What Qualifies as an Emergency Support Request

When something breaks, it can feel urgent — especially when it impacts your work. However, not every issue is considered an emergency from an IT support perspective.

This post explains what qualifies as an emergency, why that distinction matters, and how to get the fastest help when something truly critical happens.

What an IT emergency means

An emergency is an issue that:

  • Prevents business operations from continuing, or

  • Poses an immediate security or data risk, or

  • Affects a large number of users with no workaround

Emergency requests are prioritized for immediate response because the impact is severe and time-sensitive.

Examples of emergencies

The following situations are typically considered emergencies:

  • Entire office or multiple users cannot work

  • Email is completely down for the organization

  • Core systems or servers are offline

  • Network or internet outage affecting business operations

  • Ransomware or suspected security breach

  • Lost or stolen device containing company data

  • Critical application outage with no workaround

In these cases, calling the office directly is the fastest way to get help.

What is usually not an emergency

While still important, these issues are usually not emergencies:

  • One user unable to log in (unless tied to a larger outage)

  • Software installation requests

  • Printer issues affecting a single user

  • Password resets

  • Minor performance issues

  • Questions or how-to requests

These are best handled through a standard support ticket so they can be routed and resolved efficiently.

Why not everything can be treated as an emergency

Emergency response often:

  • Interrupts other critical work

  • Pulls technicians from active incidents

  • Requires immediate re-prioritization

If everything is treated as urgent, true emergencies take longer to resolve.

Clear classification helps ensure the most critical issues get attention first.

What to do in an emergency

If you believe you’re experiencing an emergency:

  1. Call the office directly

  2. Clearly explain:

    • What is happening

    • How many users are affected

    • Whether work has completely stopped

  3. Stay available in case additional information is needed

Even emergencies are logged as tickets so progress can be tracked.

What to do if you’re unsure

If you’re not sure whether something qualifies as an emergency:

  • Submit a ticket with details

  • Or call the office and ask

We’d rather help classify the issue correctly than delay a real emergency.

Why this matters

Clear emergency definitions help:

  • Reduce downtime

  • Improve response times

  • Set realistic expectations

  • Keep support fair and effective for all clients

This approach aligns with best practices in service management and supports accountability and documentation requirements under frameworks such as HIPAA, CMMC/NIST, PCI-DSS, and general operational standards.

Our recommendation

Please treat emergency requests as those that:

  • Stop business operations

  • Impact many users

  • Pose immediate security risk

For everything else, submitting a support ticket is the fastest and most effective way to get help.

If you ever have questions about urgency or impact, don’t hesitate to reach out — we’re here to help.

Al Davis