Managed Services

Novus Managed Services is a proactive approach to IT where maintenance, upgrades, monitoring and issue resolution are performed proactively, following a specific plan and set of best practices. Our goal is to prevent problems before they surface and optimize the value an organization realizes from technology. With advances in automation, improved connectivity, and cloud computing maturation, system monitoring, maintenance, and most support can be done remotely, enabling an organizationto consolidate resources and operate more efficiently.

In a managed services arrangement, Novus assumes responsibility for IT functions that an organization isn’t able to handle independently, either full-time or on a regularly scheduled basis. We assume the risk of providing unlimited support of your IT infrastructure and administrative systems for a fixed, predictable monthly fee. With this approach, Clients benefit from the substantial experience Novus has accumulated from day-to-day management of a diverse range of office, mobile, and remote work environments. There isn’t much we haven’t confronted the past 10 years.

Managed Support Approach

When managing a client’s IT operations, our approach is to use a higher-tier technical lead who assumes single point of responsibility for all facets of IT support.

Specifically, the Novus lead:

• Manages the technology infrastructure.
• Ensures that all issues are captured in tickets and automated alerts. The Novus Remote Support team in East Hartford, CT normally responds right away and performs triage.
• Coordinates support with other Novus resources for help on higher-level issues, when needed.
• Plans maintenance and projects to minimize disruption to user access to systems.
• Regularly interfaces with various client stakeholders to assess ongoing technology needs and develops plans and basic budgets, both for the short-term and longer-term.
• Attempts to schedule “extra” project work to be completed during regularly scheduled visits, making it part of the fixed-fee structure associated with managed IT support.

Specific tasks and activity included under the Novus managed support fixed fee:

• Technology strategic planning – basic, informal planning. Formal strategic planning processes can be quite involved and are done as separate, billable projects.
• Technology implementation planning and guidance
• Technical support – includes Tier I through Tier III support and escalation coverage
• Help desk reporting and communication (trouble ticket reports)
• Network configuration
• Network and email system monitoring. We use ConnectWise Automate to monitor system health and uptime.
• Remote backup management – (Our backup services themselves are not part of managed support services but are available and usually accompany managed services.)
• Hardware Moves, Adds & Changes – for small groups of PCs or other devices that are deployed over the course of the year. Mass imaging and deployments are separately billed at Tier 1 rates.
• Image development and management services
• Warranty, break fixes and installation – troubleshooting and acting as a liaison to manufacturers for hardware and software
• IT policy review
• On-site implementation of business applications – working with application consultants as a liaison to ensure client systems will support the application
• Asset inventory management and software licensing control – basic management. Detailed audits and report generation are billed separately.

Novus Tier II or III technical staff provides escalation support when needed. Their activities include:

• Patching and maintaining servers
• Monitoring and testing backups
• Ensuring firewalls are appropriately configured for speed and security
• Supporting client networks, including network attached devices, wiring, switches, routers and firewalls
• Diagnosing hardware issues on infrastructure hardware, including network equipment, servers and network storage appliances
• Advising clients on hardware repair versus replacement options
• Granting clients direct access to the Novus reporting system for submitting/checking on trouble tickets
• Providing support when client is hosting with other service providers – AWS, Microsoft Azure, etc.

Network & System Administration

The main premise of our managed support program is keeping systems running smoothly and users happy. There are certain rules we strive to follow in order to accomplish this:

• Plan changes well ahead of time.
• Use peer reviews whenever possible.
• Take full advantage of our 40+ technical specialists to act as a 2nd set of eyes for spotting things that may have been overlooked.
• Be intolerant of single points of failure in a network and apply this same principle to Novus people responsible for a client’s environment. Assume human error will occasionally happen and have checks in place to spot things a primary support person will sometimes miss.

Third-Party Cloud Platform Management

We have migrated many clients to Microsoft’s popular Office 365 platform and provide ongoing support and consultation to help get the most out of this investment. Office 365 is continually evolving, making it difficult for small inhouse teams to maintain expertise in all facets of the service and effectively transfer this knowledge to struggling users. Our teams are trained in the latest features and capabilities. They are equally at home working one on one help advanced users maximize collaboration tools as they are with basic users who are having trouble just printing a document.