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM for North America and Canada (Pacific Time)

  Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM for North America and Canada (Eastern Time)

Europe, Middle East, and Africa Territory (EMEA):

  Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM (Local Time)

China, Korea and Japan Territory (CJK, English)

  Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM – 8:30 PM (Local Time)

Australia and New Zeeland Territory (AUNZ)

  Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM (Local Time)

The main numbers for Bitdefender Technical Support are:

  U.S. and Canada: +1-954-928-2794 (English - 24 hour service)

  United Kingdom: +44-2080991687 (English - 24 hour service)

  Spain: +34-9350-26910 (Español - de lunes a viernes, en horario de oficina)

  Deutschland:  +49-2301 91 84-444 (Deutsch - Montag bis Freitag 8.30 - 17.30 Uhr)

  France: +33-892-950-950 (0, 34€ TTC / min) (du lundi au vendredi, heures de travail)

  Romania: +4021 264 17 77 (Română - De Luni până Vineri, orele 9 - 18)

  World-wide coverage: +40 316 204 235 (English - 24 hour service)

 

A.      Bitdefender Enterprise Support Products Coverage

 

Bitdefender Enterprise Support will offer assistance for following Bitdefender Enterprise Products (for major and minor versions):

1.       Security for Virtualized Environments by Bitdefender

2.       Security for Virtualized Environments by Bitdefender on AWS (Amazon Web Services)

3.       Cloud Security for Endpoints by Bitdefender

4.       Bitdefender Client Security v3

5.       Bitdefender Security for File Servers v2

6.       Bitdefender Security for Exchange Servers v2

7.       Bitdefender Security for SharePoint Servers v2

8.       Bitdefender Security for Mail Servers v2

9.       Bitdefender Security for ISA Servers v2

10.   Bitdefender Security for File Servers v3

11.   Bitdefender Security for Exchange Servers v3

12.   Bitdefender Security for SharePoint Servers v3

13.   Bitdefender Security for Mail Servers v3

14.   Bitdefender Security for Mac (Business version)

15.   Bitdefender Antivirus Scanner for Unices

16.   Bitdefender Security for Samba Servers v2

17.   Bitdefender Security for Samba Servers v3

For all the above products, Bitdefender Enterprise Support will offer assistance on:

  Installation and configuration

  Issue diagnostic

  Bug reports and fixes

  Implementation of feature requests

 

B.      Bitdefender Enterprise Support Severity Definitions

 

Severity level is a measure of the relative impact of an issue on your systems or business, depending of the Bitdefender installed product. Accurately defining the severity of your issue ensures a timely response and helps Bitdefender to understand the nature of your issue. Bitdefender Enterprise Support is defining the following severities, as per product.

Security for Virtualized Environments by Bitdefender

Severity 1 (Critical):

  Supported guests Windows machines with Windows Servers Family encounter BSOD caused by Security for Virtualized Environments related modules

  Supported guests Linux machines with server role encounter kernel panic caused by Security for Virtualized Environments related modules

  Supported guests Solaris machines with server role encounter kernel panic caused by Security for Virtualized Environments related modules

  Supported hypervisors encounter kernel panic caused by Security for Virtualized Environments product

  More than 80% guest virtual machines have the on-access scanning service stopped and its reported stopped

  Security for Virtualized Environment Security Virtual Appliance fails to start

  You encounter a Network Malware Outbreak on more than 80% of your virtual infrastructure

 

Severity 2 (Major):

  Security for Virtualized Environments Security Console authentication issues

  Security for Virtualized Environments product deployment is stopped due to product errors

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Security for Virtualized Environment services and it’s not responding to more than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more machines serving the following roles:

  Security for Virtualized Environments management policies fail to apply on more than 80% of protected VMs

  More than 70% of Security for Virtualized Environments related modules are not updating properly

  Security for Virtualized Environments Security Console virtual appliance fails to start

  Less than 80% guest virtual machines have the on-access scanning service stopped and its reported stopped

  You encounter a Network Malware Outbreak on less than 80% of your virtual infrastructure

  Quarantine restore operation fails for more than 50% of contained objects

 

Severity 3 (Minor):

  A software component of Security for Virtualized Environment fails to install properly

  Security for Virtualized Environments related modules cause other software products to malfunction or fail to install properly.

