Managed Service Provision
What is managed Service Provision?
Every business offers services which other businesses either need or want to satisfy their own requirements.
Services could include – Remote it Support or on site IT support for example.
Managed services are those services which are managed by the supplier to ensure that the customer can perform to the best of their ability without having to become an expert in the field which that particular service covers.
Managed service provision requires that the provider works to a standard which is acceptable to the customer and that the managed service provider, MSP, maintains these standards throughout the duration of the contract.
Managed IT Services
Managed IT Services are increasingly in demand as technologies change and software licencing management becomes more and more complex.
When everything is working the feeling is good but when things go wrong frustration quickly sets in. Down time can have a serious effect on the morale of your team and a dodgy VPN setup can be a real hair losing experience.
You will have direct access to third line support engineers who have not forgotten their first and second line support skills.
Each of our team members undergoes continual training in their particular specialist field ensuring that our customers are exposed to the latest technologies, often before they are released to the market.
All of our team are very well versed in IT security so you can be certain that we are always thinking of your network and Internet security when we are considering solutions to problems.
As the owner of a business I would want to know that the following areas of my business are sound and have excellent performance.
- IT Security
- Firewall Configuration & Monitoring
- Anti Virus Solution
- Software Licences
- Windows Firewall
- Internet Connectivity
- Network Connectivity & Switch Configuration
- Telephone System Performance
- Safe VPN working and remote working
- Office 365
- Power Bi Reports
- Mobile Network Performance
- VPN Configuration
- Printers are accessible
- User Training
- Other Business Critical Software
The knowledge that someone competent is managing all of these things.
What is the difference between IT Support and IT Support as part of a managed service?
The key difference between managed IT and IT support is that a managed service runs on a proactive scheduled basis, whereas a traditional IT support service is reactive, and is done on an ad hoc basis.
You can be certain that we are thinking and proactively ensuring that all is well with your IT services.
Which Managed IT Services do we offer?
IT Security
IT security is paramount to your business and the field is both wide and deep.
Nubis 365 is partnered with Sonicwall and this hardware deals with all of your company routing and firewall architecture.
That however is just the start.
A robust firewall solution will keep most attackers at bay but the system must be patched when required and updated when required. This is the ‘Managed’ part from our point of view. We will ensure that your firewall is updated regularly and we will apply all vulnerability updates as and when they are released.
A good Anti virus solution is essential in any business and it too needs to be managed to ensure that any updates are translated to desktops, laptops and mobile devices. This can be a tricky process and may require a bit of ‘education’ on the part of the user. Our training is second to none and we will ensure that the user is aware of any ‘How to’ documents that are available.
Education for your team is the only real way to ensure that your IT systems are safe and even then the potential for an attack is fairly high. Email is one of the biggest threats as users can be enticed into clicking a link or opening an attachment and then clicking a link which will lead to a program being allowed to circumvent any and all security that is in place. Phishing is very common and it is easy to get caught out. A good percentage of our IT support desk tickets are spent checking suspicious looking emails. We would much rather receive a query about a suspicious email than spend a silly amount of time cleaning up after being hit by ransomware.
That brings us to the mitigation side of things. We work to the ISO 27001 standard and we have very robust response plans for ransomware and other IT security incidents and of course our clients benefit from our use of and adherence to the standard.
IT security can be a headache for any business but with the correct managed services in place you can be confident that a conscientious team is keeping a close eye on things whilst you are running your business.
Software Licencing
Software licencing can be problematic from a management point of view usually due to changes in the pricing structures which can and do happen periodically.
Software licensing is important and usually each user will need an individual licence for Windows as well as a licence to use any of the productivity software used by their account.
Our licencing specialist keeps abreast of all licencing and pricing changes such as the recent March 2022, revamp of Office 365 licencing.
Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall is a very handy bit of software and can help handle many security risks at the machine level. It is machine specific and is not designed to be plugged straight into the telephone line without additional security. It does a great job of making sure that vulnerabilities are exposed and highlighted to the user. Windows Firewall will happily run as you work and you should not have to do too much playing with the default settings. If we need to modify the access on Windows Firewall we will document this as part of your company ‘How To’ documentation. If you get stuck you can always email our IT support helpdesk. If you cannot email then you can call us on 01536 428937.
Internet Connectivity
Internet connectivity is paramount to the success of any business in this Century. If you cannot get access to the INTERNET you may not even be able to authenticate correctly on some of the most fundamental packages. Making sure that you have the correct capacity of INTERNET connection and that it has an excellent SLA is one of the most important business decisions that any business owner can make when it comes down to IT.
Making the right choice for you is important and of course we must consider expansion plans, annexes and remote sites.
See our Internet Connectivity Section in the website.
Network Connectivity
Your network is critical to the correct functioning of your business. What we usually find in business where there is an IT team without an external managed solution is that the switching architecture is either too weak to handle increasing traffic levels, budget networking kit, or it is so complex that it simply does not work properly.
With good knowledge and appropriate kit your network can be much more effectively managed. A good managed network would consist of a series of VLANs split according to the technology which is using the network.
Ideally your working network would be separated from your telephone system network or from your factory control systems and there should be selective access to users who need, for example, to perform remote maintenance operations.
We offer procurement, configuration, installation, cable installation, fibre optic installation and a managed maintenance service where we keep your firmware up to date and any licencing requirements handled by our internal team.
Telephone systems
How secure is your telephone system? Are you running your phone system with PABX technology still?
Modern systems are cloud based with only handsets on site. I Personally have a headset at home in case I get calls into the office and this is of course transferable to my mobile device depending on where I am.
An excerpt from our provider’s site:
We’ve designed our 100% channel white-labelled Unified Collaboration Cloud Solutions for enterprise and SME organisations. Created for rapid, easy deployment, our platform can be up and running within a single working day. It’s highly cost effective and suitable for applications of five seats and over.
Our platform supports a broad range of IP headsets and facilitates rapid SIP trunk deployment. It allows traditional PBXs to be upgraded to cloud UC in, quite literally, minutes.
Easy to access, our solutions are also easy to manage and administer, available with monthly billing and simple contract terms, with 24×7 self-service UK customer support.
Is it time that you upgraded your telephone system taking your business communications into the 21st Century?
Safe VPN working and remote working
Is your VPN methodology safe and sound.
If you have remote workers, very common these days, or you have ‘special’ access from your support company then you will be using a VPN. A Virtual Private Network is an ideal way to give your employees or technical support access to your network securely. MFA or Multi Factor authentication is becoming more and more common and many users do opt for using MFA via their mobile telephone or works telephone.