IT Packages...

SME Package
Based on proven, quality, and industry standard hardware and software solutions that embrace the convergence of data and voice. It is underpinned with an all-inclusive 3 year facilities management contract (see FM section below for details of offering), the following facilities / features are included:

As a smaller business, you have limited time and resources to get the job done and keep your business running. Technology can simplify your daily activities while saving you time and money. Our solution framework (summarised below) is scalable, modular and cost-effective with 1st class levels of resilience, reliability and performance whilst adhering to industry best practices. We believe in this package so much we have decided to “practice what we preach” and have invested in it ourselves to underpin our own internal systems.

• Servers
  Hewlett Packard ProLiant servers have long been known for reliability but they are also designed to offer value-added functionality for maximum performance and flexibility. The ProLiant management infrastructure creates an environment for life cycle management that optimizes data centre efficiency and lowers TCO
• Desktops
  All the benefits of a full-size, feature-packed desktop-highlighted by security, stability, and manageability capabilities - are delivered in the HP Compaq Business Desktop PCs. Expect long lifecycle; extensive configuration options; performance; manageability; ease of access for servicing all with 3 year warranty
• Data and Voice Communications
  Cisco Integrated services routers combine data, voice, video, and wireless networking services into a single secure platform. By providing multiple services with a single platform, integrated services routers deliver a one-stop solution for small offices, branch offices, and teleworkers
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003
  Increases your company’s productivity by enabling your employees to find, share, communicate and remotely access business information. Improve the teamwork and productivity of your employees. Connect to your business information and tools from anywhere, anytime. Access your email, company website, desktop at work, and network files, using any Internet-enabled computer
• Anti-Virus
  Sophos small business solutions provide total anti-virus and anti-spam protection for desktops, file servers and email servers in a tailored single solution. Sophos products provide comprehensive protection against viruses, spam and spyware and are used by 25 million users worldwide
• Document Management
  Docuware gives you the power to electronically store and organize all kinds of documents from accounting records to correspondence, from e-mail to technical drawings, and much more. Docuware is widely known for its complete functionality, simple administration and usability, seamless integration and absolute security

Facilities Management
Efficient system administration is necessary for all types of IT equipment, whether communication devices, network servers or desktop PCs. Procedures need to be implemented which prevent the many problems that can arise from incorrectly managed equipment. Support is also a critical part of operating an effective IT system. The computers, communications and applications are only tools which support people in their work. Therefore you need to be supported by a quality level of technical expertise which can solve problems as they arise and not leave you struggling with uncooperative IT equipment… and that’s where breakwater come in!

We are committed to the effective operation of our customers IT systems and require that robust and unobtrusive system administration procedures are adopted. These will apply to all aspects of the operation of the IT systems, including user management, disk and processor usage, file management and information integrity. IT systems will be administered according to documented procedures (using recommended “best practices” by industry leading vendors), which ensure consistent operation of the systems under normal conditions and rapid recovery from abnormal circumstances. Breakwater is also committed to providing all computer users with sufficient technical support to allow them to do their work efficiently. This includes access to technical experts who can solve any problems the user may encounter. Technical support should be structured to deal quickly with everyday problems and to have mechanisms for escalating more fundamental problems (e.g. software bugs) to the supplier.

FM is a structured agreement which allows you to outsource your complete responsibility for your IT facility to breakwater for the term of the contract. This is achieved through the implementation of a proactive management infrastructure and access to our systems analysts for incident resolution and pre-emptive maintenance. Under the terms of the FM agreement, breakwater endeavours to become an extension of the customer's infrastructure, operating to ensure maximum systems availability and business continuity.

• Industry Best Practice - ITIL Modular Approach
  Breakwater’s IT Operations service is underpinned by use of ITIL (the IT Infrastructure Library) which is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. It provides a comprehensive and consistent set of best practices for IT service management, promoting a quality approach to achieving business effectiveness and efficiency in the use of information systems. Breakwater use the following modules:

Website Design and Development
We offer a professional, affordable website design and development services that deliver a real return on your investment. Our development team writes HTML and use industry standard Macromedia and Adobe design tools. Our primary server-side technology is ASP.

Breakwater understands the need to attract traffic to your website. After all, without users visiting the website, keeping the site up-to-date and maintained is simply not profitable. The website design involves a thorough analysis of your website requirements, from the overall usability of the website, to the level of accessibility it provides.

