External IT

Most managed hosting companies are primarily in the business of selling server space. For small to midsize firms, that has limited use. Most companies need a far more comprehensive range of IT services and support than rack space sellers deliver.

To accommodate these needs, we give you the freedom of selecting from a number of different support options.

Help Desk options

Who should determine how much support users get? You.

You can choose to have everyone in your company supported by our fully outsourced FlexSupport Help Desk. You can use your own internal Help Desk team as your first line of support, and then rely on External IT for Level 2 help in keeping things humming along.

You can handle support entirely from your end, engage the External IT Support Group on an ad hoc, fixed-price-per-incident basis, or use us as your comprehensive support team. If your company works around the clock, they’ll never be alone. We’re here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

For many of our clients, we provide Onsite Support, available anywhere in the United States, with a few hours notice. Whatever type or level of support you or your company needs, it’s at your disposal.

Onsite support

With External IT, there’s very little that could ever go wrong in your office as everything is hosted in the cloud. If you do run into a local problem that you can’t resolve, we can help you there as well—either remotely supporting your on-staff tech experts, or by sending our own engineers to the rescue.  We can dispatch an onsite engineer anywhere in the United States to help any user, fix any MAC, PC, network or other device.

In the end, it’s all about system up-time. If we had a mantra, that’s what it would be. “Omm. Up-time. Omm. Up-time.”

Regular vs. dedicated FlexSupport programs

Your Dedicated Support Engineer is
a virtual member of your staff.

Our regular FlexSupport plans are built around our pool of Support Engineers, who have on average five years of Help Desk experience.

Our highest-end personalized FlexSupport program comes with one or more full-time Support Engineers who are dedicated to your specific needs. Your Dedicated Support Engineer(s) becomes a virtual member of your staff.

All requests are routed to your Dedicated Support Engineer(s) who are immersed in the details of your IT systems, issues, your employees' needs, their preferences and even quirks.

This is a major plus for organizations that have complex IT needs, or for executives who require the highest level of IT support with the lowest possible level of business disruption.

Extra help for your internal help desk

If you already have your own Help Desk staff, they can remain as the primary folks to talk to when there’s a problem. If they can’t resolve it, they can easily enlist our help.

Another option is to have your help desk tickets forwarded to External IT Support during the hours when your internal Help Desk is closed, so your people are always covered.

Support tracking system

Our web-based support-request and tracking system is built right into the OS33 Portal so users can request help easily, anytime, from anywhere. Our system tracks the time, nature, priority and other details of each issue. On screen, your staff can track their ticket status, in real-time, further ensuring accountability for every ticket’s lifecycle. They can attach additional notes, request that their ticket be closed, reopen cases, and rate the technicians they worked with to give us feedback. And as a final tracking service, every Help Desk report can be exported for analysis and review.

Screen sharing

Our technicians may ask to access the user’s screen to solve a problem. If your grant them permission, we’ll work through the issue together, both of us looking at the screen, and both able to use the mouse and keyboard. It’s very much like having sitting right next to the user.

Response time and availability

Support calls are answered almost immediately. All incoming web-initiated support requests are reviewed within minutes. As requests arrive at the External IT Help Desk, they’re assigned a priority based on urgency. With External IT, support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

User training

The OS33 Portal is so easy to work with, it’s almost intuitive, but first-time users can still benefit from our tutorials on customizing their interface, creating shortcuts, and how to use the full range of file-sharing and collaboration tools.

Our support department can provide your employees with a thorough orientation session. This is similar to the training that all users receive during the initial migration process.

The flexibility of FlexSupport

FlexSupport is a comprehensive service developed over the span of nearly ten years, working with thousands of people. The level of service and range of options available set a high water mark in the world of outsourced IT.

Technical account management

Have we mentioned that we’re mind readers? Right now you’re wondering how you’ll work with us on a day-to-day basis once we have you up and running. With External IT, your Technical Account Manager is your primary point of contact. They’re a service partner who is always available, and the connection is direct. You won’t have to email someone else first, and if you call, you’ll never be routed from one person to the next.

Here again, you can choose the plan that works best for you. We can support you with dedicated technical account management, with scheduled monthly or weekly review meetings, or opt for general technical account management.