IT Support
Services
We recognize that the efficiency of your computer system
allows you to run your business more productively.
Investment in your IT systems will help you to keep ahead
of your competition, AplusIT can enable you to maximise
the return on that investment.
AplusIT has made a significant investment in a new practise management
solution, which includes a brand new customer portal. All calls, requests for
service and product orders now go through, and are managed via this system.
The service board is constantly managed to ensure that an excellent service
is given to all our clients and that issues do not get overlooked.
Time spent on each job is logged on the system along with the resolution
allowing for possible future reference by both engineers and clients. All clients
can log into the system via the internet to their own client service board. From
here they can see the status of all their open and closed tickets as well as raise
new issues which then immediately appear on our central service board.
Managed Services
Only having access to a re-active engineering resource is no longer a realistic
option for most serious enterprises when looking to maintain an efficient and
scalable technology infrastructure. There will always be situations where issues
occur that require a re-active approach, but rather than this being the rule, why
not consider the alternative?
Our range of managed services are designed to keep watch over our customers
infrastructure around the clock, pro-actively monitoring all critical devices and
services to ensure maximum uptime and availability. In addition the Executive
piece provides you with access to dedicated staff that will act as your trusted
business technology advisors, assisting in realising your business goals
through the use of technology.
The services are aimed at technology management and pre-empting potential issues, effectively designing them out by using best in breed solutions and following a best practise approach to architectural design. AplusIT moves the concept of technology away from the traditional fire fighting approach, into a solution that drives efficiencies and enhanced productivity throughout the business.
At the core sits our cutting edge Managed Workspace (MW) tool. This web based system is used to provide remote management and monitoring of the health, security and performance of our customers infrastructure. MW integrates fully with our case management system, automatically creating prioritised tickets should an issue be detected at any time. The MW platform is so advanced that in many scenarios it can actually self heal a problem with zero human intervention; invariably before anyone even realises there was a problem.
Being a web based solution MW is available to our customers from any internet connected system. This enables them to gain a real time graphical view of their infrastructure as well as being able to pull off ad hoc reports summarizing system stability, health, performance and uptime. Once a month an executive report is automatically generated and emailed out, detailing key performance indicators taken directly from our the MW database.
Key Service Benefits
Executive Services Services
• Technology Strategising: Quarterly / Bi-Annual IT strategy review meetings give you the opportunity to discuss strategic growth plans and additional strategies that could be used to maximise the investment in the IT systems.
• Annualised Technology Plan: Building upon the strategy reviews, the annual technology planning provides a rolling 3 year plan of action with regards to IT investment and major project deployments. Providing assistance in giving directional support to the board
• Order Management: Act as the single port of call for all technology based procurement, we will handle the order management and vendor liaison for accounts that our customers already hold. For other purchasing options we harness the buying power across our entire client base to offer attractive discounts.
• Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP): Our DRP service helps our customers to prepare for and test solutions that can keep the business running in all variations of disaster scenarios.
• Workplace Exchange: Enable internal development of staff to facilitate great knowledge and inter organisational communications.
• Asset Disposal: Failed and old equipment that is generated by the branch network is careful disposed of in accordance with EU legislation. Removing the hassle and burden from you.
Software Services
• 24x7 Critical Device Monitoring: Our systems will monitor all the critical servers, switches, routers and firewalls around the clock alerting our engineers immediately should a failure be detected.
• 24x7 Critical Service Monitoring: Ensuring your line of business applications and functional and accessible at all times.
• Managed Network: We continually monitor the network to ensure proper performance with continual optimisation and management of all switches and firewalls as required. At the same time we actively monitor security threats and ensure any such security devices are always updated with the latest threat detection profiles and firmware.
• Managed Desktop Protection: We monitor the deployment of antivirus and anti spyware products across the entire business to ensure all devices are protected and up to date at all times.
• Managed Patching: To ensure protection of all business systems MW takes control of the patch management process, enabling proactively alerting of any system which is not up to date with the latest security hot fixes as well as enforcing a policy based approach to ensure users cant “opt out” of the updating processes.
• Monthly Onsite Maintenance Visit: To backup our remote monitoring we perform a monthly visual inspection of the core infrastructure to ensure no failures have occurred and all devices are operating correctly
• Online Asset Management: All devices under our managed services model will be listed in within MW and accessible by our clients via any internet connected PC.
• Managed Backup: Providing you with peace of mind that the critical backup processes are working, enabling greater awareness of failures in the archiving / offsite data storage of sensitive business data
• Disaster Recovery Testing: Once a fully defined disaster recovery plan is developed, we will assist in an annual DR test to ensure full compliance with organisational requirements and to verify that the process works, should it need to be invoked at any stage.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Our project based solutions are built upon our core professional services framework:
• Consulting
• Network design
• Project management
• Architectural design
Consulting
When discussing any core changes to your IT infrastructure it is worth consulting a professional no matter how trivial you may feel it is. We can offer consulting services without any IT services being provided to the client, this is not a requirement. We are happy to use our skills and expertise to help you get the solution you want, with our skilled consultants we can enable you get the most from your IT investment.
All our consultants have an in-depth knowledge about IT systems and technologies, from basic PC’s, to enterprise level solutions and we only employee consultants who have hands on experience actually implementing the solutions they recommend.
Network Design
We have had many years of experience with planning networks both large and small over a wide range of different market sectors and over multiple countries. With this in mind we would be able to provide a wealth of experience when it comes to planning your next major upgrade.
For any network design project we try to understand the clients business and to determine exactly what requirements exist.
It is quite common when this stage arrives, that many IT companies will recommend generic ‘out the box’ solutions, we are different in that respect, we want the network set up with the correct configuration from day one and completed professionally we will be leaving your company with a good foundation and an upgrade path.
Project management
Project management is a critical area which can often be overlooked, if a project plan is incomplete, not properly written or executed, the project will fail and have a potential financial impact on the business which could be disastrous.
For this reason alone it is crucial that time is spent at the planning, project implementation and project management stages. We ensure that every project we embark upon, has been planned with great detail, and all parties involved are aware and updated regularly to avoid any possible issues and time slippage.
We have successfully managed the recent Kinleigh migration without any issues which is testament to our planning and effectuation.
Architectural design
Moving above the basic single domain environment, or just the single server installation, there may be a requirement for how the network will be installed in a WAN environment. This is no problem, in the example of the Kinleigh network, the head office is one component, and the branches and their connectivity is another. These items can be taken on their own, but ultimately someone has to be able to see the bigger picture and know how the network will look once all individual components have been put together. This is where our skills lie.
A well constructed and thought out network needs a consultant who has a vision and an understanding of the technologies that can be leveraged. All too many times we have seen networks constructed in a very poor manner, which were not suitable for the company when they were first installed. When the company needs to expand, there are no options available but to replace the network in its entirety which is very costly. All due to poor design from day one, we eliminate these pitfalls by using whatever resources necessary to produce the most effective solution for your business.
