Handling a renewal with unresolved service issues

An open service issue does not automatically decide a renewal, but it may affect whether the customer can continue. Assess the customer’s impact, confirm what response is approved and still uncertain, then compare the customer’s choices with the agreement’s renewal timetable.

Keep the service response distinct from the commercial offer. Record who owns each action, the next customer update and any agreed review point.

Describe the impact, not just the ticket status

Record the affected workflow, when the issue occurs, who is affected, the customer’s stated impact and any workaround. Check the support record for status and next action, then confirm whether these match the customer’s experience.

Use those details to judge the issue’s effect on continuation: ask whether a workflow is unusable, how many people or activities are affected, whether a workaround helps and what parts of the service remain useful. A reporting fault, for example, might affect one workflow while other parts remain useful.

A ticket marked solved, or a response target met, may still leave the underlying workflow unusable. Service-level measures can cover response and resolution separately, so meeting one does not establish that the fault is fixed.

Open service issue impact record

Ticket status versus customer impact

Put the right team in the decision

Customer success can gather the customer’s impact and coordinate renewal communication. Support can confirm ticket status and reproduction; product, engineering or another service owner may need to decide the remedy. Assign an owner to each action and a person responsible for customer updates, and escalate a blocked decision to someone with authority.

Separate confirmed facts from possibilities. If support has reproduced an error, say so; if the cause is under investigation, state the question being investigated and the next update date. Do not present an estimated fix date as a commitment.

Check applicable service commitments against the agreement and support record. If a concession, revised scope or alternative arrangement is proposed, have the authorised commercial owner confirm in writing what was approved.

Who owns each part of the renewal decision

Present honest renewal options

Explain the choices supported by the current service position: continue while work proceeds, wait to decide until the issue is addressed, consider an approved concession, revised scope or alternative arrangement, or decide not to continue. The customer decides whether to continue; the provider should give a clear account of what is impaired, what is approved and what remains uncertain.

If the customer continues while work proceeds, record the agreed service commitments and review point. If the customer needs the issue addressed before deciding, check the agreement’s renewal timetable and identify the last date for any decision or notice; do not assume the timetable changes.

Record the selected choice, the unresolved impact, who approved any commitments, the action owner and the next update or review date. Silence is not acceptance. After the decision, track outstanding issues for as long as the agreement or an agreed commitment requires, with an owner and next update.

Renewal choices to explain honestly