Strategic Support Agreements (SSA)

Considering the nature of security, the number of organisations that allow for a contingency amount in their Information Security budget is alarmingly small. Unexpected events can be a drain on both time and resources for the IT department, many of whom are left with little or no finances to allocate to solving the problem.

Sapphire addressed the needs of their clients and realised the importance of having a contingency plan. Should it be a major security incident or perhaps the implementation of a new product or solution, having a strategic agreement already in place will give you peace of mind, as well as ensuring you are prepared for any eventuality.

When support is obtained from a number of different best of breed suppliers; the advice, delivery and quality often becomes fragmented as differing suppliers operate to differing codes of practice and standards of service. With an SSA, you can rest assured that Sapphire will become the middleman to make certain your solutions work together and you get the best kind of protection.

What in effect is being presented to the client in the form of a SSA is a single source for all their information security requirements, with added bonus of our organisations full certification to ISO27001, the global standard for information security.

The provision of Strategic Support enables our clients to ensure that their security knowledge, systems, technical security and processes are maintained at the highest level.
The support agreement can include:

> Computer Forensics and Data Recovery
> ISO 27002 ( ISO 27002 (ISO 17799:2005): 2005) / ISO 27001/ISO27000 & Security Audit Consultancy
> Vulnerability Assessment
> Regular Security Reviews and Health-checks
> Education and Training
> Technical Services
> Access to the Sapphire Helpdesk

There are four levels of service available for clients entering a Strategic Support Agreement. Each being composed of a set of modules, selected and tailored to meet the individual customer's requirements at the time. Clients are able to mix and match the products and services from section 2.3 to form a complete security contingency plan. In their basic form these four levels comprise an effective support service.

These levels separate into:

Level of Service	Days of Support
Bronze Strategic Support	5 Days
Silver Strategic Support	10 Days
Gold Strategic Support	20 Days
Platinum Strategic Support	30 Days

Each level of support is valid for a 12-month period.

Support Desk Hours
Helpdesk support should be directed to 01642 702111 and can be accepted during normal working day hours 08.30 – 17.00 Monday to Friday. Once a helpdesk requests is submitted, dependent on the nature of your request it will be passed on to the appropriate technical consultant or account manager for processing.

You will be required to supply the following information during your helpdesk request:
Name
Company
Telephone Number
Request Description

The description should include relevant product information, error messages and full details of the request. The more information you can provide the easier it will be to assist your request in the shortest time possible.

Alternatively the above information can be submitted to helpdesk@sapphire.net

24-hour emergency responses are available.