FAQs
What is a Managed Service Provider (MSP)?
An increasing practice in corporate Information Technology (IT) management is to assign many of the traditional core functions of an in-house IT staff to a dedicated off-site IT professional services company. Such a company is called a Managed Service Provider.
Managed Services are a defined set of services that monitor and maintain your IT and network devices, such as PCs and servers. These services are typically delivered remotely and paid on a recurring basis, based on the number of devices monitored. Related services often include system security, software compliance and data back-up.
Companies that outsource to MSPs free up internal resources, get access to new technologies, and often realize substantial savings.
What can Managed Services do for me?
Better IT device and network performance with maximized availability — keep your business up and running with system, networking, application and security resources optimized and monitored 24/7/365. Enjoy a 99.5% guaranteed uptime with a MicroConvergent SLA.
Reduce maintenance costs — reduce costs to as little as 50% of the cost of in-house resources. Dramatically reduce the number of costly on-site visits.
Predicable costs — eliminate hidden costs of managing and maintaining your IT hardware, software, network and support with flat monthly fees. Pay only for the devices you wish to cover.
Optimize use of internal technical resources — free up your technical team to focus on core business activities such as revenue-generating strategic technical initiatives.
Access to today’s leading Operational Support Systems (OSS) — benefit from advanced technologies now without the costs of building a network operations center or investment in development staff.
Maintain system performance visibility — secure client web portal provides useful features such as event notification, web portal reporting and problem identification/resolution.
Easy access to new technology — benefit from technology enhancements and advances with minimal investment. Plus, utilizing our expertise saves your company from hiring and retaining a large development staff.
Easy and accurate capacity planning — view current network usage and available capacity of your network. This insight enables accurate and proactive planning for future network upgrades without interruption in service delivery or customer satisfaction.
Link contact centers together through a single service provider — improve communication between sites and deliver more consistent customer service.
24/7/365 help desk availability.
Your current investments in technology are protected — everything remains on your premises while being carefully monitored and managed by MicroConvergent.
How do I remain aware of my network status if I use MicroConvergent’s Managed Services?
As a client, you have real-time access to your network through our secure client Web portal, where you can view the current state of all monitored IT devices. You can also create reports displaying current activity and performance. Additionally, our support staff is available 24 hours a day to answer your questions.
How do I initiate Managed Services and how long will it take?
First, contact an account manager at sales@microconvergent.com or Request more information. We will meet with you to discuss your needs and then conduct a Technology Audit to assess the performance of your network and establish a baseline for monitoring. Once you choose a Managed Service Plan and any Technology Support Services, you will be up and running quickly, including training on the use of the Client Web Portal.
What is SAS 70 Type II certification and why is important to me?
MicroConvergent’s Data Center is SAS 70 Type II certified, indicating superior levels of reliability, availability and security in hosting and/or processing data belonging to third parties. SAS 70 Type II certification is important to any publicly traded company that must validate the security of its financial and sensitive information controls, or if it is otherwise required to meet SAS70 certification standards and PCI Compliance Standards.
SAS 70 is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). SAS 70 stands for Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70.
Certification results from an SAS 70 audit, which independently verifies the validity, functionality and effectiveness of a Data Center's control activities and processes. Type II is a rigorous audit that additionally assesses whether these controls were operating effectively during a review period.
MicroConvergent can provide its clients with documentation of the SAS 70 Type II Certification upon request.
Why should I pay close attention to my Firewall?
A firewall, in combination with other measures, protects your business and your information from unauthorized access by intruders or hackers, while permitting out-going communication. A firewall device will permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt or proxy all computer traffic between you and the outside world based on a set of criteria and rules. In order to protect your business and your information, a firewall is a fundamental aspect to ensuring your company's availability and viability online.
During our Technology Audit, MicroConvergent will assess the suitability of your firewall for your business and recommend enhancements, if needed. We will work with you to establish alert levels that will keep you aware of intrusion attempts and provide notice when an upgrade to your firewall is advisable.
How do intruders harm me?
An appropriate firewall is only the first step in protecting your network and data. Your security policy must include multiple strategies. These can include the integration of reliable technology, proactive system monitoring, active and alert systems administrators, and management decisions regarding user access to the Internet and other computer resources. A good policy also includes defining which assets are to be protected, and to what level of risk those assets are exposed. Sophisticated tools are now available for increasingly complex tasks such as scanning packets for viruses, encrypted data and even foreign languages.
How can MicroConvergent monitor my IT systems remotely?
Monitoring software is installed in each of your IT devices (e.g. PCs). Installation can be done remotely or locally (on site). The installation takes 5 minutes per device.
Our monitoring is not intrusive. We are monitoring the health of your system. We have no access to the content of your data files.
