Phase 1: Discover
Our solutions reps work with you to uncover and better understand your challenges and pains and offer guidance and solutions to help ease and resolve.
Your IT journey should be catered to you so your journey with Managed Solution starts with us getting to know you and your environment.
In this phase, we discuss:
- What challenges are you faced with on a daily basis?
- What are your short-term and long-term goals for your business?
- What current technologies do you have in place? Of those, what's working, what's not, what needs an upgrade/refresh and sometimes, what can we get rid of completely?
For Managed Services Customers
Our on-boarding for our customers typically starts with a full network assessment where we install software on your network to fully understand what's going on. We document this, look at your IT asset management, and typically can uncover Shadow IT which allows us to see which applications are installed, being used or unused, are compliant and secure for use, and so on.
Once all this is completed, our we condense all the information for our internal team of Architects and Technical Account Managers who provide a preliminary assessment of the findings and move to the next phase: Diagnose.
- The customer knows what issues they have, what's causing it, and what solutions they want to implement to resolve. In that case, we build a plan and a team that fits those needs, offer expert consulting throughout and execute the project. In this case, the Discovery and Diagnose phase are expedited.
- The customer has challenges, but doesn't understand the underlying root cause or how to go about fixing them. That's where our team comes in to discuss those issues, what might the cause be and offer solutions. This includes a lot of collaboration and sometimes a white-boarding session to work out the details.
No matter what type of customer you are, we're here to hold your hand each step of the way to make sure you're on the right path. We'd love to connect and learn more about your challenges and how we can turn those into positive business outcomes.
Phase 2: Diagnose
Once the discovery phase is complete, our team performs a full network assessment to get to the real root causes of the issues.
Our Solutions Architects and Technical Account Managers collect information and start to get to know your environment.
For Managed Services Customers:
One of the first steps is to set up Continuum to deploy agents and start monitoring your systems, which can all be done remotely. We perform research to get to a better understanding of your specific business and industry.
Our main key question is 'what are the immediate changes that need to take effect to help your business?' We investigate your hardware and software to document what's current, what's dated, and what needs attention. We also document How To's and Guides for both internal and external use, which include a high level overview and business needs based on hardware and software.
Lastly, our remote team works with our Field Engineers to watch tickets and review client hardware to determine if there are any recurring issues and bring that to your attention. Next steps may include an on-site visit to further diagnose what's going on.
For Professional Services Customers:
Again, this phase is dependent on your needs. Do you already have an understanding of your issues and a solution in mind? If so, the Diagnosis has been complete. We will do our due diligence to ensure we're not missing anything, but if you'r ready to move forward, then so are we.
If you don't already have a solution in mind, based on our findings in the discovery phase, we can analyze those problems and provide recommendations.
All customers will receive regular communication updates with reports on auditing, patch management, Office 365, agent installations, and more
Phase 3: Design
Once the diagnosis is complete, our team designs a comprehensive plan that addresses all of our findings with the right solutions in a cost-effective, timely manner.
For Managed Services Customers:
Our Technical Account Managers and Engineers take the first few months to get to know and understand you environment and infrastructure. We also take this time to get to know the direction of your business -- what is your overall business plan and what products and tools are out there that can improve your bottom line and productivity.
Throughout this phase, we have many discussions and develop monthly summaries to give us a better understanding of what is needed. This allows us to make better and more information decisions when recommending new solutions.
For Professional Services Customers:
This is again dependent on your needs. Did you come to us with a solution in mind and need our skill sets and resources to execute? Or, are you coming to us with problems and aren't sure of the underlying issues? If it's the latter, this is where we come in and help direct and provide recommendations. We'll present our recommended solutions and what it takes to get there.
Phase 4: Deliver
Once we've designed a plan, we deliver the goods.
Our Solutions Architects and Technical Account Managers collect information and start to get to know your environment.
For Managed Services Customers:
As soon as the contract is signed, and the kickoff call has happened, you can start reaching out to our Help Desk as needed. The Field Engineer is also regularly scheduled based on your needs and users. For any escalations, you may go to your assigned Technical Account Manager or the Director of Technical Services.
Managed Services Customers will receive regular communication updates that include reporting on AD, auditing, patch management, Office 365, agent installations, and more. We also use this time to provide feedback based on what we are seeing while monitoring your network including red flags such as unresponsive computers to determine if they're simply offline and restoring or if there is a larger issue.
For Professional Services Customers:
Once the contract is signed, we build your team and do an internal and external kickoff. We introduce all the key stakeholders on both ends, including your Project Manager, Solutions Architect(s), Engineers (to be on-site) and whoever else is needed. At this point, our team becomes your team.
Throughout the project, we hold regular internal and external meetings to ensure we are all on the same page and moving along the projected timeline. Once the project is complete, we hold a closure call to ensure all tasks were completed and met with satisfaction. At this point, we can also discuss next steps and future projects or provide direction and recommendations for this.
Phase 5: Delight
Once we've delivered the plan and solutions, we continue to make sure your needs are being met and your satisfaction is exceeded.
This includes, but not limited to:
- Full on-boarding process
- Kickoff calls
- Check-ins and touch points
- Milestone emails and calls
- Quarterly Business Reviews
- Surveys
- Exclusive newsletters and event