Transparity Solutions Limited

Azure CSP

Our Azure CSP Subscriptions provide monthly billing and services for Microsoft's Azure public cloud platform in a flexible and cost-effective manner. We also offer proactively managed services which are offered as a chargeable add-on services, which are materially lower in cost than traditional asset and user based managed service offerings.

Features

• Unlimited, all-inclusive telephone, email and remote support
• Support of the Azure platform
• Support of Microsoft servers and infrastructure applications
• 8am-6pm cover, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays)
• 24/7 support available for outages and emergencies
• Guaranteed SLA
• Inclusive Service requests
• A designated Service Delivery Manager (SDM)
• Azure public cloud billing
• Cloud Management Platform

Benefits

• Reduce IT Support Costs
• Reduce in house support costs
• Provides CSP licence subscription from Microsoft
• Rapid remote issue fixing ensures staff can continue to work
• Flexible model, only pay for what you use
• Cloud Management Portal
• Security Insights

£0.01 to £7,499 a unit a month

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at hello@transparity.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

143380662946249

Contact

Jessica Pattison
01202 800000
hello@transparity.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: No
• System requirements: Suitable Internet Connectivity

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: 1 hour response
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: • 3 Different support levels. Standard is included with Azure CSP licensing. Enhanced & Enterprise are chargeable and are included within the Azure Managed Services Offer; Standard support includes:; • Provides support for Azure services ; • Unlimited, all-inclusive telephone, email and remote support ; • Support of Microsoft servers and Microsoft Azure infrastructure applications; • Business hours support: 8am-6pm Monday to Friday; • Inclusive Service requests; • An assigned Service Delivery Manager (SDM) for incident escalation; • 8am-6pm for Standard incidents; • Cloud Management Platform; • Monitoring, alerting & patching; • Change Requests and project work charged separately (or deducted from a pre-paid Time Bank)
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: As part of our managed services onboarding process we will provide services to migrate customers from their existing cloud provider or legacy on premise based IT systems.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: This can be requested and our service desk can provide all data required at the end of the contract.
• End-of-contract process: The customer has 3 options to procure Azure CSP: Pay as you Go, 1 year reserved instance or 3 year reserved instance. At the end of the selected period the customer can move their services to a new provider however should this require migration tasks this will be charged in line with the rate card.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: None
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 A
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Portal branding can be customised by system administrators. Azure Services are ultimately very customisable based upon the customer requirement

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Our service is run on the Microsoft public cloud platform, which is managed and maintained by Microsoft. They have strict SLAs with partners and customers and ensure the platform demand doesn't affect performance.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Azure

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Customers have the ability to export their data using the Microsoft admin centre tools at any point during the contract.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Azure services got be made resilient by design and is tailored to customer needs and requirements
• Approach to resilience: Microsoft have multiple global data centres which provide the Azure services. This provides customers to option to choose a highly resilient design to provide full resiliency and failover.
• Outage reporting: Microsoft provide a public dashboard and email alerts for downtime.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication: 2-factor authentication
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We use Azure AD authentication and domain services in order to restrict access to interfaces and support channels as needed. This is backed with MFA/2-Factor authentication for all users.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication: 2-factor authentication

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: QMS
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 14/02/2018
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register (JOSCAR)
  • Microsoft Intelligent Security Association
  • ISO 9001

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: No
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: We are ISO 27001 and 9001 accredited and follow all procedures inline with this certification as required. We are audited each year on this accreditation.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Significant changes or where a change is high risk and therefore requires a Statement of Work, are treated as a project and are scoped and quoted independently of this service. In all cases, changes are managed via formal Change Request entries in our Service Desk platform and are subject to approval by the customer and the relevant technical authority within Transparity before execution.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Cloud security is top priority for businesses and as such, understanding the posture of your Microsoft Azure security configuration is a must have feature of this service. Arming yourself with information is the first crucial ; step in preparing a defence against malicious actors. The data we present will enable you to understand your current vs potential security posture, which in turn informs decisions on what to prioritise and where to focus ; energy and resource.We do this by connecting to the Microsoft Secure Score data for your Microsoft Azure cloud environment and ; displaying meaningful data that can be filtered by you.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Using cloud native features of Microsoft Azure we monitor your virtual machine environment for performance issues at all times and provide a reactive response to alerts received during business hours or 24x7 should you elect for the Enhanced or Enterprise offerings.; ; Using standardised monitoring templates built and fine-tuned by Transparity, we can detect issues that are common causes of downtime, such as low disk space, high CPU, low memory and excessive latency across your Microsoft Server estate in Azure. These monitors are built on RMM’s powerful built-in integrations for Windows Server, including WMI, SNMP, Network Bandwidth and Event Log monitoring.
• Incident management type: Undisclosed
• Incident management approach: Large Azure outages and incidents are dealt as part of the service Microsoft provides

