"The way Helix went about training me was just perfect." Amy Simpson, Mason City Human Rights Commission

Helix Business Service Total Outsource Questions ...

How does your Total Outsource model different from a pre-paid or a break-fix service?

The Total Oursourced model of supporting your computers and network (your IT infrastructure) puts the responsibility of making your network run smoothly squarely in our lap. If it’s broken, we fix it – no additional charge -- from hardware crashes to debugging virus infestation to corrupted operation systems. Your cost is fixed which means our revenue is fixed. Our margins rely completely on our ability to build and maintain your network in such a way that you never need to call us.

The better the network is setup and maintained, the less time Helix has to spend on your site, and the better your network runs for you. Break-fix is a reactive model. You call only when something is wrong. You are down until the problem is diagnosed and fixed. The break-fix model tends to drive decisions toward a penny-wise but pound-foolish result.

The more you prefer to deal with technology as a user, the more you prefer to focus your resources and energy on your business rather than learning and maintaining a knowledge of networks and PCs, then the more a subscription model is the best for you.

What are the benefits?

The benefit of a subscription model is that you may now forget about learning the workings of PCs and networks, you may now stop listening to your friend’s kid’s friends, and you may now focus on what you do best –your business.

What are the risks?

The risk is that at the end of a year you might feel as though you paid more than if you had approached support from the traditional break-fix model. It’s possible that if you’d just let things go you would never have had a problem. There is no way to prove otherwise. All you can do is look at how others are doing business. Larger companies follow the same basic model as a subscription model. They always have a staff dedicated to overseeing and directing technicians on how to best proactively protect the network and attached PCs from downtime. Their experience is that this model is more successful than any other way of doing business.

How does it work?

The subscription model works like this: Helix will come on-site and audit your network for physical inventory, software inventory, security issues on your network, cabling plant, and Internet connection. With this information in hand, we work with you to bring your network and its components up to a maintainable standard. We go over the results with you and decide what is going to be maintained by Helix. There may be components that we cannot support but which you do not wish to replace – we can just leave those off the subscription and help you fix them if they break. Depending upon the age of the equipment, the level of support you need (5x8, 7x24, PCs and servers only, etc.) the number of PCs, servers, routers, switches, etc. that you need supported, we produce a support contract which states the set fee to be paid at the beginning of each month. Each week a technician comes on site to go over logs, physically inspect the equipment, and fix non-critical problems you have reported the previous week. If a critical problem occurs at any other time, you call us and we come out within four business hours to fix the problem.

What does it cost?

Cost of the subscription model depends upon the number of PCs, servers, routers, switches, and other equipment you wish to have under contract, but cost is in the area of $100 per PC or server per month. Helix will also provide the PCs servers and other equipment for an additional monthly charge and will take full responsibility for the replacement of the equipment every two to three years (or sooner if it is broken.)

How much will I save?

You will save down time. You will save energy that would have been put into learning about networks and PCs and software. You will save yourself from wondering about how to plan IT costs (the cost is constant and not dependent upon what works today an not tomorrow.) You will save a great deal of frustration for your self and your employees. Helix cannot put a price on these savings but we are willing to bet that the above savings are very important to you.

What kind of guarantee do you offer?

Regardless of the type of service you purchase from Helix, we guarantee to respond to your calls within the time limit agreed upon and we agree to begin working on the problem within the time limit agreed upon or we will credit your account up to an hour of service time for each instance we do not perform to the level of our agreement.

What will be different?

We will install all of your software for you, and we will visit you on-site one a week. Otherwise you will not see any difference between now and then except that perhaps everything works a bit better than it used to.

What will be the same?

Everything else stays the same.

What happens when something goes wrong?

You call us and often, with your permission, we will take over one of the PCs remotely to troubleshoot the problem. If a problem cannot be resolved remotely, we send out a technician within four business hours of diagnosing the problem.

How safe is my data?

Helix provides on-line, off-site, daily backups of all your data. Your data is encrypted before it leaves your office, it is sent and stored, still encrypted, in a secure tier one data center. Whenever you need a file recovered, you may either call us or delegate the task to one of your employees to download the backed up file directly from the data center to your network – usually a matter of minutes.