Q1: Do your company answer their phones live or do you always have to leave a voice mail and wait for someone to call you back?
A1: We answer live.
During business hours (9am through to 6pm), our main phone number, 8916 7414, rings through to a hunt group where it is guaranteed to be answered live.
Our support email address <support@xvfx.com.au> forwards directly to our ticketing system where all issues are tracked through to resolution.
Q2: Would your company offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and what are your fees?
A2: Yes – We offer a support contract which comes with a guaranteed response time not an SLA. Depending on the type of issue we endeavour to respond within 15 mins on a level 1 outage down to 4 hours for an inquiry that’s not affecting production. Outside of an active support contract we will endeavour to provide support as soon as practicable, but no guaranteed response time is provided.
Q3: Would your company take the time to explain what they are doing and to answer our questions in terms that we can understand?
A3: Yes – We endeavour to explain in plain language all work conducted and pride ourselves on our communication. Any project undertaken by XVFX will include a plain language summary as well as detailed technical plan with provision for rollback scenarios when appropriate. We project timeline and breakdown for larger projects that will be signed off by both parties before we begin work.
Q4: Would your company consistently (and proactively) offer new ways to improve our IT Infrastructure’s performance, or do they wait until we have a problem to make recommendations?
A4: We are always looking into the future and also checking your systems to make our place as a trusted advisor paramount to our working relationship with you. We would rather flag issues early and plan for the future than drop a bomb, such that you need to make critical changes at inopportune times just to keep your ship from sinking.
Q5: Would your company provide detailed invoices that clearly explain what we are paying for?
A5: Yes – All our invoices contain line item descriptions of all work conducted and services provided. In addition our packaged approach makes it much simpler to decide which services your company really needs, and lets your easily see where effort is being committed.
Q6: Do your company guarantee to complete projects on time and on budget?
A6: Yes – When we quote for project based work we endeavour to keep on time and on budget limited to the scope of the project. Our quotes and scope of work are clearly defined in plain language to prevent creep, but if your goal posts change mid flight then we can re quote on the additional work required. Despite everyone’s best intentions and efforts, occasionally unforeseen circumstances arise.
On these rare occasions we will immediately notify your company of these issues and their impact and present a plan to resolve the issues.
Q7: Would your company work with our staff to train on IT maintenance?
A7: Yes – We believe that your staff in house should be provided with all the written documentation, support and training such that they can accomplish those basic IT maintenance tasks that are key to your day to day business operations. We are happy to engaged to provide written documentation, support and targeted training (where appropriate) on how to perform these tasks.
We can also deliver targeted training to your employees on broader topics. Targeted training on site is far more effective that training “through osmosis”, especially when remote/phone support is generally preferred.
Q8: Would your company work around staff to avoid office shutdowns or project delays unless absolutely necessary?
A8: Yes – We are flexible on timings of changes and we don’t just work normal business hours to make sure that we can make the required changes without business impacts. The only thing that we ask is that if it’s out of hours that we are given notice where possible so that we can schedule the work.
Q9: Will your company remotely monitoring our network 24x7x365 to keep critical security settings, virus definitions and security patches up-to- date and PREVENT problems from turning into downtime, viruses, lost data and other issues?
A9: Yes – if your company has an XVFX support contract, with our managed firewall and monitoring infrastructure, all desired components of your network will be monitored. We can tailor different levels of monitoring packages to monitor the various components of your network (eg. central storage disk failures, backup status, network throughput, internet connective and other critical services such as Active Directory)
We manage regular updating of workstation and server security patches and software versions via our Configuration Management package. Virus and malware are the biggest single threat to any technology reliant business: cryptolocker and ransomware attacks are becoming more widespread. We recommend and implement an outstanding anti-virus system, monitored and updated constantly, and promote sensible policies around workstation Administrator access.
Q10: Will your company provide us with a monthly report that shows all the updates, security patches and the status of every machine on our network so we know for SURE our systems have been secured and updated?
A10: Yes – with an XVFX support contract and Monthly Report Package we will provide a comprehensive report each month outlining all patches and updates applied, inventory, usage and utilisation reports. The report will also contain a summary of work performed that month, any pressing or outstanding issues, and recommendations for upgrades for performance improvements and new system services to improve productivity.
Also included with each month report will be a file encrypted with a master password that you provide that will contain each system’s admin password, software licenses, and all documentation produced such that you always have the most up to date copies.
We can work with your company to further tailor the Monthly Report to your requirements.
Q11: Would it be a standard procedure for your company to provide us with documentation detailing what software licenses we own, critical passwords, user information, hardware inventory, etc?
