Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager at Ideal, has 15 years of expertise in Customer Support and Managed Services for IT clients. She says Ideal’s UK-based 24/7/365 offering makes all the difference for the customer experience (CX).
Ideal’s Managed Services provide proactive and reactive support to help protect customers’ Networks, Connectivity, Wi-Fi, Cyber Security, Data Centres and Cloud environments.
From supporting IP telephony for IKEA stores in the UK and Ireland, to critical patient services at Horder Healthcare and Network and Wi-Fi systems at Battersea Power Station development, one of the largest built environments in Europe – the Ideal team support a wide range of organisations in the UK and globally.
Meet Tracy – the voice of the customer
Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager, has an important role at the heart of Managed Services, ensuring that the customer’s technology runs smoothly and co-ordinating the best possible response when an incident occurs.
“I am the voice of the customer within Ideal,” Tracy says. “I work on behalf of the customer with our technical teams, and I work with the customers’ own people on-site to make sure they know exactly what is going on and are taking any necessary action.”
It’s primarily a preventative role
Tracy says that her role is more about prevention than emergency. “When people hear that I work in Managed Services, they imagine TV scenarios with red lights flashing on screens, and people rushing around to solve critical failures that threaten life itself.
“Whilst that does occasionally occur, over ninety percent of my job is focused on prevention. I talk to customers to understand what updates they might be planning, so that we can anticipate possible risks or clashes. I monitor patches and software updates to ensure they have been actioned correctly, in a timely fashion. I alert customers to cyberattacks, threats or vulnerabilities that have occurred in other companies and may be relevant to them. And I prepare reports on technical performance, so we can collaborate on improvements to the service.”
What major incidents do the team face?
Tracy says that Managed Services takes a similar approach to a hospital A&E department. The team triage incidents based on severity, in this case the impact or potential threat to each enterprise. “Many incidents are just things not running as smoothy as we might like or upgrades that can be actioned over time. Critical incidents – ‘P1s’ as we call them – are when services are down, or security is threatened.
“More often than not, P1s are caused by physical on-site activity. A power outage that takes a firewall down, which automatically shuts down access for every device. Contractors drilling through a cable. An internal software change or upgrade that has unexpected consequences elsewhere on the network. An employee who inadvertently opens a malware attachment.
“Whatever it is, day or night, we set up a response team with the relevant expertise. I create a communications hub with the customer and include any third-party providers who may be relevant to the incident or the technology. I then report every 15 minutes, until we resolve the incident.
“I must say, when we get a P1 I get that nervous feeling in my stomach, but at the same time, it’s a really exciting part of the job. We all get an incredible feeling of satisfaction once everything is restored.”
What’s the most important ingredient in Ideal’s Managed Services?
Tracy immediately identifies the team. Not just the individuals, but how they work together.
“We have fantastic people with a huge range of skillsets, but what sets us apart is the attitude. First-, second- and third-line engineers will drop everything and work together to help solve problems, whist keeping our customers updated with the situation.
“I’ve worked for IT providers with outsourced Managed Service support abroad and however tight the processes, you simply don’t get that team cohesion. That’s the part that can quickly solve a crisis, smoothly upgrade a tech platform or just deal with everyday incidents – super-effectively and super-calmly.”
Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager at Ideal, has 15 years of expertise in Customer Support and Managed Services for IT clients. She says Ideal’s UK-based 24/7/365 offering makes all the difference for the customer experience (CX).
Ideal’s Managed Services provide proactive and reactive support to help protect customers’ Networks, Connectivity, Wi-Fi, Cyber Security, Data Centres and Cloud environments.
From supporting IP telephony for IKEA stores in the UK and Ireland, to critical patient services at Horder Healthcare and Network and Wi-Fi systems at Battersea Power Station development, one of the largest built environments in Europe – the Ideal team support a wide range of organisations in the UK and globally.
Meet Tracy – the voice of the customer
Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager, has an important role at the heart of Managed Services, ensuring that the customer’s technology runs smoothly and co-ordinating the best possible response when an incident occurs.
“I am the voice of the customer within Ideal,” Tracy says. “I work on behalf of the customer with our technical teams, and I work with the customers’ own people on-site to make sure they know exactly what is going on and are taking any necessary action.”
It’s primarily a preventative role
Tracy says that her role is more about prevention than emergency. “When people hear that I work in Managed Services, they imagine TV scenarios with red lights flashing on screens, and people rushing around to solve critical failures that threaten life itself.
“Whilst that does occasionally occur, over ninety percent of my job is focused on prevention. I talk to customers to understand what updates they might be planning, so that we can anticipate possible risks or clashes. I monitor patches and software updates to ensure they have been actioned correctly, in a timely fashion. I alert customers to cyberattacks, threats or vulnerabilities that have occurred in other companies and may be relevant to them. And I prepare reports on technical performance, so we can collaborate on improvements to the service.”