  Less than 70%  of Security for Virtualized Environments modules are not update properly

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Security for Virtualized Environment services and it’s not responding to less than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more than one machines serving the following roles:

  Security for Virtualized Environments management policies fail to apply on less than 80% of protected VMs

  Security for Virtualized Environments Tasks fail to apply at all

  Quarantine restoration fails for less than 50% of objects contained

  License key fails to validate on the Security for Virtualized Environments Security Console

  Reporting module is not working properly

  Email notifications sent by the Security for Virtualized Environments Security Console are not received

  Security for Virtualized Environments product deployment is not working due to lack of system requirements fulfillment

 

 

Severity 4 (Trivial):

  System requirements, configuration and performance related questions

  GUI issues caused by a particular version of the Web Browser or browser related security settings

  Products are showing inaccurate stats in the Security for Virtualized Environments Security Console dashboard

 

 

Cloud Security for Endpoints by Bitdefender

Severity 1 (Critical):

  Supported endpoints having Windows operating system (Workstation or Servers family) encounter BSOD caused by Bitdefender Endpoint Client

  More than 80% of Bitdefender Endpoints Clients have the on-access scanning service stopped and its reported stopped

  You encounter a Network Malware Outbreak on more than 80% of your infrastructure

 

Severity 2 (Major):

  Bitdefender Cloud Security Console authentication issues encountered for a period longer than 1 hour

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Bitdefender Endpoints Client services and it’s not responding to more than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more than one machines serving the following roles:

  Bitdefender Cloud Console management policies fail to apply on more than 80% of protected systems

  More than 70% of Bitdefender Endpoint Client products are not updating properly

  Less than 80% of Bitdefender Endpoint Client protected systems have the on-access scanning service stopped for an unknown reason.

  Quarantine restore operation fails for more than 50% of contained objects

Severity 3 (Minor):

  Bitdefender Endpoint Client fails to install properly

  Bitdefender Endpoint Client causes other software products to malfunction or fail to install properly

  Less than 70%  of Bitdefender Endpoint Client products are not updating properly

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Bitdefender Endpoints Client services and it’s not responding to less than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more than one machines serving the following roles:

  Bitdefender Cloud Console management policies fail to apply on less than 80% of protected systems

  Bitdefender Endpoint Client Tasks fail to apply at all

  Quarantine restoration fails for less than 50% of objects contained

  License key fails to validate on the Bitdefender Cloud Security Console

  Reporting module is not working properly

   Reports fail to generate

   Reports contain inaccurate data

  Email notifications sent by the Bitdefender Cloud Security Console are not received

 

Severity 4 (Trivial):

  System requirements, configuration and performance related questions

  GUI issues caused by a particular version of the Web Browser or browser related security settings

  Products are showing inaccurate stats in the Bitdefender Cloud Security Console dashboard

 

Bitdefender Client Security and Bitdefender Security for Windows Servers v3

Severity 1 (Critical):

  Supported endpoints having Windows operating system (Workstation or Servers family) encounter BSOD caused by Bitdefender Endpoint Client

  Supported Linux machines with server role encounter kernel panic caused by Bitdefender Security for Windows Servers solutions (Samba and Mail Servers products)

  More than 80% of Bitdefender Endpoints Clients have the on-access scanning service stopped and its reported stopped

  You encounter a Network Malware Outbreak on more than 80% of your infrastructure

  Bitdefender Security for Email Servers are blocking all email traffic (Bitdefender Security for Exchange and Bitdefender Security for Mail Servers)

 

Severity 2 (Major):

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Bitdefender Security for Windows Servers Family and it’s not responding to more than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more than one machines serving the following roles:

  Bitdefender Management Servers policies fail to apply on more than 80% of protected systems after 3 synchronization intervals of Bitdefender Management Agent module.

