Professional Services
IT Strategic Management & Virtual CIO
Identification & Implementation of Cost Out Opportunities
Solution Architecture Design & Service Delivery
Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery & Risk Management
IT Lifecycle & Change Management
IT Consultancy & Project Management
IT Governance, Compliance & Business Process Improvement
IT Strategic Management & Virtual CIO
Any mid-sized business requires IT strategy management – do you have that on your leadership team?
As a vCIO we take ownership of your IT strategic direction, providing expert guidance and overall management of IT people, processes and technology providing the foundation for business growth and innovation
Virtual CIO Services & Benefits
Strategic planning & creation of IT Policy & Roadmaps aligned with business goals
IT Security, Business Continuity & Risk Management
IT Financial Management, Budgeting, ROI analysis & capital investment planning
Staff & IT Vendor development, KPI & SLA Management
IT Operations, Service Delivery & Lifecycle Management
IT Governance, Compliance, Change Management & Business Process Improvement
Visibility & reporting on performance, systems health & technology capability gaps
Obtain all the benefits, expertise & career knowledge of an in-house CIO without the considerable salary
Solution Architecture
Our Solution Architecture engagements aim to deliver a cost effective standardised tech-stack designed to be highly available and scalable. We utilise best of breed technologies with a focus on IT simplification and intuitive user interfaces to achieve end user engagement and increase productivity
Every IT asset, platform and system requires maintenance, support and upgrades, they can also require licensing which can add up to significant labour and operating expenses … our approach is to do more with less, rationalise applications, simplify the tech-stack and reduce OPEX whilst delivering on business requirements
We provide end to end IT solutions from requirements, through to design, engineering, implementation, service delivery and post project control
Q. Do your line of business applications lack integration & you have multiple reporting sources?
Q. Is your technology misaligned from your business direction & hampering growth?
Q. Do you have several applications to achieve what could be achieved with less?
Q. Can your sales force be more effective in the field with the right technology tools?
Q. Do you have a specific objective you’re looking to achieve but don’t know where to start?
Q. Is your IT not agile enough & can’t keep pace with business change or growth?
If you can answer yes to any of these questions then we should be discussing our Solution Architecture offering
Identification & Implementation of Cost Out Opportunities
Cost savings exist in every business and the IT function is renowned for excessive costs that aren’t providing any value
We identify opportunities to reduce expenses without compromising on quality or functionality, in fact we typically save you money whilst improving performance
We leverage technology to eliminate manual processes, improve efficiencies and reduce costs through IT automation
Aside from automation opportunities it’s highly likely we can reduce costs through a review of 3rd party vendor contracts, hardware maintenance, redundant or unnecessary services, over licensed applications, ineffective labour, over specified compute resources, underutilised capacity or simply being charged too much
We can also provide you a comparison rate for a particular service so if you’re interested in reducing your IT spend then we’d be happy to conduct a review
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Solutions
Are you prepared for your IT services being unavailable? Can your business function without access to communications, business applications or data? How well would your business recover and return to operations from a natural disaster, a major security breach, significant loss of critical data or unplanned Infrastructure outages?
We provide Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions to ensure your downtime is either eliminated or minimised and business operations and IT services are restored promptly
BC / DR is broad topic and creates good leadership debate but everyone agrees that preparedness is absolutely necessary. Be prepared and have scenario driven “what if” discussions about your current state and where improvements can be made and tested in advance
Business Continuity is designed to maintain IT operations in the event of failure whereas Disaster Recovery is designed to minimise disruption and have you operational as quickly as possible … similar to an evacuation plan an effective BC / DR plan can avoid or reduce recovery times substantially
From automated high availability services and fault tolerant Infrastructure to manual processes and access to business data – it’s important you understand the risks and business impact of short or long term IT outages
New Zealand is vulnerable to natural disasters & force majeure events. Consider the 2011 Christchurch earthquake & how resilient your business would have been
Risk Mitigation
IT risks include systems and Infrastructure failures, human error and change failures, compromised security, compliance defects, social networking misuse, legacy technology, facilities failures and many more
IT risks have the potential to result in outages, systems downtime, reputation damage, impact to productivity, customer dissatisfaction, commercial losses and breaches of regulatory requirements