What major incidents do the team face?
Tracy says that Managed Services takes a similar approach to a hospital A&E department. The team triage incidents based on severity, in this case the impact or potential threat to each enterprise. “Many incidents are just things not running as smoothy as we might like or upgrades that can be actioned over time. Critical incidents – ‘P1s’ as we call them – are when services are down, or security is threatened.
“More often than not, P1s are caused by physical on-site activity. A power outage that takes a firewall down, which automatically shuts down access for every device. Contractors drilling through a cable. An internal software change or upgrade that has unexpected consequences elsewhere on the network. An employee who inadvertently opens a malware attachment.
“Whatever it is, day or night, we set up a response team with the relevant expertise. I create a communications hub with the customer and include any third-party providers who may be relevant to the incident or the technology. I then report every 15 minutes, until we resolve the incident.
“I must say, when we get a P1 I get that nervous feeling in my stomach, but at the same time, it’s a really exciting part of the job. We all get an incredible feeling of satisfaction once everything is restored.”
What’s the most important ingredient in Ideal’s Managed Services?
Tracy immediately identifies the team. Not just the individuals, but how they work together.
“We have fantastic people with a huge range of skillsets, but what sets us apart is the attitude. First-, second- and third-line engineers will drop everything and work together to help solve problems, whist keeping our customers updated with the situation.
“I’ve worked for IT providers with outsourced Managed Service support abroad and however tight the processes, you simply don’t get that team cohesion. That’s the part that can quickly solve a crisis, smoothly upgrade a tech platform or just deal with everyday incidents – super-effectively and super-calmly.”
Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager at Ideal, has 15 years of expertise in Customer Support and Managed Services for IT clients. She says Ideal’s UK-based 24/7/365 offering makes all the difference for the customer experience (CX).
Ideal’s Managed Services provide proactive and reactive support to help protect customers’ Networks, Connectivity, Wi-Fi, Cyber Security, Data Centres and Cloud environments.
From supporting IP telephony for IKEA stores in the UK and Ireland, to critical patient services at Horder Healthcare and Network and Wi-Fi systems at Battersea Power Station development, one of the largest built environments in Europe – the Ideal team support a wide range of organisations in the UK and globally.
Meet Tracy – the voice of the customer
Tracy Stairs, Service Delivery Manager, has an important role at the heart of Managed Services, ensuring that the customer’s technology runs smoothly and co-ordinating the best possible response when an incident occurs.
“I am the voice of the customer within Ideal,” Tracy says. “I work on behalf of the customer with our technical teams, and I work with the customers’ own people on-site to make sure they know exactly what is going on and are taking any necessary action.”
It’s primarily a preventative role
Tracy says that her role is more about prevention than emergency. “When people hear that I work in Managed Services, they imagine TV scenarios with red lights flashing on screens, and people rushing around to solve critical failures that threaten life itself.
“Whilst that does occasionally occur, over ninety percent of my job is focused on prevention. I talk to customers to understand what updates they might be planning, so that we can anticipate possible risks or clashes. I monitor patches and software updates to ensure they have been actioned correctly, in a timely fashion. I alert customers to cyberattacks, threats or vulnerabilities that have occurred in other companies and may be relevant to them. And I prepare reports on technical performance, so we can collaborate on improvements to the service.”
What major incidents do the team face?
Tracy says that Managed Services takes a similar approach to a hospital A&E department. The team triage incidents based on severity, in this case the impact or potential threat to each enterprise. “Many incidents are just things not running as smoothy as we might like or upgrades that can be actioned over time. Critical incidents – ‘P1s’ as we call them – are when services are down, or security is threatened.
“More often than not, P1s are caused by physical on-site activity. A power outage that takes a firewall down, which automatically shuts down access for every device. Contractors drilling through a cable. An internal software change or upgrade that has unexpected consequences elsewhere on the network. An employee who inadvertently opens a malware attachment.
“Whatever it is, day or night, we set up a response team with the relevant expertise. I create a communications hub with the customer and include any third-party providers who may be relevant to the incident or the technology. I then report every 15 minutes, until we resolve the incident.
“I must say, when we get a P1 I get that nervous feeling in my stomach, but at the same time, it’s a really exciting part of the job. We all get an incredible feeling of satisfaction once everything is restored.”
What’s the most important ingredient in Ideal’s Managed Services?
Tracy immediately identifies the team. Not just the individuals, but how they work together.
“We have fantastic people with a huge range of skillsets, but what sets us apart is the attitude. First-, second- and third-line engineers will drop everything and work together to help solve problems, whist keeping our customers updated with the situation.
“I’ve worked for IT providers with outsourced Managed Service support abroad and however tight the processes, you simply don’t get that team cohesion. That’s the part that can quickly solve a crisis, smoothly upgrade a tech platform or just deal with everyday incidents – super-effectively and super-calmly.”
