At Cobalt, we believe that the more you know about what to expect before you choose Cobalt as your CRM vendor, the better the customer experience will be when you do. This page is meant to give you the details of what to expect as it relates to the contract process and contract provisions and is intended to be as transparent as possible. Cobalt has spent significant time and effort on our contract documents to make them as easy to understand as possible yet comprehensive in their scope.

Master Services Agreement – Sample

Every customer that works with Cobalt will be asked to sign our Master Services Agreement (MSA). The MSA describes the relationship between Cobalt and the customer and serves as a framework for how the work will be done. The actual definition of work to be done will be defined in one or more work authorizations signed between Cobalt and the customer.

The Master Services Agreement includes:

  • Customer acknowledgements and responsibilities
  • Warranties and liabilities outlines the liabilities that Cobalt is undertaking – including a maximum liability provision of $50,000
  • Term and termination provides structure around termination provisions, including termination for cause
  • Fees and expenses defines payment terms and billing procedures
  • Representations and warranties provides for mutual warranties about the agreement
  • Non-Disclosure of confidential information defines what will be considered confidential information and how to treat it
  • Proprietary rights explains that the customer’s data is confidential information and that it is at all times the customer’s property
  • A general section covers things like intellectual property, governing law and dispute resolution. The provision on intellectual property is always a source of questions. It is Cobalt’s position that it is in the best interest of all of our customers that any software Cobalt builds or modifies, whether it is for a specific customer or not, is the intellectual property of Cobalt unless the business approach, process, technique, or functionality is patented by the customer. If we are allowed to add all functionality that we create to our products, we can make this functionality available to all of our customers at no cost – as product upgrades are provided free of charge.

SaaS Agreement – Sample

This agreement covers our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model in which clients pay per staff user on a monthly basis. This monthly per user fee includes licensing, hosting, and support. The agreement includes the following:

  • Definitions, including a provision for Cobalt to provide daily offsite backups of the customer data.
  • A software warranty in which Cobalt agrees to fix any defects in the software free of charge.
  • Customer restrictions, including not making copies of the software, selling the software, or making the software accessible to anyone else.
  • A money-backed SLA – anything below 99.9% uptime will result is a refund.
  • Termination provisions.
  • What Cobalt agrees to do to help customers if and when they decide to stop using Cobalt’s software. Specifically we will provide data backups and plans for an orderly transition to a new provider.
  • Support definitions, policies and procedures.
  • Response and resolution times for customer requests
  • Proprietary rights when it comes to confidential information and the customer’s data.
  • Details of the services to be provided and the rates that will be charged
  • A table of severity levels and response times

Work Authorizations – Sample

Although Cobalt follows an Agile methodology to building and implementing software, there still needs to be some structure around the work being delivered; therefore, we describe the work and then lay out a detailed list of things to be accomplished in our work authorizations. Work authorizations are covered by the terms and conditions of the MSA so that we don’t have to agree to terms each time we do some additional work.

The work authorization is followed by a table that lists the deliverables, which will include things like custom development, quality assurance, and project management. All of Cobalt’s projects are done on a time and materials basis, so this table also includes the hourly rate to be charged for the deliverable and an estimated cost for the line item.

If you have more questions about how our contracts are structured, please do not hesitate to contact our sales team.

Schedule Your Product Showcase

Add Cobalt and transform what is possible for your organization

Contact Us