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---
title: Product Support
layout: bundle
sector:
- terms_conditions
weight: 35
---

Cumulocity IoT provides comprehensive product support to help you maintain and troubleshoot your IoT platform. This document outlines our support processes, how to access support services, and what to expect when you need assistance.

## Getting expert guidance: Support vs. Professional Services vs. TechCommunity

Cumulocity IoT offers three complementary channels to help you succeed with the platform. Understanding when to use each channel ensures you get the right type of assistance quickly.

| Channel | What it is | When to use | Response time | Cost |
|---------|-----------|-------------|---------------|------|
| **Product Support** | Troubleshooting & operational help | Something isn't working correctly; urgent issues, bugs, errors | Per SLA (30 min to 1 Business Day) | Included in subscription |
| **Professional Services** | Strategic guidance & custom solutions | Implementation, architecture design, custom integrations, training | Scheduled engagement | Separate project pricing |
| **TechCommunity** | Peer knowledge & community Q&A | General questions, best practices, learning from others' experiences | Minutes to hours (community-driven) | Free |

### When to use Product Support

Use Product Support for operational and technical troubleshooting:
- A feature or service has stopped working
- You're experiencing errors or unexpected behavior
- You need urgent help with production issues
- You've discovered a potential bug

**Example:** "Our device authentication is failing with error XYZ" or "Production data pipeline stopped processing after an update"

### When to use Professional Services

Use Professional Services for strategic, project-based work:
- Implementing or migrating to Cumulocity IoT
- Designing system architecture and integration strategies
- Building custom connectors or applications
- Formal training programs for your team
- Platform optimization and performance reviews

**Example:** "We need help designing our multi-tenant architecture" or "Build a custom connector to integrate with our ERP system"

### When to use TechCommunity

Use TechCommunity for learning and peer insights:
- General "how-to" questions
- Learning best practices from other customers
- Exploring different implementation approaches
- Sharing your own solutions and experiences

**Example:** "What's the best way to structure tenants for a multi-region deployment?" or "Has anyone integrated Cumulocity with [third-party tool]?"

**Tip:** Many customers start with TechCommunity for general questions and escalate to Support if they encounter urgent technical issues. All three channels work together to provide comprehensive assistance.

## Support overview

Product Support is designed to help you troubleshoot operational issues, resolve technical problems, and maintain the health of your Cumulocity IoT platform. Our global support organization provides assistance based on your support level (Bronze, Silver, or Gold).

For detailed information about support service levels, response times, and service-level agreements, refer to the [Support Service-Level Agreement](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/).

### What support covers

Use product support when:

- A feature or service is not working as expected
- You encounter error messages or unexpected behavior
- You need help troubleshooting connectivity, authentication, or configuration issues
- You have identified a potential bug or defect in the platform
- You need assistance with account or user access management
- Your operations are blocked and require urgent technical assistance

### Examples of support requests

- "We're receiving error code XYZ when attempting to authenticate devices"
- "Data transmission from devices stopped working after a platform update"
- "Dashboard performance has degraded significantly—help diagnose the issue"
- "How do we reset administrator credentials for a tenant?"
- "API endpoints are returning unexpected results"

## How to access support

### Support Portal

All customers have 24/7 access to the Support Portal, which provides:

- Ability to submit and track support tickets
- Access to knowledge base articles and documentation
- View Error Corrections and service updates
- Manage your Authorized Technical Contacts (ATCs)

To access the Support Portal, visit the customer support portal or contact your Customer Success Manager for access credentials.

### Email support

You can reach our support team via email at:

**support@cumulocity.com**

When contacting support via email, include:
- A clear description of the issue
- Steps to reproduce the problem
- Any relevant error messages or logs
- The business impact of the issue

### Phone support

Phone support availability varies by support level:

- **Bronze Support**: Phone support during Business Hours (9x5) for all incident types
- **Silver Support**: 24/7 phone support for Crisis incidents; Business Hours (9x5) for Critical and Standard incidents
- **Gold Support**: 24/7 phone support for all incident types

The support telephone number is available in the Support Portal. Telephone support is provided in English only.

## Understanding incident severity

All support requests are classified by severity based on business impact. Understanding these severity levels helps ensure your issues receive appropriate priority.

| Severity Level | Definition | Example |
|---------------|------------|---------|
| **Crisis (Severity 1)** | Customer's problem has a severe business impact, such as production down. Customer is unable to use the Cloud Services, resulting in a major impact on operations. Work cannot reasonably continue. | Production environment is completely unavailable; critical data pipeline has stopped processing |
| **Critical (Severity 2)** | Customer's problem has a significant business impact; however, operations can continue in a restricted fashion. The Cloud Services are usable but severely limited. There is no acceptable workaround available. | Major feature is unavailable but system remains partially operational; significant performance degradation with no workaround |
| **Standard (Severity 3)** | Customer's problem has some business impact. The Cloud Services are usable and cause only minor inconvenience. It may be a minor Error, documentation Error, or incorrect operation which does not significantly impede operations. | Minor bugs, documentation questions, feature requests, or issues with available workarounds |

For complete definitions and response time commitments for each severity level, see the [Support Service-Level Agreement](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/#incident-classification).

## Support response times

Initial response times vary by support level and incident severity:

| Support Level | Crisis | Critical | Standard |
|--------------|--------|----------|----------|
| **Bronze** | 1 Business Day | 1 Business Day | 1 Business Day |
| **Silver** | 1 hour | 4 Business Hours | 1 Business Day |
| **Gold** | 30 minutes | 2 hours | 1 day |

**Note:** Response time is defined as the initial acknowledgment and assignment of your issue to a support engineer. Support has no obligation to resolve the issue within the response time or any other specific time frame, but will work diligently toward resolution based on the severity and complexity of the issue.