   Network tasks fail to apply on less than 80% of protected systems after 3 synchronization intervals of Bitdefender Management Agent

   More than 70% of Client Security related products are not updating properly

   Bitdefender Management Server service fails to start

  Less than 80% of Bitdefender Endpoints Clients have the on-access scanning service stopped and its reported stopped

 

Severity 3 (Minor):

  A software component of Client Security fails to install properly

  Client Security related products cause other software products to malfunction or fail to install properly.

  Less than 70%  of Client Security related products are not updating properly

  A mission critical server is malfunctioned by Bitdefender Security for Windows Servers Family and it’s not responding to more than 50% of its requests. We consider a mission critical server one or more than one machines serving the following roles:

  Network tasks fail to apply on less than 80% of protected systems after 3 synchronization intervals of Bitdefender Management Agent

  License key fails to validate on the Bitdefender Management Server

  Reporting module / Audit module is not working properly – Reports fail to generate, Reports contain inaccurate data.

  Bitdefender Management Servers policies fail to apply on less than 80% of protected systems after 3 synchronization intervals of Bitdefender Management Agent component

  Email notifications sent by the Bitdefender Management Server are not received.

 

Severity 4 (Trivial):

  System requirements, configuration and performance related questions

  GUI issues caused by a particular version of the Web Browser or browser related security settings

  Products are showing inaccurate stats in the Bitdefender Cloud Security Console dashboard

 

 

C.      Bitdefender Enterprise Support Response SLAs

Bitdefender Support Package	Severity 1 (Critical)	Severity 2 (Major)	Severity 3 (Minor)	Severity 4 (Trivial)
Enterprise Support Production Package	30 minutes or less	4 business hours	8 business hours	12 business hours
Mission Critical Support Package	30 minutes or less	4 business hours	8 business hours	12 business hours
Basic Support Packages	2 business hours or less	6 business hours	10 business hours	12 business hours
Per Incident Support Package	30 minutes or less	NA	NA	NA

III. Bitdefender Enterprise Support After-Hours Policy

Bitdefender Enterprise Support can provide after-hours support for an additional fee. The goal is to provide a rapid response when your production system fails with a severity 1 issue and a Technical Support Professional (TSP) to help you get the infrastructure and your systems working.  

IV. Bitdefender Enterprise Support Ticket Handling Policy

When a technical issue with a Bitdefender product arises, the Bitdefender Technical Support team is there to assist and offer the needed technical guidance. Whether you contact Bitdefender by phone or the web, your support ticket will be promptly logged and your issue quickly assigned to the appropriate TSP. The following sections detail the stages of a support ticket and explain general processes and procedures, during different ticket stages, after you have engaged in the troubleshooting process.

 

Stage 0. Before you escalate a ticket to Bitdefender Enterprise Support Center

You should make sure that you own the following information before escalating or contacting Bitdefender engineers:

  Contact details for your IT staff (phone number, e-mail, preferred contact method)

  If you have another ticket opened with Bitdefender Support Center, include that number in your escalation

  Issue summary containing:

  Installed Bitdefender product version and number of affected endpoints

  Hypervisor type and version or Hypervisor-related products installed (if exists)

  Gathered support tools

  Detailed issue description and questions asked during the troubleshooting

  Steps taken to resolve the issue

  Estimated Business Impact

  End-user temperature (hot, warm, cold)

  The severity of the issue

  Suggestions as to the source of the issue

Stage 1. Escalating a ticket to Bitdefender Enterprise Support Center

Once stage 0 has been checked, you will need to proceed with the escalation process by registering a support ticket on the desired channel.

