Services

Process Assessment Services

At Trident, we won't reinvent your business or IT department. Rather, we'll build on your current processes, leverage your existing tools, and remove inefficiencies - all with the goal of making your staff more effective on a daily basis.

We do this by assessing your current utilization of people, processes, and tools; identifying your objectives; implementing industry best practices; creating immediate wins; suggesting achievable changes; and creating a plan for future improvement.

According to CIO Insight, the #1 IT Trend for 2007 will be Process Improvement.
("The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007." CIO Insight (2006) 17 Nov. 2006)

Proactive Maintenance Contract Management

Contract Notification

In our experience we've found that most companies are working from a reactive position when dealing with maintenance contract management. Today your vendors send you support renewal notifications via email, fax, and mail in various formats (quotes, invoices, and reminders). These notifications are sent to various people within your organization (end users, accounts payable, and procurement) at various intervals prior to the expiration of a support contract. We ensure our customers receive support renewal notifications in a consistent format across all vendors, as well as making sure they're sent to the appropriate individuals within your organization.

Baseline/Review/Execution Services

• Baseline review of existing support contract accuracy
  • Develop a better understanding of the component level details that comprise your IT contracts and understand your current usage.
    • Verify status of existing contract
    • Verify status of assets included on contract
    • Identify assets not under contract
    • Determine usage
    • Gain an understanding of the coverage you have down to the component level
• Review of support options
  • The full suite of support options is not always communicated to the customer. Trident will identify the support options available and provide guidance in matching the best option with your business needs. If requested, we can also research alternative support options that are outside of the manufacturer's direct support.
• Execution of IT support orders
  • With accurate information and the appropriate components and service level(s) defined we can assist you with the execution of these orders. We also simplify the ordering process. Your procurement department does not have to know the required information for each technology manufacturer. We can make sure your orders are properly formatted for your technology partners to ensure they are processed without delay.
  • Co-termination
    • Trident assists our clients with the process of co-terminating your maintenance contracts and warranties. We help our clients move towards a single support contract for each manufacturer.
  • Accurate registration of support contracts with service providers
    • With our industry contacts we ensure that your contracts are properly registered and active within a reasonable period after execution of the order. Unfortunately for many support orders, the only time you discover a registration "error" has occurred is when you are in a vulnerable position - a time of need.

Neptune Database Access

Many organizations have resisted the move to a centralized information source not because they don't see the value, but rather because of restraints due to time, resources, and cost. With our proprietary Contract Management Database, Neptune, we're able to deliver a solution that addresses those three basic issues.

• Time: Deployment is rapid and enterprise-wide due to web-based systems and access.
• Cost: There is never any onsite infrastructure to develop, maintain, or manage.
• Resources: Our experienced team takes on all responsibility for data entry, and the ongoing maintenance processes.

Manufacturer Liaison

With the IT industry growing in complexity at an ever-increasing rate, we know the value in maintaining your vendor contacts. Turnover, new partnerships, and increases in specialization require you to reach the proper person to get the information you require. Trident provides not only a single point of contact, but we also act as a liaison to effectively communicate your needs. We bridge the gap and improve the relationships with your valued technology partners.

Research Services

We understand the most valuable resource of any organization is its people. If maintenance contract management isn't one of your core competencies, Trident can save your staff time. We consistently deliver expert research services that not only provide the valuable information you need, but also lessen the burden on your staff to become experts with every technology manufacturer.

Service Call Assistance

We capture the service call procedures for every manufacturer so you don't have to. This means you can maximize the benefits you receive from the support coverage you've purchased.

Contract Compliance Services

We'll assist you in implementing a consistent and repeatable process to ensure data accuracy, as well as use auto discovery tools to better manage your assets and ensure they're supported at the appropriate levels.

RFP Management for IT Contracts

We'll help you in determining the proper support levels and an accurate inventory of components supported under your contract. This ensures valid comparisons for the quotes received in your RFP responses.

Budgeting Assistance

We understand that reliable data is critical to accurate budget planning. We'll help you demystify costs associated with your IT contracts, and streamline your budgeting efforts.

Asset Management Updates

Based on our own proprietary process, we can capture valuable information so you can proactively manage your support contracts. Together we identify certain triggering events including IT asset acquisition, upgrades or changes, or changes in an asset's functionality within your environment, and we capture the information that is valuable to your organization. In order to proactively manage the support contracts you must actively manage the underlying asset.

Auto Discovery Tools

We identify the best tools to meet your specific needs, and then build these tools into your process.