For more details on support services by level, see the [Support Service-Level Agreement](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/#support-services).

## Authorized Technical Contacts (ATCs)

To ensure security and proper communication, support requests must come from designated Authorized Technical Contacts (ATCs).

### What is an ATC?

An Authorized Technical Contact is an individual who is:
- Uniquely identified (no shared group accounts)
- Authorized by your organization to access the Support Portal
- Qualified to submit support requests and communicate technical details
- Able to receive support-related communications

### ATC limits by support level

- **Bronze Support**: Up to 7 ATCs per customer
- **Silver Support**: Up to 7 ATCs per customer
- **Gold Support**: Unlimited ATCs

Additional ATCs can be contracted for Bronze and Silver support levels.

### Managing ATCs

Customers are responsible for:
- Assigning ATCs and ensuring they have appropriate technical qualifications
- Communicating any changes to the ATC list to the Provider
- Ensuring ATCs cooperate with support and provide necessary information for troubleshooting

For more information, see [Customer responsibilities](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/#customer-responsibilities) in the SLA.

## Support escalation process and priority handling

We are committed to providing customers with responsive and effective support for technical challenges. This section outlines how to escalate a support ticket and what internal measures we take to manage high-priority issues.

### How to escalate a support ticket

Escalation is defined as the handling of customer complaints, requests for urgency, and the involvement of management roles in the resolution process.

If additional attention is necessary for a ticket, request an escalation via:

**Email:** Send an email to **support@cumulocity.com**. When sending an escalation request, please explain the business impact and expectations clearly.

**Support Portal:** A dedicated "Ticket Escalation" link is shown on the Support portal within the Customer Service Desk website.

### Understanding ticket severity levels

All support tickets are assigned one of three severity levels based on the business impact. The formal definitions of the severity levels are documented in the [Support Service-Level Agreement](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/#incident-classification).

| Severity Level | Definition |
|---------------|------------|
| **Crisis (Severity 1)** | The most urgent priority, where the customer's problem has a severe business impact, such as **production down**, or the customer is unable to use the software. |
| **Critical (Severity 2)** | The problem has a significant business impact, but operations can continue in a restricted or limited fashion, and there is no acceptable workaround available. |
| **Standard (Severity 3)** | Regular tickets, such as questions, minor defects, or issues that cause only minor inconvenience and have lower business impact or a functioning workaround. |

For a **Crisis** issue, our top priority is to **restore the production throughput**. Crisis tickets already receive the highest priority and 24-hour support ("following the sun").

### Marking a ticket as "Hot"

The 'Hot Issue' flag is an **internal indicator** used by our Support team.

We mark a ticket as "Hot Issue" if it is receiving **above-normal priority**, over and above the priority derived from the ticket's severity. This internal flagging helps ensure visibility for issues that stand out.

A ticket might be marked as "Hot" due to reasons such as:

- A formal complaint received from the customer.
- Extra priority given due to involvement from Sales or Customer Success Management (CSM).
- A severe issue requiring **extra collaboration** between internal teams (such as CloudOps and R&D).

**Note:** Tickets that have the severity **Crisis** are not additionally marked as "Hot Issue," as this would be redundant—Crisis tickets inherently have top priority.

### What to expect

When an issue receives extra attention, whether through a formal escalation or by being internally flagged as "Hot," we handle all communication with appropriate priority as outlined below.

For tickets receiving this extra attention, we adhere to the following communication guideline, though reporting frequency may be adjusted if explicitly agreed with the customer:

| Time Since Escalation | Expected Update Frequency |
|-----------------------|---------------------------|
| **Week 1–2** | Daily updates |
| **Week 3–4** | Every 2–3 days, or at least twice per week |
| **Week 5 and onwards** | Once per week |

Updates will include a clear statement about the status and the next steps planned. For escalated issues, updates may come from a management level, focusing on the status of the overall process rather than solely on technical details.

## What support does not cover

Product support focuses on operational troubleshooting and technical issue resolution. The following activities are outside the scope of product support:

- **Implementation and architecture guidance**: Use Professional Services for designing implementations, custom integrations, and architectural reviews
- **Custom development**: Building custom connectors, applications, or features requires Professional Services engagement
- **Training and enablement**: Formal training programs are available through Professional Services
- **Best practices and optimization**: Strategic guidance on platform optimization is available through Professional Services or the TechCommunity

For general "how-to" questions and learning from peer experiences, we recommend starting with the [TechCommunity](https://community.cumulocity.com), where thousands of Cumulocity users share solutions, best practices, and insights.

## Customer responsibilities

When working with product support:

- Ensure your ATCs are properly designated and have necessary technical qualifications
- Provide clear, detailed information about issues including steps to reproduce, error messages, and business impact
- Respond promptly to requests for additional information or access
- Grant temporary access to your cloud environment when necessary for troubleshooting (access is authorized when you submit a ticket and lasts for the duration of the incident)
- Keep your ATC list current and communicate any changes

For complete customer responsibilities, see the [Support Service-Level Agreement](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/#customer-responsibilities).

## Additional resources

- **Support Service-Level Agreement**: [View detailed SLA terms](../service-level-bundle/support-sla/)
- **TechCommunity**: [Connect with peers and experts](https://community.cumulocity.com)
- **Documentation**: [Cumulocity IoT Documentation](https://cumulocity.com/docs/)
- **Professional Services**: Contact your Customer Success Manager for strategic guidance, implementation support, and custom development