Managed Technology Services

Managed Technology Services (MTS) Philosophy
The Managed Technology Services team strives to bring services to small and medium-sized businesses that they could not afford to provide on their own. We have developed an infrastructure technology management plan based on cutting edge tools, best practices, and careful management to ensure we deliver against our Service Level Agreements.  Previously, this caliber of support services was only available to companies with hundreds of employees, but today Collaborative Technology Partners makes this service available to companies of any size.

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How can MTS help my small business?
MTS is comprised of a suite of integrated services encompassing total care of your network, from User Care for front-line support, Desktop Care for workstation management, to Infrastructure Care for management of your servers, routers, and other network devices. Our modular approach allows Collaborative to serve as your partner for a particular function, such as server management or front-line support. You may also choose to partner with us to support a troublesome remote location. Our Collaborative Care and Proactive Care Plus offerings allow you to turn your entire network over to us and receive a customized  Service Level Agreement that fits your requirements and a predictable monthly fee that fits your budget.

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Higher quality service at a lower cost – How is that possible?
In today’s technology environment, specialists provide the most effective support, yet one specialist can service more desktop computers or servers than most small companies own. So an internal support staff must learn to support a variety of technologies or sit idle, sometimes both. Another disadvantage for small companies is the cost of purchasing and implementing management tools.

At Collaborative, we employ a team of specialists armed with the latest support tools. They work efficiently, honing their skills within many customer environments. Our managers maintain a watchful eye on service levels and use our reporting tools to present a complete picture of our service delivery.  Because our technicians are able to service your needs more quickly, your users are satisfied with prompt services and you only pay for the support resources you need.

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How is MTS different than hiring a consultant?
We realize there are situations best suited to a consultant and others suited to a managed service such as MTS. Therefore, we provide our customers both options. It is critical to select the appropriate service at the outset. The key differences are the duration of the contract and the burden of management, which are closely interrelated.

Consulting projects extend for a specific duration or to complete specific milestones. When these projects end, the customer assumes responsibility for the support effort. In the case of long-term staff augmentation, the customer hires the skills needed to round out the support team, but maintains the leadership role. Note that the customer manages the ongoing support effort in both cases.

Managed Technology Services operates differently, with the goal that the services will continue indefinitely. In this case, the provider manages the ongoing support effort by implementing tools and processes that deliver a quality of service / cost combination that encourages an enduring customer relationship. The customer assumes a “buyer” role and allows the provider to apply their methodology to the management and support of the technology environment. The customer IT staff can then shift to a greater focus on business requirements and have a greater impact on the success of the customer organization. 

In many cases, customers will employ both Collaborative Consulting Services to implement projects and Managed Technology Services to manage them when they are complete.  At Collaborative, whether you engage us for managed services, consulting services or both, you’re guaranteed to get our professional approach and our commitment to your complete satisfaction.

Infrastructure Check-Up

New customers commonly engage us to perform an Infrastructure Check-up to understand how well their network infrastructure supports their business. The Infrastructure Check-up is a low-cost engagement that provides a broad-based analysis of the many areas that contribute to the overall health and stability of your network and the satisfaction of your user community.

Typical reasons customers engage:

• To understand the impact of the network on the efficiency of the business
• To ensure the network is adequate to support upcoming projects or expected growth
• To gain insight into critical needs and budget for them
• To validate their support approach and mitigate the risks of system failure

Here’s what we’ll do:

• Appraise existing operational procedures such as backup, security and user support
• Evaluate the current balance of service levels, technology and business needs
• Interview your end users to evaluate user satisfaction and support effectiveness
• Evaluate facilities issues such as physical access, wiring, cooling and power

A Technology Support Manager and an Engineer will arrive at your site, tour your computing infrastructure, examine critical network devices, and interview select members of your technology support staff and your user community. From this investigation, we will prepare a written report of our findings and document our recommended improvements. At your convenience, we will return to discuss our findings with you and help you plan to address the recommendations you consider important.

Collaborative Care

Enterprise caliber services for the small and medium-sized business
Our premier Managed Technology Service, Collaborative Care, provides for the ongoing support of your users, desktops, servers and other network devices.  With Collaborative Care, when your users have a problem, they call us and we resolve it. When your users have a request for new hardware or software, we document the request and submit it for your approval. Our work is governed by our Service Level Agreement, so you know what to expect if a service issue is ever brought to your attention. We employ cutting edge tools to resolve many issues before you are aware and report the results for your review at your leisure.

On day one, you will see the difference Collaborative Care will make in your organization. We take the long view, collecting data and implementing tools and processes that will make our service effective.  You’ll begin to meet our engineering team and you’ll meet your assigned Technology Support Manager. Your TSM will discuss ways to keep you informed about our service delivery. Our goal is to arm you with information about your technology infrastructure and take away the day-to-day distractions so you are in a position to steer the IT function, and your business, forward.

