Managed IT Services

Effective IT Support and Operations are critical to a company’s survival and success – but difficult to achieve. Success comes through a balanced combination of “elbow grease” and “work smarter, not harder.” In the end, it’s about the quality of communication and the relationship between the IT experts and the business people who are footing the bill.

Miller Systems Ongoing IT Support and Operations: Relationship Models

Managed Services – Totally Outsourced

  • Our team takes complete responsibility and ownership over your IT, acting as the help desk as well as the advanced technical experts. Our team makes regularly scheduled on-site visits to your location(s), provides remote and on-site support for emergencies, and provides ongoing strategic counsel, all tailored to your organization.

Staff Augmentation: Split responsibility

Depending on your situation, Miller Systems can provide assistance in one or more of the following ways:
  • Act as “Level 2” support to an in-house help desk staff member
  • Assist an in-house Senior IT professional by providing additional help desk assistance
  • Provide a focused “surge” of assistance for larger projects (a wave of new desktop/laptop rollouts, server or storage replacements, etc.)
  • Provide temporary coverage for short-term need (in house staff on vacation, on maternity/medical leave, etc.)

Short Term Projects

  • Relocations/expansions
  • System upgrades
  • New software/hardware deployment
  • Solution/software evaluation

Keys to Successful Outsourced IT Support

Miller Systems has assisted scores of clients since 1995 with ongoing outsourced IT support and Operations. Our clients have gotten the most value from our services because of our core beliefs.

  • Be physically present. The ability to provide remote support is a wonderful, powerful thing – but combining it with regularly scheduled on-site visits yields far better results. Being onsite on a regular basis fosters better relationships between our teams, while significantly minimizing the frequency of emergencies.
  • One way or another, be there when it matters most. Speed counts when things are broken; rapid responses to emergencies, whether on-site or off-site, is crucial.
  • “Business first.” It’s easy for the nerdy types to get lost in the technical weeds; frankly, it’s an occupational hazard for the specialists. A pragmatic, approach, where the IT team is fundamentally, regularly involved and aware of the important goals of the business will yield the best ROI.
  • “It’s a team sport (part I):” Design, respect, and enforce a clear division of responsibility and labor between your in-house technical personnel and your outsourced IT partners.
  • “It’s a team sport (part II):” A sound IT practice is based on documentation, communication, and management of expectations.
  • Stay current; tech changes quickly and often. A good IT team will stay aware of industry trends relevant to your organization and recommend appropriate change at opportune moments
  • Stay focused; there’s a time and place for “the bleeding edge”: While it is always tempting to get all the cool, new trendy “toys”, early adoption often comes at (an unpredictable) price.

Does Any of This Sound Familiar? Get in Touch

  • Full-time IT support personnel are expensive – and it seems really difficult to retain them (especially the good ones). I need to focus on my core business, not the time and expense of dealing with constant IT turnover.
  • We have aging in-house server infrastructure. Everything I see and hear is about “the cloud”. Should I be moving to the cloud? What are the costs? What are the risks?
  • Some of my most important systems and data are in the cloud. What happens if I suddenly can’t get to it anymore? How will my business survive if that’s extended?
  • I have internal IT support for day-to-day operations, but…
    • I can’t get important projects and initiatives off the ground. .I need help to plan, budget, select, and implement the right stuff.
    • We have very busy periods, and I need occasional staff augmentation for help desk and support.
  • I have to support a mix of Mac users and Windows users. My internal team can only support one (by choice or due to skills/capability); I need some outside help to deal with the other.
  • How much mobile technology can I practically support? I’ve got some folks with iPhones and iPads, others with Android phones and tablets, still others with BlackBerries and Windows Mobile. Some of them are company owned, others are “BYO”.. Should I standardize? Can I keep my proprietary data safe and managed?
  • I keep reading about all this new stuff – cloud computing, virtualization, all kinds of new storage, security, disaster recovery, and business continuity technology – that sounds pretty cool! Is right for me? Will my business benefit from any of this or is it just hype?
  • Sometimes we just need someone to deal with typical help desk requests (“I can’t print”) – but other times, we need much, much more. I need a team, but I can’t afford one!