All websites created by breakwater are fully compliant with W3C XHTML standards and you may elect to include the W3C logo indicating this. All of our own pages are compliant. You may check this one by clicking the logo below.

Your website will also be designed with accesibility in mind. We take every care to incorporate DDA guidelines as well as maxmising cross-browser support. This will ensure that your website will adhere to the necessary guidelines and legislation whilst also making your web presence accessible to the widest audience possible.

The following pointers will help you to think carefully about your website before a visit from one of our web design consultants. This will help you to get the best out of us and will help us understand you and your needs. Ensuring that here at Breakwater IT, we work with you to your benefit.

• Purpose of your website – Before designing a new website or improving an existing one it is worth setting aside some time to identify how a website will fit into your organisation’s strategy:
  • The site can serve as an information point, promoting awareness of your organisation
  • A professionally designed website can go a long way towards raising your organisations profile
  • Use a website to sell your products or services whether on or offline
  • The site must be designed to best meet this purpose

• Target audience – For your website to serve its purpose effectively you need to identify your target audience and what you would like them to do when they are visiting the site. This along with the purpose will provide a goal for the website which will drive and focus the design
  • A targeted website is more effective
  • Identifying what you would like your visitors to accomplish whilst browsing your website will enable the content to be tailored accordingly. This will give your website clarity and enable visitors to find the information they need quickly

• Website structure – Once you have decided how you want a website to serve your organisation and have identified the target audience, you will then have a goal that can be achieved through sensible, thoughtful and most importantly, user-centred design
  • A clear homepage is the key to guiding your visitors to the information that they are really seeking. If they can’t locate what they want in less than 30 seconds they will leave
  • A sensible and easy to use navigation system will help visitors find their way around your website quickly and with minimum fuss
  • Ensure that links are clearly identified
  • If your website is accessible to disabled visitors including the visually impaired, usability will be improved for all. Remember, that if your website is easier to use than your competitors’ then expect more business as a result
  • Contact details need to be easily found, if not you risk frustrating those who would like to ask a simple question or discuss a potential sale

• Hosting options – You will need a web server to serve your web pages. This is typically a shared server owned by a web hosting company paid for with a monthly fee. There are a number of options for web hosting
  • If you already have a website you may continue using your existing web hosting company. Breakwater IT will need to know the server details as well as the username and password to upload your new website
  • Host the website on your own server. This is not recommended due to security and resilience considerations
  • Start a contract with a web hosting company which we can arrange on your behalf

• Attracting visitors – Once you have a well-designed, good looking website waiting for hits; how do potential visitors find it? A set of procedures entitled Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), are used to make your site more attractive to the software agents that leading internet search engines use to index the World Wide Web. A careful optimisation strategy coupled with a clean, accessible design will help your site to get listed and attain good ranking for the keywords that you choose

• Measuring success – Having invested in a professionally designed website you need to know how it is performing. Is it bringing in the traffic that you’d thought it would and is it achieving the goals you set out with?
  • Many web hosting companies provide the ability to monitor your site at a basic level, identifying where visitors came from and what they did
  • Specialist software tools are available to monitor your website and provide regular email updates with a dazzling array of statistics such as where did your visitors come from, how they got to your site and the pages they browsed. This information can be stored to track progress over time and viewed as user-friendly graphs plotting your website’s performance
  • Reacting to this information requires a maintenance plan to ensure that your site is kept up to date and relevant

Information Systems Audit
Delivering technology solutions in today’s business environment is complex and time consuming, and seams to become increasingly so as resources become more and more stretched managing IT. Breakwater is in a position to help you relieve this resource issue and move the technology solution forward at the pace your business requires.

Full systems audit provide an independent and impartial view of utilisation of IT within a business. The following pieces of work (detailed within this document) will be delivered as part of this audit:

• Software/hardware audit report consisting of:
• Server Audit
• Communications Equipment Audit
• Server/Communications Infrastructure Audit
• Mail systems audit
• Desktop and Laptop systems Audit
• Audit of Monitors, Port replicators and other Peripherals
• Printer Audit
• Systems Management control report detailing:
• Security Audit
• Audit of Data Protection environment
• Initial systems design
• Investigation into user integration with IT
• Audit of Website
• Line of Business Audit
• Systems Maintenance Audit
• Audit of Change Management procedures
• Audit of 3rd party contracts
• Systems Health check and governance report containing:
• Server heath check: Event log health check and system performance monitoring
• Network Analysis