Business Services

Business Services

Onboarding sets the foundation for success

The first 12 months of our relationship is the dating stage. Both parties are working together to make IT better and your team better, which takes time and effort.

Long term successful relationships need a strong foundation!

Onboarding is NOT something that should be rushed, hastened or corners cut. Onboarding is a project that requires formal project planning, project management and execution.

Better IT

What is a vCIO?

A vCIO’s priority is to understand technical risk and business impact. They go above and beyond to understand your organization’s environment, objectives, challenges and future plans. As a trusted advisor your vCIO will work with key stakeholders in your organization to develop an IT strategy to leverage technology aliment and minimize risk.

The vCIO intimately understands the organization’s mission, objectives, leadership team and desired organizational and departmental outcomes. This individual serves as your account manager. This is a key role that First Call does provide with its agreement and can add extensive value for organizations highly regulated.

What does a vCIO do?

First Call offers secure, scalable Microsoft-driven private cloud solutions right here in Montana. Private clouds deliver peace of mind by securing your mission critical data and services in the cloud.

One of the issues with solutions like Office 365 or Google Apps is that it isn’t your stuff, and you don’t control the environment. First Call can build you your own private cloud either as a complete offsite solution or in conjunction with your on premise infrastructure to give you additional capacity and flexibility.

First Call provides Microsoft Licensing through the SPLA program to provide you with end-to-end cloud-based solutions with the latest Microsoft/Windows applications including Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, SQL, Office and more.

Your vCIO is here for you

Please don't ever hold back pain

Kelly Beal

Robin Lloyd

Jack O'Brien

Shon Butterfield

Better IT

What is a TAM?

Imagine a TAM (Technical Account Manager) as an IT auditor. They frequently visit your site to assess your technology against our IT and cybersecurity standards. They identify gaps, enhance documentation, proactively review the environment to minimize issues, and ensure standards are aligned, benefiting all parties involved.

The TAM and the vCIO collaborate closely to highlight issues that require the organization’s attention, ensuring that informed decisions and strategic investments are consistently made.

Each client is assigned a TAM who visits the site one to several times a year. Their role, as stated, is to audit the client’s IT and cybersecurity standards, working proactively with the team to ensure alignment and reduce issues. The higher the alignment with standards, the lower the risk and the fewer issues clients face. All client locations managed by First Call will remain audited and aligned.

The TAM enhances documentation quality continuously. Each on-site visit focuses not only on standards alignment and documentation but also on fostering strong relationships, increasing awareness of issues, needs, and various factors

Beyond our standards over time, clients may also want to implement their own standards, specific either to their organization or a division therein. The TAM helps establish these standards and then audits at a specified interval (minimum once a year) to insure alignment.

Minimizing technical gaps and variables is key to driving successful outcomes both in the day to day but also in longer term planning.

Mike Violette

Stanley Kipp

Caleb Hawk

Jonathan Gould

Better IT

Solution Design - What is First Call’s Design Desk?

Solution design is a tailored blueprint for your business’s IT environment. Our solution design team begins by diving into your unique needs and goals, examining your existing technology to understand how it can be optimized. From smaller networking projects and adding new PCs, to larger infrastructure overhauls, we assess requirements, identify gaps, and create a structured roadmap to ensure your IT aligns seamlessly with your objectives.

This team collaborates closely with our TAMs and vCIOs to develop a scalable architecture, choosing the right mix of hardware, software, and network solutions that allow your business to grow seamlessly. Every component is carefully selected to match your current and future needs, ensuring that your technology investments align with your business objectives.

Our solution design process produces clear, actionable quote proposals that bridge planning and implementation. These detailed specifications give our professional services team everything they need to execute your solution with precision.

As your business evolves, our solution design team remains by your side, adjusting configurations and expanding capacity as needed. This ongoing partnership reduces potential issues, enhances security, and builds a technology framework that supports both your daily operations and long-term goals.

Better Services

What is First Call’s Delivery Department?

First Call’s delivery department is where we ensure your IT needs are met with precision and care. Our department is divided into two specialized teams that provide predictable, advisable, and secure IT solutions: The Professional Services Team and the Support/Helpdesk Team.

Professional Services Team

Our Professional Services Team is dedicated to delivering project-related work and new equipment installations. These services are provided for a fee and are designed to enhance your IT infrastructure beyond the scope of your managed services agreement. Whether you need a major system upgrade, a new software deployment, or specialized IT consulting, our team of experts is here to ensure your projects are completed on time and within budget.

