Priority tells us how much your business is hurting right now, and that tells us how to route the ticket.

When you submit a ticket, you can set a priority level to show how urgent it is. You don't have to pick one. If you skip it, our team reads the ticket and assigns a priority based on what you've described. Picking one yourself, especially when something is critical, helps the ticket reach the right technician the moment it lands in our IT help desk queue.

Here's what each level means in practice.

Critical

Business operations have stopped or are severely impacted. Work cannot continue until this is fixed.

This is the top of the ladder. Use Critical when:

• A server is down and people can't work
• Your point-of-sale or payment system is offline during business hours
• You're in the middle of an active cybersecurity incident
• Email is unavailable for the whole organization
• A core line-of-business application is unreachable
• You've lost access to client or patient data and can't operate

If you flag something as Critical, please also call (239) 465-0079. The ticket gives us the structured details; the call tells a person to start now. How do I get support or submit a ticket? explains why that combination works best.

High

A specific person or function is significantly impacted, but the rest of the business is still operating.

This is for serious problems that aren't organization-wide. Examples:

• One workstation is dead and the user can't work
• A department's shared printer or scanner is down
• A single user is locked out of email or a critical app
• A backup failed and needs immediate attention
• A security alert needs investigation but isn't an active breach
• Performance is degraded badly enough that work is affected

High-priority tickets get worked quickly, but they don't jump ahead of Critical issues.

Medium

There's a real problem, but a workaround exists or the impact is limited.

Most tickets live here. Examples:

• A computer is slow but still usable
• A non-critical app is acting up and has a workaround
• An issue affecting one user that doesn't block their core work
• Routine software errors that are annoying but not stopping anything
• Questions that need a real answer but aren't time-sensitive

Medium tickets are worked in normal queue order, after Critical and High.

Low

The issue isn't significantly affecting operations. Help is needed, but work can continue.

Use Low for things like:

• A "fix it when you have time" issue
• A cosmetic problem that doesn't affect how something works
• A question with no deadline attached
• A request for an enhancement or improvement
• Documentation requests and "how do I" questions

Low-priority tickets still get worked. They wait behind anything more urgent.

What if you don't pick a priority?

We don't default the ticket to Low and move on. Our team reads it, looks at what you've described and assigns the priority that fits the actual business impact. Nobody's ticket should stall because a dropdown got skipped.

If you know something is Critical, though, flag it as Critical. Our triage is good, but it's faster when you've told us up front.

How priority relates to the SLA

Priority decides which tickets get worked first. Your service level agreement (SLA) sets our commitments. Every NerdSquad managed IT plan includes an industry-leading SLA, and response targets are set by priority level, so higher-priority tickets are held to tighter standards.

Your plan also sets the hours our technicians work tickets: Endpoint Starter covers business hours Monday through Friday, Endpoint Pro covers extended hours seven days a week, and Endpoint 360 covers 24/7, including weekends and holidays. The exact mapping of priority to response targets for your account is in your service agreement, which is always the source of truth. For more on timing, see How quickly can you respond to IT issues?

When in doubt, pick higher

If you're not sure whether something is High or Medium, choose High. Worst case, we move it down a notch. The opposite mistake (under-flagging something that's actually urgent) costs more, because the ticket may wait longer than it should.

We won't be annoyed if you flag something High and it turns out smaller than expected. That happens all the time and it's part of how the system works.

Quick reference

• Critical: business stopped, work can't continue. Flag it and call us too.
• High: significant impact on a person or function; the rest of the business is working.
• Medium: real problem, but there's a workaround or limited impact. Most tickets land here.
• Low: minor issue, no rush, work continues.
• Didn't pick one? We'll triage it for you.
• Not sure? Lean higher.

How we approach this

We're not grading you on whether you picked the "right" level. Priority gives us enough signal to route the ticket so the most urgent issues are worked first. If you flag something Critical and it turns out to be Medium, no harm done. If you flag something Low and it's more serious than you thought, we'll catch that when we read the ticket. Your best guess is all we need.

Talk to NerdSquad

Already a client? Call (239) 465-0079 or submit a ticket. If something is down, call so we can start right away.

Not a client yet? NerdSquad Managed IT Services is a Managed Service Provider (MSP) based in Naples, Florida. We support businesses onsite across Southwest Florida and remotely nationwide. Book a discovery call or call (239) 465-0079.

Related: IT help desk support