Why does IT need management?
Availability Management
While IT may not be your strategic differentiation, it must provide appropriate services and work reliably. Nothing is more damaging to productivity than unreliable or unpredictable IT infrastructure and tools. Far Above promises that IT services, applications and data will be largely available when you want them. What kind of qualification is largely? Availability is partially a function of cost vs. risk tolerance. If you need very high availability, we will design redundancy into your architecture. Further, when any part of your IT structure isn't functioning fully, we generally know before you do, are able to alert you to the situation and predict when performance will be back to normal.
Data deserves special attention of its own. While many organizations back up data, few routinely check those backups or review usage to insure that everything of value is backed up effectively so as to meet or exceed regulatory compliance. We promise that your data will be there when you need it, and kept secure when you do not. We establish specific recovery promises in conjunction with our initial engagement.
Another key to availability is protection from viruses, intrusion, spam, spyware, and adware which cause systems to malfunction in unpredictable and difficult to resolve ways. While this is an ever escalating "arms race," Far Above promises to know about and utilize the most effective tools and practices available.
Configuration Management
When you are fully engaged in working to achieve success in your business, it is easy to forget about background activities that can derail your carefully constructed plans. Far Above will maintain awareness of all the elements of your IT infrastructure so you don't have to. We will be sure your software licenses and keys are known, controlled and in compliance. We will audit and monitor all elements of your infrastructure, making sure vulnerable or overtaxed components are identified, budgeted and replaced.
Management of Changes, Releases, Updates, and Projects
We promise to do our work in a way that will never disturb or disrupt yours. Change in IT is a double-edged sword. Currency is required for the best defense against bugs and security breaches, yet every change puts stability at risk. When Far Above manages changes, updates and releases, they are identified and prioritized for each client and for each service and configurable item. We then implement changes at published, mutually agreeable times when impact is minimized and when we have personnel standing by to respond if necessary.
Projects (as distinguished from infrastructure support) result from client requests, findings from incident management, monitoring reports, network/desktop audits and our architecture recommendations. Projects will be staffed appropriately and tightly managed for schedule and budget control. Regular reports are made available to our designated contact(s). Changes, additions, and schedule adjustments to projects will all be agreed upon in writing.
Incident and Problem Management
Far Above promises to act on all of your requests and infrastructure incidents quickly and appropriately. Our monitoring is designed to tell us about most incidents before you become aware of them. We respond to interruptions with an accurate estimate of resolution time. We receive your requests for IT services in the mode most convenient for you - email, phone or in person. However you bring an incident or request to our attention, it is captured for tracking so that no request is lost or neglected. We practice closed loop communications so you are never in doubt about the status of your request. For example, when you email to Far Above during business hours we will acknowledge the email within 15 minutes. If you contact us by phone, we will usually answer live and respond to voice mail within ten minutes when we have not. Promises for response to after-hours requests are set on a per client basis to meet your specific needs.
Capacity Management
If you could find the perfect manager for your business IT infrastructure, he or she would understand your strategy and requirements, designing, implementing and managing your infrastructure to accommodate your strategy and situation. Our unusually concentrated experience with the most demanding users of IT systems and services enables us be that perfect manager for all of our clients. We promise that your IT infrastructure will not be a limiter on your growth or performance. Our standards-driven approach is designed to comfortably accommodate rapid expansion, and our monitoring will confirm or modify the timing for change and upgrades.
Strategic IT Management
A final critical element of our approach is our promise to seek and present opportunities to increase your capability or productivity through IT. Your client services manager generally meets with the designated internal management quarterly to review recent performance, report on projects and present opportunities for improvement. Annually, your client services manager reviews strategic plans, assesses your current infrastructure against future requirements and new technology, and gets your alignment on the IT infrastructure road map and budget for the coming year.
Finally, it is important to describe the people behind our methodology:
Client Services Manager
Early in the relationship we introduce you to your client services manager who will have overall responsibility for your satisfaction. He or she fulfills the CIO function for your enterprise, spending the time and effort required to understand your business and strategy sufficiently to oversee the recommendations we make during the Initial Assessment. He also monitors our delivery of service on an on-going basis to ensure that the best improvement opportunities available are presented for your consideration.
Remote Monitors
Much of our work is done out of your view through a sophisticated remote monitoring and management capability including state-of-the-art tools and processes operated by specialized technical staff in multiple geographic locations and time zones. We learned a long time ago that only certain individuals are suitable for remote monitoring and management roles. Besides watching your overall network performance, this is the team that verifies data backups and updates -- activities that are generally performed below the standard required for high reliability, availability and security – and provides remote real time user support outside the normal business day.
On Site Support Specialists
Far Above support specialists are onsite at your facilities on a regularly scheduled basis. During these visits our staff will seek out requests that have not yet been made, look to address emerging situations that can cause performance lapses and perform those tasks that are enhanced by physical presence or face to face contact. We also appear quickly when it becomes apparent that an incident is most expeditiously resolved on-site.
Sector Technical Specialists
One of the difficulties of effectively managing IT is acquiring, maintaining and developing the many different and increasingly specialized skills required by a demanding company during a typical year - systems architecture, network device selection and set-up, cost-effective procurement, technical alternative analysis, problem detection and resolution, etc. Far Above clients have available a team of specialists with significant depth in each of these domains who can apply the precise expertise as required by the specific environment and road map.
