Managed services by IKOULA

Choose the right level of serviceFrequently asked questions

What are managed services?

Managed services involves a company entrusting its Information System or IS to a service provider (for example, the management of its IT assets, data and applications). This means that the service provider will be responsible for technical maintenance of the IT infrastructure, monitoring and securing all systems and networks, technical support, monitoring and back-up on behalf of the customer. This outsourcing can be total or partial.

Why choose managed services for your infrastructure?

By choosing managed services, you can entrust the maintenance of your information system to professionals who have a thorough understanding of the various issues facing the IT sector.
By opting for managed services, you choose:

• Peace of mind: opting for managed services means you can stay informed in real time about the condition of your infrastructure via a dedicated and secure Extranet. If necessary, our teams of experts - based in our data centres - will intervene automatically. So there's no need to worry about it! You can refocus on your core business!
• Security: because the security of our Information Systems is our priority, our teams follow a very strict daily monitoring protocol, which enables them to spot potential vulnerabilities and correct them as quickly as possible. This protocol includes :
  • Extensive monitoring, with verification of recognized sources (operating system official sites, such as Debian or Centos, but also specialized sites such as ANSSI, Zataz or NVD)
  • Updating internal information databases, listing application information (names and versions concerned) as well as customer documentation, with explanations of the vulnerabilities identified and the corrective measures taken (available via each customer's Extranet).
  • Direct communication towards customers according to the criticality of the faults identified, to plan the operations to be carried out.
• Control: from IKOULA's secure Extranet, you can monitor the performance of your platform according to your KPIs. Our teams will also work with you to adjust and adapt your infrastructure as your business evolves, while keeping your costs under control.

How do you choose the right managed services package?

There are a number of criteria to take into account when choosing the managed services package that best suits your needs and your platform(s). These will essentially depend on your infrastructure and the services you host on it:

• Technical skills available in-house or not (dedicated team?) for IS management,
• Ability to maintain a more or less complex IT infrastructure in-house (hardware, networks, security, etc.),
• Need for resources,
• Criticality of the data or applications hosted,
• The need or desire to keep control of your infrastructure or, on the contrary, to free yourself from these responsibilities, etc.

are some of the criteria that need to be taken into account when choosing a package.

Do I still have access to my IS or platforms?

Even if your platforms or IS are managed directly by our teams, IKOULA provides you with a range of reporting and supervision tools that you can access via a single and secure web interface, the Extranet. This interface provides you with all the information you need to manage your platforms:

• Systems and services monitoring
• Monitoring dashboards
• Monitoring of key indicators
• Intervention reports
• In the case of the Operational Account Manager (OAM or "ROC") option is chosen, a quarterly steering committee is held.
• And much more information.

What practical steps can IKOULA's managed services teams take?

It all depends on the level of service chosen and the company's objectives/needs. Examples include :

• Creation of a VirtualHost (web configuration, database with user, SFTP user, etc),
• Analysis and implementation of specific configurations according to customer requirements (redirection, URL rewriting, caching, etc),
• Monitoring security updates and vulnerabilities on servers and applications, analyzing them and offering solutions to the customer, then applying the corrective measures in agreement with the customer.
• Monitoring of the platform, with advice on its development. A steering committee can even be set up, either in a conference call or even on site, not forgetting support from an Operational Account Manager (OAM or "ROC").
• Daily monitoring of platform back-ups, with automatic correction of errors (upgrades, etc.). The important thing is ALWAYS to have a functional back-up!

Why choose IKOULA for your managed services?

Choosing IKOULA's managed services offers a number of advantages:

• Monitoring is fully customizable:
  • templates "made in IKOULA" can be applied, with the possibility of modifying the thresholds according to your needs,
  • web scenarios can be created and monitored, based on the response code, the text search on the page or the response time
  • specific monitoring features can be created in collaboration with IKOULA teams
  • procedures for intervening in the event of alerts can also be put in place
• Particular attention is paid to back-ups:
  • they can be customized (schedule, frequency and back-up method: file copy, dump, etc.)
  • they are located on a remote site by default (for example, if your infrastructure is located in our IKDC1 datacenter, the back-up will automatically be located in our 2nd datacenter, IKDC2, and vice versa).
• Several DRP options are available, including full replication of the main platform, or recovery of a more limited platform operating in downgraded mode.