The 'Lieu' Day
T.H. Computing’s service is based on regular maintenance
visits throughout the year. We call these “Lieu Days”.
Each visit, T.H. Computing runs through a comprehensive checklist,
confirming that your servers are working properly and that
your network is “tuned” correctly. All the results
of these checks are logged, and can be analyzed to look for
trends and changes.
Anything arising from the checklist is dealt with straight
away, making sure that your network keeps running smoothly.
If any changes or trends suggest that you need to upgrade
or change your policies, we at T.H. Computing will discuss
it with you.
Once the checklist is finished, T.H. Computing moves on to
resolving any issues that may have arisen since the last visit
which are best dealt with “face-to-face”. In some
cases there’s no substitute for being able to point
to the screen and say “that’s what I mean!”
It’s also makes it straightforward for your staff, who
know when T.H. Computing will next be in and can log issues.
If any time remains after the issues have all been dealt
with, it can be used for any task that helps you move your
network forward, whether that’s the installation of
a new PC, upgrading a piece of software or a little user training.
The final task is to write up a full summary of the day’s
work, with any observations or open tasks. This is emailed
to you as a record, and logged in our system so T.H. Computing
next time knows what was done.
 Top
Telephone
and Remote Support
Between Lieu Days, we offer a full-service helpdesk. Whether you call us or contact us via the online helpdesk system, we respond to all issues within two hours. (Please note that majority of calls are dealt within less than an hour.)
You'll never have to work through a script with someone who knows less than you do. The engineer who takes the call resolves the issue: you never have to repeat yourself.
If we have to escalate a problem to a third party, such as your hardware manufacturer, it remains our responsibility; the engineer assigned to the call will deal with the third party and keep you up-to-date via our interactive helpdesk system.
There's no limit on the number of faults you can log (in relation to the agreed Sevice Level).
We also provide remote support**, which often means that you can alert us to the problem and leave us to get on with resolving it while you carry on with your day job.
Once again, there's no limit on the use of remote support.
** Subject to the availability at the customer
of an appropriate broadband connection.
Top
Remote Monitoring
T.H. Computing monitors your network 24 hours a day, aiming to prevent problems before they occur.
T.H. Computing has a proprietary remote monitoring solution which integrates with Dell's OpenManage, IBM's Advanced Server Management, and HP's Insight Manager Server management products. This enables us to:
- Receive alerts if a specified threshold, such as temperature or free disk space, is exceeded
- Remotely diagnose hardware faults and failure early warnings
- Continually check for software and driver updates
All T.H. Computing managed servers are configured with Terminal Server in administration mode: this allows us to control the server as though we are seated at the keyboard.
Any intervention that does not require a physical reset or physical hardware change can be affected remotely if required.
Top
Emergency
Visits Are Free*
We're so confident that our pro-active approach will keep your network running smoothly that we offer you a unique warranty.
If you experience a significant loss of service and we cannot resolve the problem remotely, we will come to you and fix it for free*.
T.H. Computing defines an eligible emergency as a problem that is causing, or is likely to cause, significant business interruption. As a rule of thumb these are considered to be emergencies:
- Loss of inbound or outbound e-mail
- Loss of server function
- Loss of desktop function, where there is no other desktop available
If your mouse isn't working, that isn't generally considered
to be an emergency. For every Lieu Day that you are contracted
for in each month, you are entitled to one emergency call-out
free of charge.
Different service levels entitle you to different on-site response times, but it's never later than next business day.
Top
Out-of-hours
Support
We find that most clients only need support during the normal working day, so why pay for 24/7 support when you don't need it?
If you do need support outside our normal hours of 09:00 to 17:30, Monday to Friday, we offer a number of out-of-hours options to suit your business:
- Early start times for support
- Later finishing times
- Ad-hoc weekend support
- Total 24/7 support
Top
Scheduled
Maintenance Slot
For those customers who require 100% uptime for their servers during the working day, T.H. Computing offers an additional service: a routinely scheduled out-of-hours maintenance slot, during which any updates or changes to servers that require reboots or carry the risk of downtime can be carried out.
The slot is scheduled for four hours, from 8pm until midnight, and we will only schedule work that we believe can be completed in that time. However, should anything unexpected happen during the maintenance procedure we will continue to work on the server until any issues are resolved. This means that there are up to twelve hours available to us before the start of your working day.
Uniquely, T.H. Computing does not charge extra, however long the programmed maintenance turns out to take.
You must buy at least one slot per month if you wish us to avoid all scheduled downtime during the working day, because we must be able to apply software and driver updates as part of our proactive maintenance package.
If we are not key holders, you will need to have a key holder on site during the slot. While we may elect to carry out the work remotely, we must always be able to come on-site if physical intervention is required.
Top
|