A11: Yes – We can provide these services for but that would start with a complete audit of all your systems before being added to the maintenance contract.
Q12: Would your company have other technicians on staff who will become familiar with our network in case your regular technician goes on vacation or gets sick?
A12: Yes – We have 2 full time staff at the moment and have other technicians available when workloads require.
We are growing our company, and will be expanding our team as we grow. Training and familiarisation with our client’s IT infrastructure for our team is a key component for our companies growth.
Q13: Do your company offer after hours service including weekends and what are your rates?
A13: Yes – We have our core Office Hours of 9am – 6pm, Extended Hours of 6am – 9pm and 10am – 4pm weekends, and After Hours which is all other hours (9pm – 6am / Weekends 4pm to 9am). Please consult the accompanying document for all rates.
Backups and Disaster Recovery
Q14: Would your company do periodic tests of our backups to make sure the data is not corrupt and could be restored in the event of a disaster?
A14: Yes – As part of our Backup Management and Support Package we will do quarterly restores of selected data (space allowing) to verify that it’s all good.
Q15: Would your company do a backup of our network BEFORE performing any type of project or upgrade?
A15: Yes – We suggest that you have rolling backups that are also kept offsite and we would check the backups before making any major changes to your environment.
Q16: If we were to experience a major disaster, do your company have a plan on how to restore our data and/or one that enables us to work from a remote location?
A16: Yes – We provide a Disaster Recovery Plan Package where we will tailor a plan for you.
Q17: We need to improve on our data backup process. Do your company have experience in backup solutions?
A17: Yes – We have architected multiple different archiving and backup projects for different types of clients. We highly recommend our Managed Backup System Setup, where we can tailor a backup system (either data tape, cloud based storage or combination of both) to your environment, and our Backup Management and Support Package where we manage your backups and ensure your important data is always protected.
Technical Expertise and Support
Q18: Is your company helpdesk based in Australia or outsourced to an overseas company or third party?
A18: Yes – We are based in Australia, local here in central Sydney, and we don’t outsource core IT Support to a third party.
For electrical and infrastructure fibre and network cabling we have worked with 3 Way Communications http://www.3way.com.au/ for several years, and can highly recommend their services.
For offsite backup management we recommend Iron Mountain (formerly TMS) http://www.tape.com.au/ – we have used Iron Mountain’s services for regular pickup, delivery and safe storage of data backup tapes off site.
Q19: Do your engineers maintain current vendor certifications and participate in ongoing training – or are they learning as they go?
A19: Yes – We learn as we go after having many years in the industry. We have some certifications presently and we can obtain additional vendor certifications if you require us to, however XVFX does not put a lot of value in them.
Q20: Do your technicians arrive on time and dress professionally?
A20: Yes – representing the professional nature of our company is very important to us. We pride ourselves on our punctuality, reliability and presentation.
Q21: Are your technicians familiar with (and can they support) our unique line-of- business applications?
A21: Yes – We have both had extensive experience in the VFX industry over a long period of time including at major vendors.
Q22: When something goes wrong with our Internet service, phone systems, printers or other IT services, would your company own the problem or would your company say, “That’s not our problem to fix�
A22: Yes – We like to take a holistic approach to support and personally think that not looking after all of the infrastructure is not good.
Q23: Do your company have a proven track record with animation, film and post production studios?
A23: Yes – Combined, Kim and Jack have over 25 years of experience working in IT for animation, film and post production. We have a passion for supporting and providing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure to enable the creative process to deliver.
Q24: Do your company have experience with 10 Gigabits networks?
A24: Yes – we have extensive experience with 10GbE networking.
Q25: Do your company have experience with network performance testing, network improvement, particularly for 10 Gigabits networks and finding bottlenecks?
A25: Yes – we have expertise with industry tools to measure, diagnose and troubleshoot network performance. Storage performance issues are often misdiagnosed as network issues, particularly in our renderfarm heavy VFX industry. We find that extended systems monitoring is key in identifying the real cause of any performance issue, the solution is always to upgrade central network storage.
Q26: Do your company manage networks of our size or larger and who are they?
A26: Yes – while XVFX is a new company, both Jack and Kim independently have managed and supported large VFX facilities including Photon VFX, Omnilab, Dr. D Studios, Cutting Edge and others.
Q27: Do your company have experience with fibre networks?
A27: Yes – we have vast experience with both 10GbE and Fibre Channel (SAN) fibre systems. We can source, support and guarantee re-certified 10GbE fibre networking switches, cards and cabling at very competitive rates.