Managed Services

Providing re-assurance that key business applications are available 

The Challenge

The IT world is constantly changing, and we have found that many organisations
are battling with challenges that include:

• Cybersecurity: is your environment secure and are defences keeping pace with the everchanging threat?

• Mobile working: how do you ensure your mobile workforce is using systems that are secure and efficient?

• Emerging technologies: how does your organisation keep up to date with the latest technologies and trends?

• Back-up and disaster recovery: are these functions established, proven and effective?

• Cloud: how do you use the cloud effectively and ensure your cloud infrastructure is running at peak efficiency?

• Help Desk: is your help desk responsive and meeting the needs of the users?

• Vendor Management: how well do your team manage relationships and keep current with multiple service providers?

• Managing and reporting: are you regularly reviewing performance and looking for opportunities to improve?

Our Solution

The Ceox Managed Service is designed to keep systems running and give organisations the reassurance that their key line of business systems remain available, reliable, secure and effective. The Managed Service can be utilised to support either Ceox systems or third-party applications and solutions. Our managed services are delivered using a combination of experienced and highly skilled technical team members, market-leading tools and best practice process all with a focus on customer service. Ceox have focussed on these areas to develop an effective managed service offering that can integrate with existing IT teams and supports current systems and infrastructure enabling improved workforce productivity and customer engagement. The Service is available for a monthly fee, fixed for a one or two-year period.

Approach: aligned to ITIL

Our approach is based on ITIL aligned processes and underpinned by the Ceox team, tools and ethos.

The Process

Our Managed Service process comprises the following phases:

Service Transition

During transition (ITIL v4: Engage and Design & Transition), a Service Delivery Manager is assigned to oversee both Service Transition and Service Operation. We always assign a named individual to each organisation and the same person will support the system once it’s in Operation. The Service Delivery Manager has project delivery experience as well as a background in ITIL 4 based service management.

Typically, Service Transition engagement is conducted in customer offices alongside the business owners and where possible with previous support providers. The Service Transition is undertaken by our Technical Team and the Service Delivery Manager and establishes Service Design including:

• Service model: Key contacts, hours of operation, communication channels.

• Service Asset and Configuration: Covering IT environment, applications and wider business domain including source code, configuration management system documentation, establishes administrative access to IT environment, existing service desk system and third-party suppliers.

• Service Desk set-up: Clarification on utilising an existing Service Desk Tool or the Ceox mySupport Tool.

• Governance: Including monthly service reviews frequency and agenda, reporting and KPIs, escalation, risk management and content of the Exit Management Plan.

Service Operation

During Service Operation we can provide a flexible and scalable service incorporating 2nd and 3rd line support for all IT environment including applications and infrastructure. During Service Operation we:

• Plan: Ensures that across the organisation there is a common understanding of the vision, status and improvement direction of the Deliver & Support service.

• Deliver & Support: Skilled staff and tools deliver timely interventions ensuring the IT environment and systems are delivered and remain available, reliable, secure and meet customer expectations. Monitoring tools ensure we know immediately that something isn’t right with the system so we can correct it. Service Desk tools ensure all incidents and requests are promptly assessed and priorities set to ensure response and resolution times are met within agreed service levels. The Service Delivery Manager will manage support calls and provide reports for regular review meetings.

• Obtain / Build: Implement improvements by obtaining new functionality from products or building enhancements. This ensures that all aspects of the service are available in a timely manner and meet customer specification and needs.

• Improve: The Service Delivery Manager, understanding an organisation’s plans and supplier’s technology roadmaps with supporting tools and dashboards takes a proactive approach to

  management. They will identify issues, trends and opportunities to improve performance and through our partnership with technology providers, ensure customers have forward visibility

  of patches and upgrades and can take advantage of improved technology functionality.

Service Operation objectives are:

• Maintain service availability for the business.

• Perform on-going maintenance, fault resolution and platform optimisation to ensure the system is up to date.

• Ensure service patches and updates are applied and do not adversely affect the running of the system.

• Identify opportunities to exploit new software features.

Service Exit

During service exit we meet the new supplier and educate them in the system. We would hand over to them the full knowledge base which has been created during Service Operation as well as details of all outstanding support calls and problems.

It is our principal to be as open and supportive as possible during an exit scenario and we would look to transition the support to the new supplier without impacting the end users.

The Benefits

Ceox Managed Services delivers the following benefits:

• Maximised uptime through appropriately deployed management processes and tools

• Flexibility with customisable and scalable support model to suit customer support requirements and budget

• Access to an experienced team who can provide support across a range of technologies

• Knowledge transfer to internal staff through training and knowledge base to reduce the number of calls which need to be raised

• Provides management Insight with established tools and monthly reviews covering an overview of incidents and requests to empower better decision making

• Reduced operational risk

• Responsive with quick turnaround or remediation

• Consistency through common processes, terminology and tools

• Ease of Access with 24 x 7 service desk portal

• Reduces firefighting through a proactive approach to early identification of issues, enabling internal resources to focus on more strategic goals and objectives

Our customers