Services / Retained Support
A senior engineer
on your team.
For IT teams that run their own estate but need a third and fourth line they can call: a named senior engineer, a set number of hours each month and a health review before problems become incidents.
Retained Support
What is included
Three ways to retain us. You can move between them at the end of any month.
- 01AdvisoryA monthly review call and health report, design advice on request, and priority booking for project work.
- 02Retained third lineA set number of hours each month for escalations, with response targets agreed in the contract, during UK business hours.
- 03Project and handoverFor a fixed project followed by a set period of support while your team takes over.
- 04Monthly health reviewCapacity, backup success, snapshot sprawl, patch and firmware levels and certificate expiry, in one report.
- 05Vendor managementWe open and drive cases with VMware, Microsoft, Veeam, HPE, Dell, NetApp and Pure on your behalf.
- 06What is not includedRound-the-clock on-call and first-line user support. We will help you choose a provider for those and work alongside them.
Technology
Platforms we work with
- VMware
- Hyper-V
- NetApp
- Pure
- HPE
- Dell
- Veeam
- Zerto
- Active Directory
- Exchange
- Microsoft 365
- Azure
- Sophos
- FortiGate
- Cisco Meraki
Hours run Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00 UK time. Out-of-hours work for planned changes and cutovers is booked in advance.
How an engagement runs
Five steps, written down
Every engagement follows the same steps, with written plans and a rollback for each change.
- 01AssessUnderstand your goals, environment and challenges.
- 02ArchitectDesign the right solution for your needs.
- 03MigratePlan and execute with minimal disruption.
- 04OptimiseImprove performance, resilience and cost efficiency.
- 05SupportOngoing expertise to keep you secure and ahead.
Deliverables
What you receive
Retained support starts with a look at the estate as it really is, and a list of what to fix first. Every engagement ends with documents and code you own.
- A named engineer who knows your estate
- A monthly health report
- Written root cause for every escalation
- Updated documentation as things change
- A quarterly review of the roadmap
Experience
Experience behind it
From the founder’s own project history. Clients are described, not named.
- Third and fourth line, BAUTechnical lead and then business-as-usual support for a payments company: Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, patching, vendor and hardware management.
- 300 servers at a teaching hospitalThird line support for more than 300 Windows servers, VMware and Hyper-V, Veeam, Pure and Dell EMC storage.
- MSP service deskDaily customer checks, escalations and vendor cases for a managed service provider across VMware, Veeam, Zerto and storage.
FAQ
Questions we hear
Is there a minimum term?
Retained support runs month to month after an initial three months, so we both have time to learn the estate.
What happens if we use more hours?
Extra hours are billed at the same rate, and we tell you before you go over.
Can you cover holidays for our infrastructure engineer?
Yes. Holiday and absence cover is one of the most common reasons clients retain us.
Let’s build what’s next
Start a Conversation
Ready to modernise your infrastructure, strengthen your security or discuss a complex project? We’d love to hear from you.