Computer Support Services of Servers and the use of Remote Access

The support of an organisation’s IT infrastructure is becoming an increasingly crucial part of the operation of any successful business.  All organisations, whatever the size, are becoming increasingly dependant on their IT services in particular their server.  The support and proactive management of these systems by Remote Access or other means is now crucial to the success and the unavailability of any component part, even for the shortest period of time, can at least lead to customer dissatisfaction and potentially lead to major disruption in productivity.

Typical Configuration

Most small to medium sized businesses will as a minimum have a configuration that is based on a server providing storage, shared printing, email and firewall systems, an internet access provider and associated hardware and a number of desktops.  In addition to this hardware standard software such as the Microsoft Office suite or Open Office equivalent is likely to be installed on every desktop, as well as specific software designed for the operation unique to that business.

Email is now almost exclusively the preferred method of communication having replaced traditional letter or fax, and the maintenance of a safe and efficient email environment is of prime importance. 

Expansion

Even the smallest expansion, such as adding an additional desktop to the existing environment can end up being a complex issue.  Application of the software and commissioning of the users email is a time consuming task unless appropriately mechanised and professionally planned.   All too often small companies suffer from an organic growth in their IT infrastructure, which leads to more complex problems at a later date.

The Key Support Area 

Without doubt the most essential piece of the infrastructure is the server and this should be proactively monitored by Computer Support Services.  Server Operating Systems all now provide for daily reports that can be automatically emailed to the support desk and by accurate analysis of these daily reports many problems can be diagnosed and addressed before they even become apparent to the users.  By using such technologies as remote access a support desk can access the server from a remote location and make such corrections and amendments as are necessary. At the same time is also possible to make software configurations, add or remove users and deal with virtually all the routine maintenance tasks without even requiring a visit to site.

Most modern systems will almost certainly be dependant on Microsoft Operating Systems and Microsoft’s policy of updating security within their products on a monthly basis, on the second Tuesday of each month commonly known as “patch Tuesday”, is easily and safely addressed by the use of remote access.

In the unlikely event of a issue being identified that cannot be rectified by remote access a site visit can be scheduled with minimum delay thus enabling a 4 hour response time to be easily achievable from an organisation such as ourselves offering Computer Support Services.

Desktops 

The management and maintenance of desktops presents a more complex issue.  This is essentially caused by the generic growth within the organisation and the varying configurations and specifications of machines within the organisation.  However, similar principles can be employed as to the proactive management of servers although economics will usually dictate that desktop management is based on a reactive arrangement.  Unlike the server, a single desktop malfunction is unlikely to cause any serious issue in the short term and the most efficient method of dealing with such a scenario is a call to the support service when such a malfunction or configuration issue arises.  Using remote access the support desk can again in most instances, other than hardware failure, diagnose the problem, take the necessary corrective action and complete the task with the minimum of delay.  Desktops PCs can be configured to automatically update following the release of security patches and as, as in the corporate environment, security and user access is controlled via the server there is usually little difficulty in maintaining desktops within a similar 4 hour response time.

Summary 

Contracting out Computer support services for the small to medium sized enterprise is without doubt the most cost effective solution.  Working with an organisation such as ours we can proactively monitor all key services as well as ensuring that essential tasks such as back-up and disaster recovery operations are adequate and tested on a regular basis.  With a properly documented and constructed networking environment the addition of extra desktops or software packages and the associated configuration becomes routine.  As Microsoft partners we are well positioned to advise on the full range of Microsoft server and desktop products as well as newer technology such as virtualisation via VM Ware and mobile working using Blackberry or Windows Mobile technologies.