IT managed services

As someone that has worked for companies and with companies like this... good luck. Customer service is generally horrible with said companies, and the level of knowledge and service is even scarier. Most of the ones that cater to medium and small businesses are just as bad as larger companies like IBM, HP and Accenture.

Why? Because they will always be looking out for their best interest, rather than what is best for your company (if you're reselling the services) or those that they are supporting (read end users).

In IT support, you get what you pay for.

EDIT - I should point out that I have a good friend who works High Standards Technology, Inc. who loves his job... I know he's good at what he does, so I would think those he works with are as well. http://www.weredown.com/

 

I'm certain there are good companies out there, I just haven't personally worked with any... although most of my experience has been with bigger shops HP/IBM/Accenture, etc.

I've been on 24/7 on call most of my 12+ years in IT, I think it just kind of comes with the territory. I think having an SLA setup for the 24/7 call center (read overseas or low cost) who escalate it to an engineer if it reaches a certain level is probably the best/most cost efficient.

I'd just be wary of entering in long-term contracts without clear stipulations for exit if service levels don't meet expectations. Metrics are huge in this regard. Average call time, wait time, ticket open time, etc.

 

Sounds good. I'm not sure exactly what levels of support they offer, my buddy does basic systems administration stuff for servers, websites and the like. He likes the company and the job, and has had other offers which says a lot to me. If you're outside they're scope I'm sure they have partners.

Let us know whoever you go with, will be good to get some feedback as this is a question I get asked frequently.

 

Have a good buddy who's been a manager here for a long time:

http://www.sconet.net/sn/index.asp

 

I work for an IT firm that might be willing to take on a project like this.
http://www.goodeco.com We have many clients with a similar arrangement, so the only question mark might be weekend support but again I think my boss would be interested.

If you want, shoot me an email and I'll forward it to my boss. will@goodeco.com.

 

odesk.com

 

www.softlayer.com

I worked for their Fully Managed Services department and can tell you that they have the company's best working in the team. Plus, they have a ton of automated features within the customer portal that will surely make your life a lot easier.

An example would be, if you need to move a server from one vlan to another quickly, you don't have to have a Network Engineer do this for you. Their entire infrastructure is API dependent which allows them to automate a lot of work i.e. DNS, GSLB, network changes DDoS mitigation etc. A simple change like that can be done by you or someone else with access to the portal and servers. Or you can choose for your support team to do it.

I stopped working there in 2010 but last I knew, they give you a TAM, DBA, Network Engineer and Systems Engineer. All depending on your environment

Not bad at all.

 

Yep that's right.

This forum is hosted on the Softlayer infrastructure so you know it's good LOL.

 

Let's nerd the **** out

 

The company I work for is the largest Houston based IT service provider.

http://www.dyonyx.com/about-us.aspx

We have 175 employees, $30M revenue a year. We have a lot of big clients including City of Houston, British Airways, Scientific Drilling, and etc. Let me know if you require an IT assessment and I can get you in touch with one of our engineers. We provide server hosting, service desk Tier I, II, and III support, network monitoring, infrastructure design, and etc. Our rates are typically a lot lower than IBM or Deloitte which run at $250/hr.

solutions@dyonyx.com and I'll send you some collateral. We're located off 610/290 intersection. We can provide a tour of our facilities and you can meet our staff.

 

I'm more on the business side of my company here in Houston (www.dyonyx.com) but I know all of our technical team really well. They're a lot older, and seasoned from HP, EDS and so forth. I think being Houston based and focusing on Houston clients, our service is a bit more personal than the big companies. Our production servers are here in Houston, while our disaster recovery servers are in Bryan and Austin.

 

Yeah you can't miss the giant Softlayer sign in Downtown! We've got our servers diversified through companies like Fibertown, CyrusOne, and Data Foundry.
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Check your rep, I sent you my contact information.