We take a pragmatic approach to your IT risks … we develop a current state IT risk profile, then devise risk avoidance and safeguard initiatives to mitigate those risks. Our risk probability and consequence matrix provides a toolset for business leaders to make informed data driven decisions on assessing and prioritising their IT risks
IT risks evolve over time so regular reviews are required to ensure your risk profile is maintained
Have a “what if” chat with us now to avoid the “what now” chat later
IT Lifecycle Management
An ongoing IT challenge is maintaining version currency and standardisation of hardware and software versions
Our IT Lifecycle programme manages Infrastructure and asset refresh, firmware upgrades, version controls, patching and security updates and functionality enhancements for all hardware, middleware platforms, appliances and toolsets
IT hardware requires firmware upgrades to maintain vendor support but upgrading to recent releases is also necessary to avoid code bugs, enhance functionality and maintain stability. Software and applications are even more subject to frequent version releases mandated by vendors. As these upgrades introduce risk they require testing in advance, they consume IT resources and can be complex with multiple interconnected dependencies. We ensure these challenges are painless
An all too familiar occurrence is businesses being hamstrung by legacy systems that haven’t been maintained or upgraded … these systems create dependencies, introduce unnecessary risk and can lead to a lack of spare parts or technical expertise. Lifecycle management can avoid this situation and ensure your Infrastructure and systems remain current
Our Lifecycle programme delivers on a regular schedule of upgrades using a disciplined change management approach to manage risk. Lifecycle management is not a 1 time, set and forget task … it requires regular feeding and watering that most businesses and IT departments neglect
Call us today & avoid a situation where you can’t move forward because your IT Lifecycle hasn’t been maintained
IT Change Control
Have you been asked to approve IT changes – if not, why not? The numbers don’t lie … failed IT changes are the number 1 cause of IT and business downtime
IT changes can be complex with multiple interfaces and systems dependencies – adopt a no-cowboys approach to managing IT changes by utilising our enterprise class IT change management service
Formal change control governance provides key stakeholders with visibility of the change including business impact and affected IT services, time frames, change ownership, implementation risks, rollback plans, communications plans, technical dependencies, technical tasks, sequence of events and ultimately approvals to proceed
Importantly, change control provides a forum for discussion and guarantees all relevant parties are in agreement with the planned approach, it provides accountability and ensures everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities
IT Consultancy & Project Management
You can engage us to consult on any IT challenge or upcoming initiative you might have. The scope of that consultancy could well be anything you see mentioned on this website – and more
With decades of expert knowledge and industry prowess we’d welcome the opportunity to provide objective IT consultancy for your business
Should you wish us to take on a discreet piece of work we have qualified project management staff to manage your IT projects or programmes of work
LEAN Six Sigma Consultancy
“Show me the data”. For a statistical data driven approach to defect elimination and continuous process improvement there is no better methodology to improve your business capability and efficiency. Whether it be a discreet improvement initiative or a business wide adoption of LEAN Six Sigma – we have certified staff happy to discuss your objectives
Our offering is backed by IT expertise but is can be deployed across all business functions
“LEAN then digitise”
Compliance, Licensing & Audits
Remove the administrative burden of managing your own software licensing, renewals, hardware maintenance and IT compliance for various industry standards such as ISO, PCI and SOX
Speak to us about how we manage these tedious but mandatory tasks and ensure you pass your next IT audit with flying colours
Get In Touch
Customers can engage us for Professional Services to achieve a specific IT objective or to provide ongoing strategic management as required
Contact us today for an introductory chat
FAQ’s
Professional services are more strategic, advanced services requiring in depth knowledge of systems integration and customers business. This is where we move from supplier to valued partner. Pro services engagements are not quick wins and require commitment from both parties
As a small business may only require a small engagement in that case but any sized business is faced with the same technology challenges
Yes, that is typically what tends to happen for businesses with internal IT staff. Often they don’t possess the appropriate skills sets so we take the lead and they assist as IT resources to deliver projects or discreet IT objectives
An initial no obligation, no charge consultation to discuss your business objectives and direction, IT current state, risks and challenges- recommendations and proposals follow
Each engagement has defined deliverable and specific goals that must be achieved. We provide regular tracking and reporting to ensure we’re achieving those goals
Service Portfolio 
Multiple Services, 1 Service Provider … how can we help you today?
