Frequently asked questions
Why Croft?
What is remote support?
What is remote monitoring?
Can you take over and support my existing network and hardware?
Can you support mobile devices like PDAs?
What is a site audit?
What if I already have a contract with my local supplier?
Can Croft handle all my IT needs?
What server hardware is covered?
Are my desktop and laptop computers covered?
Is my networking equipment covered?
Is my peripheral equipment covered?
Who is responsible for software licensing?
I need some equipment or software installed, is this covered?
If I have a disaster will I be covered?
Does this replace my IT team?
Can I pay per incident instead?
Are you local?
Can I choose what IT support I need?
What does workstation/desktop monitoring include?
What does application support include?
Is my network hardware covered within the ProCare?
Why Croft?
Croft has been providing IT Services for over 20 years
and we have the expertise to be able to provide a fully rounded suite of IT Services,
including design, installation, support, and consultancy.
In working with Croft, you will be able to release resources who perhaps provide IT support
as a secondary function, allowing them to concentrate on being more productive for the business!
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What is remote support?
ProCare provides UK based remote and telephone support which, with your permission,
can monitor & take control of your IT equipment remotely and fix problems as soon as they occur.
Please note that this requires an active
Internet connection which must be in place before support can commence.
The majority of problems can be resolved remotely over the network, however,
if a problem cannot be fixed remotely, we will arrange for an engineer to attend site.
If a hardware fault occurs with your server or PC
(providing you have taken the optional ProCare+ cover)
we will also attend site and fix the fault at no extra charge to you.
Please bear in mind that peripheral hardware maintenance is not included in this service
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What is remote monitoring?
ProCare includes the remote monitoring of your servers to ensure that they continue
to run optimally. A number of specific checks are made constantly throughout the day by a
monitoring agent installed locally on your server. When a problem is detected, Croft is
notified immediately.
Once a day, a safety check is also carried out on your systems.
The purpose of this is to check the status of scheduled activities which don’t
need to be checked constantly, such as backup status, virus definition updates,
disk usage, email inbox size, etc.
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Can you take over and support my existing network and hardware?
Yes – We are able to offer support on most vendors' equipment so we can manage & maintain
existing hardware including server, networking, printers, plotters, PCs,
Storage Area Network (SAN), Network Attached Storage (NAS)
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Can you support mobile devices like PDAs?
Yes – Mobile devices such as Windows Mobile PDAs, BlackBerry devices, etc.
can be maintained from both a technical and hardware support perspective.
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What is a site audit?
A site audit is carried out at the commencement of the ProCare service to ensure all
necessary details have been recorded as well as preparing your PCs, servers or network
for the service. After the audit we will confirm what is covered within support and
any specific exclusions from the agreement.
We may also at this time advise on issues detected together with recommendations on
resolution that would improve system performance and reliability.
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What if I already have a contract with my local supplier?
We will help you distinguish the differences between your current contract and the
ProCare service and advise you on the best IT support package for your business.
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Can Croft handle all my IT needs?
Yes. Croft partners with organisations such as HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Enterasys,
Mitel and Veritas...plus many more to offer a wide range of products and services.
To complement these products and services, Croft has people trained with the right
skills to not only install the products but to investigate how best your business should
use and exploit IT to gain market advantage.
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What server hardware is covered?
With ProCare, we cover all of your servers including technical support and hardware support.
The hardware cover is based on a standard server specification platform.
During our audit we will determine items of hardware which may require additional cover, for example
externally attached devices such as disk storage arrays, large tape backup devices and any
other specialist equipment.
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Are my desktop and laptop computers covered?
Desktop and laptop support is available as part of the ProCare+ desktop service and is charged in addition to
ProCare server option. If taken, this support covers both technical support and hardware support
for the base computer and monitor up to 19”. Externally connected devices such as the mouse and
keyboard are classified as consumable items and are excluded from cover.
Is my networking equipment covered?
The ProCare service provides technical support on networking equipment such as routers,
switches and firewalls. Hardware support is also included for typical installations and
this will be confirmed during the audit.
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Is my peripheral equipment covered?
ProCare provides technical support on networked devices such as printers, copiers, etc. to ensure
that they are communicating correctly with the network. For hardware failures additional cover
will be required.
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Who is responsible for software licensing?
You are responsible for purchase and subscription to any necessary software licensing programmes.
To make life easier, Croft can manage licensing on your behalf if required.
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I need some equipment or software installed, is this covered?
ProCare is a support contract, i.e. maintaining what is already in place.
Installation of new equipment, software or significant reconfigurations would be handled as a
discrete project and as such would not be covered by the ProCare service.
However to allow easier IT budgeting, you may purchase Project Days in advance and add them to the ProCare
service.
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If I have a disaster will I be covered?
If you were to suffer a serious hardware failure or software corruption, resolving the issue is included within the
ProCare service. We will repair your equipment and restore data as necessary to return your server to operation
as quickly as possible. Croft offer additional Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery services to protect
your business from longer term critical failures.
Your Account Manager can provide further details on these services.
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Does this replace my IT team?
IT is a key function within most businesses these days.
While large organisations can afford to employ many staff to ensure that IT services are
kept running, smaller businesses may find it difficult to retain or justify dedicated
IT support personnel.
Even if this is the case, this one person needs to be an expert in a wide range of areas:
servers, applications, networking, firewalls, security, etc.
This person also needs holiday and may occasionally be ill.
With ProCare you can complement your existing IT resource with a team of support staff able
to offer expertise in specific areas to address problems that your IT people might never
have seen before.
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Can I pay per incident instead?
No – ProCare is a contracted period between 1 and 3 years.
Croft do offer an incident based package called Points for Service (PfS).
Contact your Account Manager for further details.
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Are you local?
Yes, Croft has a network of engineers covering the UK mainland who will respond to site
when required. Technical support and remote monitoring is provided from our UK Network Operations Centre
based in Newcastle upon Tyne.
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Can I choose what IT support I need?
One level of support is offered within ProCare
- Proactive 24/7 monitoring
- Reactive 1 hour telephone response
- Next business day response to site between 09.00 to 17.30 Monday to Friday excluding public holidays
- Extended support is available up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
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What does workstation/desktop monitoring include?
Desktop monitoring is only available on the ProCare+ desktop service. The following daily safety checks will be performed:
- AV Status Check – Ensuring your antivirus is up to date and protecting you
- Windows Service – Checks that your Windows Services are operating correctly
- Hacker Checks – Looks for unauthorized login attempts and determines if someone has been trying to hack into your system
- Disk Space Checks – Ensures you have adequate disk space remaining to avoid crashes and lengthy repairs
- Disk Health Check – Maintains the health of your disks by highlighting any integrity issues
- Event Log Monitoring – Reviews critical event log entries to identify further issues
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What does application support include?
Application support ensures that the application will run and performs it’s expected operation.
Training issues are not covered. For example:
- A user needs to create a pivot table in Excel but doesn’t know how – NOT COVERED
- A user wants to know how to create a Microsoft Access Database – NOT COVERED
- Internet Explorer 7 crashed whenever a particular site is accessed – COVERED
- An Office Application fails to launch – COVERED
- A user has a security pop-up advising of a virus - COVERED
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Is my network hardware covered within the ProCare?
Network hardware and it configuration is covered within ProCare+ but not ProCare.
Network hardware includes switches, routers, firewalls and wireless access points.
Croft supports a wide range of vendor equipment but any exceptions will be highlighted during the
initial audit.
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