Alienstech How we work
Six steps, in this order, every time. The first three happen before anything is recommended or quoted, which is what keeps the recommendations honest.
Discovery
A conversation about how the business runs, what already frustrates people, what is planned for the next couple of years, and where the pressure points are. No equipment is discussed at this stage.
Assessment
A look at what is actually installed: network, servers, workstations, firewall, Wi-Fi, backups, accounts, licenses and warranties. This step routinely turns up licenses nobody uses and a backup that has been failing quietly.
Documentation
The findings are written up properly. Diagrams, addressing, configurations, license counts, renewal dates and recovery steps. This becomes the reference point for every decision afterward, and it belongs to you.
Recommendations
A short list of what to do, in priority order, with the reasoning and the cost of each item. Anything urgent is marked as urgent. Anything that can wait a year is described as something that can wait a year.
Implementation
The work is scheduled around your business rather than the other way round, with changes made in a sequence that keeps disruption low. Cutovers happen out of hours where that makes sense.
Ongoing support
Patching, backup verification, monitoring, hardware lifecycle tracking and responsive help when something goes wrong. The documentation is updated as the environment changes, not once a year.
Why the order matters
Plenty of technology money is wasted by starting at step five. A business describes a symptom, someone quotes equipment, the equipment arrives, and the underlying cause turns out to be something else entirely. Discovery, assessment and documentation take a few hours each and remove most of that risk.
For a small office the first four steps usually fit within a week. For a company with several locations or a server room that has grown over a decade, it takes longer, and it is worth the time.