Saturday, October 08, 2005

Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

Reduce total cost of ownership. Industry leading organizations know that IT systems need to be properly managed and maintained. The “Fix on Fail” approach to systems management results in employee frustration, missed deadlines, increased costs and lower levels of client service.

Altius IT recommends the managed solutions listed below. The support schedule depends upon the importance of IT to your organization.

Daily/Weekly

  • Check hard drive – capacity and free space

  • System – scan drives for errors, defragment

  • Software patches – patch management

  • Review anti-virus software – auto updates

  • Troubleshooting – examine log files for errors

  • Check anti-spyware – updates and scans

  • User access – add/remove access to systems

  • Applications – add/configure and troubleshoot

  • Mobile devices – synchronize with desktops

  • User support – problem determination, assistance

  • Server – application monitoring and size limits
Monthly/Quarterly service


  • E-mail – size, user delegate permissions

  • Firewall – firmware updates, subscription status

  • Internet - review firewall bottlenecks and log file

  • System backups - test and review off-site rotation

  • Security assessment – penetration test and report

  • Backup e-mail – test proper operation and findings

  • Public folders – access and security

  • Data folders – access and security

  • Document – retention procedures, archiving

  • Assessment – independent review of systems
Annual service


  • Integrity – review user access to systems & data

  • IT alignment – with business goals and direction

  • IT planning – long range planning and updates

  • IT budget – maintenance and special projects

  • Policies – review/update policies and procedures

  • Best practices – to ensure system availability

  • Business continuity – testing and plan revision

  • Updates – renew annual subscriptions

  • Domains – check expiration of domain names

  • Archiving – year end archiving procedures

  • Best practices – tools/checklists (database, e-mail)

  • Audit – outside independent audit of IT
For more information, please refer to Altius IT's managed networking and security services.

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Security Outsourcing Solutions

Security outsourcing allows an organization’s internal staff to focus on core competencies without dealing with day-to-day distractions. Altius IT takes an extremely complex and complicated undertaking and ensures that every step is properly planned and executed.

Altius IT’s five step outsourcing toolkit manages the process of migrating from insourced to outsourced security and networking services:



  • Requirements – defines and establishes the roles of internal and external resources

  • Service level agreement (SLA) – documents the formal blueprint of duties and procedures

  • Transition – identifies the steps to be followed both before and through the transition to outsourced services

  • Reporting – deliverables provided during the course of the engagement

  • Management – project management and quality control to keep outsourcing on target

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