Small Business Care

Flexible support plans for your small business
Proactive Care Plus is a service for customers who recognize the need for a highly available network infrastructure, yet have a limited need for day-to-day support. Proactive Care Plus allows our customers to limit how much they spend on support while keeping high maintenance standards for their computing infrastructure.

Proactive Care Plus is based on the same rigorous support methodology we employ in Collaborative Care. We monitor your servers and network devices, periodically test your backup solution, review server error logs and perform other maintenance tasks to ensure a smoothly running network.

When something does go wrong, our help center is ready. Our technicians answer the call armed with data about your network and tools to help them resolve the problem quickly. Most times, our technicians resolve problems over the phone. If the problem requires routine on-site work, we’ll take care of it during our next scheduled visit. If an urgent visit is required, we’ll send someone right away.

Home Care

Support for your home PC
Home care provides a range of support services to the home user, using the same staff and tools that we use for all of our business customers.

Re-imaging service. Has your computer succumbed to viruses and other assorted malware? CTP will restore your PC to its original state for a nominal fee of $125. This service requires that we have recorded an initial image of your computer at the time of its purchase.

Help desk support. Our help desk can solve many computer and application problems over the phone. If the problem is sufficiently complex, we have the technology available to connect directly to your computer and troubleshoot interactively with you. Cost is per incident: $35.00

House call. Our engineers are available to come to your house to provide PC support. Cost is $90 / hour. Many common maintenance tasks are available at fixed price. Call us for details.

Maintenance contract. We offer full support of your PC, including unlimited help desk support, for a fixed price of $20 / month.
 

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• Component Services •

Our Managed Technology Services have been designed as a group of complimentary modular services. They work together as a unified service organization, or if you choose, you can select component services to augment your internal capabilities. Any of the following services includes an assigned Technology Support Manager to monitor the quality of our service delivery and tailor the delivery of our services to your needs.

Technology Care - Our management expertise delivered to you
If our engineers are the technical brains of our delivery capability, our Technology Support Managers are the heart.  They are service management experts.  If you are not a Collaborative Care or Proactive Care Plus customer, we can bring their expertise to you in a variety of ways.  They can provide:

• Interim or periodic management of your support team
• Technical Interviewing
• Technology Selection Assistance
• Technology Planning / Budgeting

User Care - Responsive front-line support
One of the most frustrating aspects of many support roles is the dual expectation of quickly responding to user requests and also solving technical problems which require desk-side work. Our User Care service receives the first problem report from your users. This frees your technicians to work on problems already at hand with the knowledge that they will be contacted if an urgent need arises.

Our engineers log every call to be sure every request is tracked to resolution and available for reporting later. We diagnose the issue with the user on the phone, perform basic troubleshooting and if necessary escalate the call to your staff based on our predefined escalation plan. Note that our internal process for Collaborative Care and Proactive Care Plus are nearly identical, with the primary difference being the tools available to our engineers on the phone.

User Care will immediately improve your visibility into your support workload to help you identify trouble spots in your infrastructure and potential training and self-help topics. User satisfaction will increase as users receive live answers to support requests. Your support staff will be overjoyed as they are allowed to focus on providing service.

Desktop Care - Users and Desktops √ Done
Our Desktop Care service begins with User Care and extends it by making our desktop support tools and desktop inventory information available within our management center. Engineers in the center are able to remotely control user desktops to solve problems and even instruct your staff on the solution. We also maintain the ticket history information available within User Care. As a result of these tools, many more calls are resolved during our first interaction with the user.

If a problem is hardware related or requires a high degree of skill, the call will be escalated to our field engineering team, who will arrive on site and resolve the problem. If the call requires customer management approval, such as a request for new hardware or software, it will be assigned to your Technology Support Manager, who will prepare it for your approval.

Desktop Care extends the value of User Care by adding tools that increase user satisfaction. Desktop Care also relieves your staff from repetitive desktop support issues and hardware issues, so they can concentrate on supporting your core infrastructure and applications.

Infrastructure Care - Your critical devices: monitored, managed, maintained
Our Infrastructure Care service encompasses complete management and support of your servers, routers, switches and other infrastructure components. For a fixed monthly fee, we will monitor the operational status of these devices, apply operating system patches, and respond to outages that occur. We will also perform system administration tasks such as adding users, creating email accounts, and modifying access rights.

Infrastructure Care will provide an available, worry-free platform for your network computing needs.

Crisis Care - Any problem, Any time, We’ll be there
Not all technology problems occur between 9 and 5 and many can’t wait for morning. Our Crisis Care service is a subscription based service that gives your company access to our field engineers. We will provide a committed telephone and on-site response time to help you resolve your technology emergencies.

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