Support/Helpdesk Team

Our Support/Helpdesk Team is your go-to resource for technical support and break/fix services. Whenever you encounter an issue with your IT systems, our skilled technicians are ready to assist you. We provide prompt and effective solutions to minimize downtime and keep your operations running smoothly. From troubleshooting software problems to resolving hardware failures, our team is committed to delivering exceptional support.

We look forward to working with you and ensuring your IT environment is optimized for success.

What is Success from an IT & Cybersecurity department

Happy End Users

  • IT Support Client Satisfaction Score
  • IT Project (end user facing) Client Satisfaction Score

Fewer Issues and Variables

  • Number of issues
  • Severity/impact of issues
  • Hours of technical resolution time divided by the number of endpoints (PC’s and Servers)

Risk Management

  • Regulatory Standards/Gaps/% of alignment
  • General Cybersecurity Standards/Gaps/% of alignment
  • Advanced Cybersecurity Standards/Gaps/% of alignment

Robust Recoverability

  • Recovery Time Objective
  • Disaster Recovery Test Success Rate
  • Backup Success Rate

Cloud Communication & Collaboration

  • Uptime & Availability
  • Adoption Rate
  • User Engagement

 

Operational & Financial Alignment

  • IT Operational Expense % of Budget
  • IT Capital Expense % of Budget

 

L10 Meetings and Enjoyable Relationships

  • General IT Standards/Gaps/% of alignment
  • Quarterly IT Objectives % Completed
  • (Scope, budget, schedule, satisfaction score)
  • Annual IT Objectives % Completed

The different phases in Onboarding

Onboarding – Step by Step

Phase 1 – Setting the Stage​

  • Introduction​
  • Internal Kick-off Meeting​
  • Accounting Setup ​
  • Information Gathering​
  • There is a list of information and Administrative Information that is helpful for us to have

Phase 2 – Preparing Our Tools​

  • Internal work to setup your profile in our tools​
  • Establish Documentation System for Aligning Standards​

Phase 3 – We get to meet!​

  • Onsite Meeting to go over all the details of the agreement, deploy our tools, and gather IT Infrastructure Documentation.​
  • TAM and vCIO are onsite for the day​

Phase 4 – Implement Our Tools & Protection​

  • Antivirus on computers and servers​
  • Firewall​
  • A firewall is recommended for procurement based on your network​
  • Procurement orders the firewall​
  • Central Services Configures the Firewall and any Remote SSL VPN connections​
  • Firewall is installed​
  • Backup (based on the details of your agreement)​
  • A backup plan is designed by Central Services​
  • Cloud and Local Backup Hardware are order as needed​
  • Deployment of Backup Plan​
  • Any Backup Hardware installed

Phase 5 – End User Go-Live & Security​

  • Helpdesk goes Live – once we have enough information and access to your network and infrastructure​
  • Setup of Dark Web Monitoring, Security Awareness Training, and Phish Testing​

Phase 6 – On-Boarding Wrap-up​

  • Schedule our Technology Steering Meetings​
  • Project Survey​
  • Project Close out​

Better IT Services

Helpful Resources

First Call is here to help! Submit a ticket describing your issue, in as much detail as possible, by sending an email to the Help Desk at helpdesk@firstsolution.com and if your email is not available, call 406-540-1969 to enter a ticket with a live Triage team member. If you have web access, you can also use our online ticket submission form found at https://firstsolution.com/ticket-submission/.

As much as possible! If you can, please include the name of your computer (sometimes found on a label applied by First Call), the name of the program that is giving you trouble (if applicable), any errors that you are seeing on your screen, if the issue you are experiencing is preventing you from working, and the best way for our Support Technician to contact you. If someone other than you is a better contact for the ticket, please include that person’s information as well.

We will always do our best to help you as quickly as possible. Once we receive your ticket, our Dispatch team will locate the best Support Technician to assist with your specific issue and schedule the soonest available time. The assigned Support Technician will then contact you to provide assistance. If you have scheduling restrictions or would prefer a firm appointment, please include that in your original request.

Helpdesk Forms

Password Resets, New User requests, User Removal requests, and Security Changes

Each of these types of requests requires a form with a previously set-up authorization code. The Forms are located at www.firstsolution.com/forms and will not be processed without the correct authorization code. Your management team has set up approved individuals with authorization codes and those codes are not to be shared. (If you do not have a code, please speak with your management team to get a form filled out for you.) Please fill out the forms in their entirety to ensure that we can schedule a tech as quickly as possible. Form fields left blank will cause delays in scheduling your ticket.

Additional Resources

What are First Call’s Security Standards and why are they important?