 

Submitting a support ticket via phone, chat or web-form

a)      Submit a support ticket by phone: Bitdefender Support Engineers Representatives are available for our full range of products with qualified support training. The main numbers for Bitdefender Technical Support are:

U.S. and Canada: +1-954-928-2794 (English - 24 hour service)

United Kingdom: +44-2080991687 (English - 24 hour service)

Spain: +34-9350-26910 (Español - de lunes a viernes, en horario de oficina)

Deutschland:  +49-2301 91 84-444 (Deutsch - Montag bis Freitag 8.30 - 17.30 Uhr)

France:  +33-892-950-950 (0, 34€ TTC / min) (du lundi au vendredi, heures de travail)

Romania: +4021 264 17 77 (Română - De Luni până Vineri, orele 9 - 18)

World-wide coverage: +40 316 204 235 (English - 24 hour service)

 

The Bitdefender Support Engineers Representatives are staffed to answer phone support tickets live .

On rare occasions, where the staff may be involved serving other customers, we might ask that you leave a detailed message including:

 

  Your name

  Your company name and Bitdefender affiliate level

  Phone number where you can be reached or your pager number

  Support Ticket ID (if the call is regarding an existing issue)

  A brief description of the problem

 

After you work with our representatives to open a new support ticket, your request is assigned a support ticket id. The support ticket will be given to you over the phone or sent to you within one hour in a computer-generated message acknowledging receipt of your support ticket. Use this support ticket id number when communicating with Bitdefender about that specific issue. Initial response times by the TSP for critical, Severity 1 issues are less than 4 hours.

 

b)      Submit a support ticket by chat: Bitdefender Support Engineers Representatives are available for our full range of products with qualified support training. A direct link towards it can be found here. Our engineers will try to assist you with the latest information available on our website if it’s a known issue. If the issue needs to be escalated, they will gather the necessary information accurately in order to make sure that the issue is well defined and assign it to a TSP.

c)       Submit a support ticket via Bitdefender website web-from: You will be able to submit a ticket directly to Bitdefender Support Engineer Representatives by using this link or navigating from the main page to the support area of the website, and choose Contact Customer Care link.  The information submitted here has the same importance as per chat or phone interaction for an efficient and fast resolution.

In order to submit this ticket correctly, you will need to choose the following information from the drop-down menus:

  The Bitdefender product that you or your customer is using

  The troubleshooting category on which you want to integrate the reported issue

  The operating system on which you or your customer encounter the situation

  Your full name

  Your contact / business email 

  Your country of residence

  Issue summary containing:

  Installed Bitdefender product version and number of affected endpoints

  Hypervisor type and version or Hypervisor-related products installed (if exists)

  Gathered support tools

  Detailed issue description and questions asked during the troubleshooting

  Steps taken to resolve the issue

  Estimated Business Impact

  End-user temperature (hot, warm, cold)

  The severity of the issue

  Suggestions as to the source of the issue

  Bitdefender Support Tools / Print screens attached

 

After you submit this form to open a new support ticket, your request is assigned a support ticket id. The support ticket will be sent to you within one hour in a computer-generated message acknowledging receipt of your support ticket. Use this support ticket id number when communicating with Bitdefender about that specific issue. Initial response times by the TSP for critical, Severity 1 issues are less than 4 hours.

 

Stage 2. Working with the support tickets

A specific TSP is assigned to your support ticket and owns your issue until it is mutually agreed that the

support ticket can be closed. He or she will contact you by email and/or phone as appropriate during the

resolution process.

 

Your responsibility is to have the appropriate people and resources available to work with the TSP during the service hours defined in your support agreement. Typically, this would be during business hours, but could be 24x7 given the severity of the situation.

 

Occasionally, your support ticket may be reassigned from one TSP to another due to differences in time zones or if different product expertise is required. You will be informed if your support ticket needs to be reassigned.