Servers
Run your business apps and IT services from our VPS, Dedicated or Container Servers. Host your Servers on best of breed Hypervisor, Storage & High Availability Server Infrastructure. Cost effective, custom specifications and scalable on demand
HA Clusters
All compute services are delivered from our own High Availability clusters in Auckland. Our HA clusters are built for availability, reliability, scalability and performance. Our Infrastructure is 100% owned, built and operated by us
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Test, Dev, Pre-Prod, Staging, UAT, QA … whatever your phase of the development lifecycle host your apps on our Platform as a Service (PaaS) and / or Database as a Service (DBaaS) Clusters. Focus on development without having to manage the underlying Infrastructure and middleware
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Cost effective, high availability, scalable Infrastructure on demand. Our Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering eliminates capital investment and operational overhead, is fully customisable and super secure with amazing performance
Containers
Containers are highly portable and offer the best density on a hardware to application ratio … this delivers great scalability and ensures they’re a viable proposition particularly with application development
Storage as a Service (StaaS)
Enterprise Block, Object & File Storage built on high performance fault tolerant Storage clusters for your Servers, Databases and everyday business Storage requirements
IT Managed Services & Operations Management
STROBE’s proactive IT Managed Services provides fixed cost, guaranteed resource availability and “all you can eat” IT management with unlimited scope options – reach out to STROBE, your experts for IT Managed Services
Strategic Management
Owners of your IT leadership and strategic management. Valued partners for solution architecture design, service delivery, IT cost out opportunities and overall strategic direction
About Us
Check out a bit about who we are and what we care about, our values, technologies and datacentres
Consultancy & Project Management
IT Consulting, Project and Programme Management expertise for your next IT project. Also offering consultancy for LEAN Six Sigma, IT licensing, auditing, PCI and IT industry compliance
IT Operations & Support
For all your IT operations, systems administration, Infrastructure management, end user client support, maintenance break / fix, systems integration and networking requirements
Lifecycle Management
Our IT infrastructure and asset lifecycle programme management includes asset refresh, firmware upgrades, version controls, patching schedules and functionality enhancements for all hardware, software, platforms, appliances and toolsets. Call us today and avoid a situation where your business is hamstrung by legacy systems that haven’t been maintained or upgraded
Change Management
Disciplined, mature IT Change Management eliminates human error which is the number 1 reason for IT failures. Adopt a change control process and avoid unnecessary disruption from failed changes
Internet Service Provider
Fast, reliable, UFB Fibre Broadband and dedicated, uncontended Business grade Fibre Internet circuits. All links are monitored and include unlimited data, no contracts, no install charge, no shaping and plenty of optional extras
Managed Networks & Firewalls
Network design, build, integration, monitoring and management services for LAN, WAN, Firewalls, Routers, WiFi, VPN’s, Load balancing, Proxy and Content Management. Specialist Managed Network service for customers who value performance, traffic optimisation and robust network security
Wide Area Networks
Multi-site inter-connectivity providing private, dedicated, layer 3 WAN services. Best in class networking performance for your site locations
VoIP & Cloud PBX
Our Enterprise grade Cloud PBX services offer high performance, amazing quality, secure, reliable Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications. Super flexible calling and call routing options to suit every business size and Voice requirements
Email Hosting
Email services rivalling Office 365 functionality with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a modern Email solution. Plenty of configuration options from our secure, high availability hosted Email service
Phone Numbers
New or existing local, regional or international phone numbers and free-call numbers available with custom phone number selection. Significant cost savings and numerous VoIP end point options available from IP handsets, Softphones, SIP on cell phone and analogue telephone adapters to choose from
Cyber Security
Check out our Cyber Security offerings and why this is important to your business. Everything from Security and risk assessments, Security breach remediation and vulnerability scanning from perimeter to end points. Chat to us on how we manage, monitor, report & maintain security operations
Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
Still the most secure, cost effective and seamless method for external remote access to internally (or externally) hosted business resources. We provide robust Virtual Private Network as a Service (VPNaaS) gateways providing secure, encrypted VPN tunnels for always on site-to-site VPN’s or on demand client based VPN access
SSL Certificates
A must have for any website. Protect your website, improve customer perception and increase customer visitation with SSL encryption. Get yourself a cost effective certificate today
Network & Perimeter Security
Network security is a vital component of your overall Cyber Security posture. Not just Internet and perimeter but internal Local Area Networks (LAN’s) … have a chat to us about our Managed Firewall and Managed Networks & Security services to safeguard your IT assets, data and intellectual property
Web Design & Development
Custom website design and development including mobile responsive and eCommerce built on modern Open Source PHP frameworks with Content Management Systems (CMS). Also offering Website performance optimisation, repairs, maintenance, security, CMS training and cosmetic content changes
Web Hosting
World class, high performance Web Hosting on our High Availability Cluster with industry leading cPanel or Plesk control panel options. Flexible, cost effective, managed or unmanaged hosting plans to choose from with plenty of bundled extras
Domain Names
A domain name will instantly make your business appear more professional, trustworthy and add credibility. Endless domain name extensions to choose from. Domain registration includes unlimited DNS changes and support. Speak to us today about registering your new domain name
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BC/DR)
Despite the threat of natural disasters and significant business disruption, BC / DR is something NZ business is yet to fully embrace. We provide IT risk consultancy and BC / DR solutions to ensure your downtime is eliminated or minimised and business operations are restored quickly
Backups
Our Cloud Backup as a Service (BaaS) eliminates capital expenditure on backup Infrastructure and avoids the administrative headaches of managing backups. Backup data is housed on our High Availability clusters, is replicated to a secondary Datacentre and all backup solutions receive custom scheduling, custom data retention periods and data restore testing as standard