Value Delivered

Data Centre Audit, Remediation, Documentation, Process Implementation, and 24/7 IT monitoring and support for a leading agricultural company (Government/Public sector) based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Requirement

A KSA based agricultural company was looking for a capable IT partner to remediate the gaps/issues in their existing IT infrastructure, as identified by an extensive audit conducted by a third-party vendor. The company was looking for a strategic partner who could fine-tune their IT infrastructure and provide recommendations to improve the overall IT operations and achieve performance efficiency.

The company has a sprawling campus (70 km in perimeter) with different department offices located across the campus but interconnected with optical fiber cables.

Even though the client had made a huge investment in IT for its on-premises datacenter, they were unable to utilize the resources efficiently due to a lack of expertise in certain technical areas and shortage of workforce. Based on the report, client requested FutureBlox to implement the recommendations and provide ongoing support which included 24/7 monitoring, support and hosting the email services.

Solution

FutureBlox successfully remediated all the points provided in the report. After approval from the client management, FutureBlox implemented all the recommendations and fine-tuned the infrastructure for higher availability, fault tolerance, security, and efficiency.

Preventive Maintenance

FutureBlox performed preventive maintenance of the IT infrastructure devices, such as servers, firewalls, switches, printers, and Wi-Fi access points on a regular basis. All patches were tested in a test lab before applying them on the production environment, based on management approval.

Monitoring

24/7 monitoring services ensured that the issues in the infrastructure were identified on a pro-active basis and helped to take corrective actions in advance. Monitoring the internet usage and bandwidth helped the client management identify problem areas and restrict internet access based on business requirements. Monitoring the resource utilization of servers on a 24/7 basis resulted in 99.99% availability of services throughout the year.>

Security Hardening

Security hardening was performed on the servers and network devices to ensure that they meet industry standards and are safe from common network exploits. Process was implemented to continuously monitor security loopholes and take preventive actions. Trainings were provided to all department staff on IT security awareness on an annual basis.

IT Policies and Procedures

FutureBlox developed IT Policies and Procedures for the company. We also prepared the process documents, which were required for compliance, maintained Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) documents, handled asset management and license management. Below are the policy documents developed and published by FutureBlox for this project:

o   Acceptable Use Policy

o   Backup Policy

o   Change Management Policy

o   Information Security Policy

o   Incident Response Plan

o   Patch Management Policy

o   Network Security Policy

o   Physical and Environmental Security Policy

o   Incident Management Policy

o   Antivirus Policy

o   Data Retention and Data Destruction Policy

Reports

Weekly reports were provided on the availability of the infrastructure with easy-to-understand dashboards. Monthly reports were provided on 24*7 monitoring services, tasks/tickets handled, major incidents, preventive maintenance activities, and capacity planning. Observations made in the infrastructure was highlighted and it helped the management on budgeting and to take educated decisions on the IT infrastructure.

Support Methodology

FutureBlox provided support remotely from our operations centre in India. Hands on support was provided by onsite Engineers from the in-house team. FutureBlox implemented a secure VPN tunnel to the client location and provided support remotely using remote management tools, such as Team Viewer and Windows Remote Desktop was used.