 

A Bitdefender TSP works with you to try to resolve the issue, taking whatever steps are necessary to first fully diagnose the problem and then to find a solution. This may involve:

  Asking you for more information regarding the ticket

  Asking you to install specific software and/or patches

  Asking for specific debug/investigation data from your system and, if necessary, conducting tests to generate this data.

  Trying to reproduce the scenario on one of your available machines during a remote session.

  Asking for your specific software to help reproduce the problem.

  Verifying software bugs with our engineering staff.

  Asking you to implement and test workaround suggestions that may avoid the problem.

  Asking you to involve networking, database or other technology specific administrators to help troubleshoot.

  Working with you to involve relevant third-party software or hardware vendors (for example, your operating system and database vendors) if a problem is suspected in their product)

Stage 3. Escalating a support ticket

Your Bitdefender support team always works to ensure that the appropriate resources and level of technical knowledge are applied to your ticket to assure a timely resolution. If you are not satisfied with the progress of your support ticket, you are encouraged to request an escalation. By invoking the escalation process, additional levels of Bitdefender management attention, procedure reinforcement, and resource prioritization are brought to bear on resolving your support ticket.

 

When and how do I escalate a Support Ticket?

You can escalate a support ticket at any time either by speaking directly with the technician assigned or by requesting to speak with an Escalation Engineer. It is highly recommend that you contact Bitdefender Support by phone for escalations. This will ensure that your request is directed to the appropriate resources as soon as possible to achieve a successful resolution.

NOTE: The severity level of a support ticket can be increased without an escalation if the business impact of a support ticket has changed or was not correctly recorded initially.

What steps do I take to escalate?

First, please review the details of your support ticket and verify the following:

  Is the issue described correctly?

  Does the support ticket accurately describe the business impact?

  If you have received a workaround, is it impractical or inappropriate?

  Is there a critical milestone date identified in the support ticket?

 

Once you have completed this review, contact the assigned technician for your support ticket, or call the above regional phone number and ask for the Escalation Engineer to trigger an escalation.

 

What happens once I request an escalation?

 

Once an escalation request has been made, the appropriate Escalation Engineer will evaluate the situation and determine the appropriate resources to assign and/or process correction to be made. A specialize Escalation Professional will be assigned as the primary point of contact for the issue and will coordinate with all parties involved to ensure an expedited resolution. The Escalation Engineer will set up a call with the appropriate parties to begin outlining the action plan and troubleshooting the situation. The Escalation Engineer will work with the primary Escalation Professional to ensure the appropriate resources, communication, and action plans are in place to expedite resolution.

 

How often can I expect updates on an escalation?

As the escalation is initiated, the Escalation Engineer will work with you to determine the appropriate

communication plan for this escalation. During this phase, agreements will be made on communication

mode (email, phone call, conference call), frequency, and required attendees for all updates.

 

How do I cancel the escalation process for a Support Ticket?

Once the support ticket is back on track and making acceptable progress toward resolution, it can be de-escalated. Before the support ticket is de-escalated, the Escalation Engineer will complete the following tasks:

  Confirm the action plan is acceptable

  Ensure the troubleshooting or root cause analysis process is on track

 

Stage 4. Support Ticket Closure

A support ticket is typically closed when you confirm that a resolution is reached, or if Bitdefender does not hear back from you after three attempts to contact you over a five-day period. Bitdefender may also  close support tickets if they cannot be resolved, or are chosen not to be resolved, with acknowledgement and agreement from you or your end-user.

V. Bitdefender Enterprise Support Customer Survey Policy

 

The support that Bitdefender currently offers and future of department quality are mostly based on feedback from customers around the world. In addition, your satisfaction with Bitdefender support services is the only way our success is measured. As such, you are invited to complete a satisfaction survey after a support ticket is closed. Each short survey sent by email will ask for your feedback in the following areas:

  Customer service

  Professional effectiveness, responsiveness and knowledge

  Resolution time

  Overall impression