Introducing Stabilys IT BMS Services

Are you a Small or Medium Enterprise, with a computer system with 5 to 250 users? Is your IT helping you - or hindering? Because if you are running a small or medium scale business then 'running around' is probably what you spend a lot of your time doing. IT systems are now crucial in most organisations - but they take a lot of managing.

The management burden comes from the increasing dependence of the business on IT systems; the unrelenting pace of innovation; the ongoing threats from viruses, trojans, and hackers; hardware failure - and simple user error. Problems are often introduced by email or by browsing the Internet-and yet access to email and the Internet is now essential to most businesses.

What you need is a highly-trained and experienced IT team working for you-running your upgrades, patching your systems, checking the backup, recommending updates and policies, scheduling maintenance. Of course, if you were a large business than that's just what you'd have. But if you are an SME, and your business isn't IT, then that team is probably exactly what you don't have.

Until now, only large corporations could afford full IT management systems, which ran on expensive servers. Small businesses, schools, and individuals were stuck manually monitoring every change and laboriously implementing them by hand. But Stabilys has changed all that by migrating full top-end IT Business Management Services (BMS) outsourced to run on our own server computers.

IT is our business. We can help you, by optimally managing your IT for you-just as if you did have that highly-trained and experienced IT team at your side. We can manage your IT for you at less cost than you would incur by doing it for yourself.

If IT is not your business, then how much of your time should you be spending on managing IT? Shouldn't you mind your own business instead?

Whether you're running a two handed business, a charity, or a company with hundreds of employees, Stabilys' BMS services let you just get on with running your own business.

IT BMS Services Explained

We can help you manage your IT.  We can develop a custom plan to meet your specific requirements. We can handle all, or part, of your IT management; we can manage your on-site support staff, or liaise with them.

Service Elements

The optional service elements which we are able to offer to our contracted clients are as follows:

1. Infrastructure development 1: Help Desk
   • We institute an Infrastructure to deal with IT problems, based around our Help Desk
2. Infrastructure development 2:Intranet
   • The Help Desk would typically be supported by an Intranet with on-line user instruction manuals and usage reminders, and training for staff as necessary
   • The Intranet helps support general internal notification, news and background information to assist your organisation's internal communication goals
   • The Intranet can also present an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to guide staff as to how to behave responsibly on their PCs .
3. Individual desktop PC user Support
   • For the individual desktop PC user we can provide on-line user support. This (according to your needs) can be by chat and remote control or by telephone.
   • When Internet or email service is not available, we always provide fall-back telephone support
   • This is backed up by Remote control of user desktops to minimise the requirement for site visits and user IT expertise
4. Critical Backbone Infrastructure support
   • Remote Monitoring: We can institute remote monitoring from our Network Operations Centre (NOC) of all important Server functions, including backup, email operation, anti-virus updates, server condition, etc. For the routers, ADSL and VPN links and firewalls we typically institute automatic remote monitoring of the network systems
   • Incident Response: We will respond as necessary - wherever feasible, by pre-emptive actions - to maintain essential connectivity and services.
   • Remote Management: These functions will generally be implemented and augmented via remote management.
5. Scheduled maintenance visits
   • We typically will make scheduled maintenance visits to physically inspect the systems
   • This enables us to pick up on problem areas that are not apparent by remote diagnosis.
6. Site visits
   • Site visits are available to attend to persisting IT problems when and where necessary (as specified by the SLA we agree with you)
   • We will visit when remote management is not feasible (for example major crashes that are not recoverable via a reboot, network inter-connectivity failures or hardware failures).
   • These visits will normally be prioritised for Critical Backbone Infrastructure; response times depend on the SLA that we agree.
7. Project design and fulfillment
   • Inevitably your IT needs will change over time and systems wear out
   • We can help you match your future needs to present equipment availability.
8. Supply of necessary equipment
   • Optionally, we can supply whatever computer hardware and software you require. We are approved re-sellers for all the major retail manufacturers.

Service details: Desktop Users

The support process for Desktop users may typically proceed in the following way:

1. A Desktop User has a problem
2. The user consults the Intranet IT FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list to see if their problem is described (and solved) either directly there or via a link to the on-line user software manual
3. If not, user consults their local manager. If the local manager cannot solve the problem, the manager authorises an email or Internet support query
4. The email support query is handled by our Help Desk staff, who will if necessary call back and take over control of the Users' PC to resolve the problem
5. If the problem cannot be resolved a site visit will be scheduled (as specified by the SLA that we have agreed).

Service Details: Critical Backbone Infrastructure

In contrast, with the 'backbone infrastructure' (servers, mail servers, routers, firewalls and ADSL links) it will usually be beneficial for you that we continuously monitor the performance and functionality of this via our automated network monitoring systems from our NOC, and we take such pro-active steps as are needed to maintain the necessary facilities.

Where backbone infrastructure is faulty and this cannot be dealt with remotely, we will schedule a visit by our technical staff to re-establish functionality, on a timescale depending on the precise details of the SLA we agree.

This can be otherwise stated as having a dual-level SLA (Service level agreement): a more stringent one for infrastructure and a looser one for desktop issues.

Charging Structure for the Support Services

This can of course be systematised in various ways, but most organisations like to be able to predict their overall costs for a period with a fair degree of accuracy. We have two different plans that allow our clients substantially to predict their IT costs:

1. Prepaid time plans
2. Fixed price plans

The prepaid time plan allows our clients to purchase a certain number of service hours per month. These are then applied to whatever needs arise in that month. We allow for a one-month rollover of unused hours so that if a quiet month is followed by a busy one, the unapplied time from the quiet month is used first. The routine management and monitoring overhead is charged as time to each month's plan.

There is not a ceiling on costs with this plan - conceivably a very busy month could lead to extra invoicing - but many of our clients are on this plan and find it very satisfactory. It's particularly adaptable, so if a client is in a growth phase of their business this plan works well.

The fixed time plan is better suited to clients who have predictable IT needs. The basic price structure is based upon the number of service users and systems that we will be supporting. Generally we offer the option of a fixed price per server for up to five servers, and a fixed price per workstation up to 25 workstations. For larger numbers of servers and desktops, volume discounts will apply.

Both these packages are designed to reduce your costs by

1. cutting out site visits except where strictly necessary and implementing remote management services instead, and
2. taking proactive steps to schedule maintenance for the critical backbone infrastructure work based on the performance information from our monitoring systems

We combine this with scheduled maintenance visits to keep your system uptime up, your downtime down, and enhance the performance of your IT system.

You will appreciate that given a fixed price agreement and a Service Level Agreement specifying our mutual responsibilities, it is very much in our interest that your systems run as efficiently as possible.

How do we set up Stabilys IT BMS Services for you?

• You contact us with your requirements and we arrange a preliminary visit to gain an overview of your systems and perceived needs. Once we have a basis for an initial agreement we move to the next step: 
• We audit your companies IT requirements and existing systems, survey your users and talk to your management and staff about their requirements and difficulties
• We present and initial draft plan based on our understanding of your business for your critique
• We mutually agree the draft plan or correct it, and then we suggest a recommended course of action for you based on our findings.
• You choose a level of service that suits your needs and that incorporates the service elements that are necessary for you. These can be chosen from the range of services described above.

Please contact us for more details and a specific quote.

IT is our business