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Public Services Network (PSN)
  • Police National Network (PNN)
  • NHS Network (N3)
  • Joint Academic Network (JANET)
  • Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  We are partnering with The Woodland Trust (who are a customer of Transparity) on an initiative to support and underline our commitment to our 'Winning From Anywhere' working model - supporting our vision of having a culture that differentiates us and having a positive social and environmental impact. ; We moved to a full home-work model just prior to COVID and have demonstrated that we can deliver outstanding experiences to our customers through this model. This is fully in line with our values and underpinned by trust. ; For every day our consultant team deliver client work in a remote way we fund £5 into our Woodland Trust partnership. This funding supports specific Woodland Trust projects including the Urban Tree planting project and the Emergency Tree Fund. One benefit that we can have seen since the pandemic is the reduction in travel which has further reduced our carbon footprint, and we have now fully embraced this working model.; Our commitment to educating about climate change can also be seen through our CMP which is highlighted earlier in the proposal detailing how we are educating our customers around their carbon emissions and providing recommendations on how they can be reduced.; We were also pleased to announce in 2024 we became a carbon neutral organisation and continue to publish our annual ESG Report based upon third party assessment of our activities.

  Covid-19 recovery

  Since the beginning of COVID-19, Transparity have changed their approach to delivering projects from working on customer sites to now delivering projects remotely, which we are looking to continue. The benefit of this has enhanced business continuity as it has reduced the risk to both our internal staff and staff of our customers and ensured projects can continue to be delivered. Transparity have always been in a position to deliver projects remotely due to us leveraging and utilising Microsoft Technology, the effect of COVID-19 has meant that we were able to change our approach quickly without it impacting delivery to our customers.; We have also seen massive growth across the business since the Pandemic, and remote working has enabled Transparity to recruit Consultants, Engineers, and Sales people regardless of their location which has enabled us to continue to hire the best most experienced staff in the industry. This is highlighted in expansion of our Service Desk and SOC, providing 24x7 support via staff in New Zealand

  Tackling economic inequality

  Transparity is a proud Microsoft Partner, and we are a business where success is based on our culture and our values, Transformation, Partnership & Clarity. We believe that we need to do the right thing to ensure our growth and that our success should also being measured in the social impact we have. In addition, we are committed to being the most respected Microsoft partner and signing the Partner Pledge is seen as an important commitment. ; We recognise both the need to attract new talent in the technology sector and the need to nurture that new talent through learning and development and creating a culture where individuals and teams can fully realise their potential. Furthermore, we understand the diversity and inclusion challenge in the sector. ; We passionately believe that through our growth and culture we have an opportunity to make a positive impact through creating new apprenticeship opportunities and ensuring these opportunities are made open and accessible to a diverse talent pool. We have invested in creating an innovative People & Culture Function to lead and enable us on this journey. ; We have established our own Transparity Apprenticeship Academy and recruited our first apprentices who joined us in 2021. We partnered with QA, who we identified as offering the most relevant and Microsoft aligned programmes, in addition we felt their learning events and online platform would deliver a great apprentice experience. QA were also set-up to support us in the set-up, recruitment and screening process. ; We have set an ambitious ‘expectation’ that our programme has 50:50 gender profile and is accessible to all. Our aim has been to recruit on our values (The Transparity Mindset) and not on previous technical experience. ; We currently have 6 employees who have graduated through this programme and 7 current apprenticeships underway.

  Equal opportunity

  Transparity are committed to the shift that needs to happen to make the tech landscape more diverse and inclusive. That’s why we’re proud signatories of the Tech Talent Charter and the Disability Confident Employer schemes. ; We believe that connecting with likeminded, passionate and committed organisations will enable us to collectively make lasting change to attract more diverse talent into the tech industry. ; Additionally, we have developed our own network named “wit”, which has the double meaning of Women in Transparity and Women in Tech. It has been designed to help bridge the gender gap in the industry, allowing this group in our team to form connections across the business, discuss challenges, share achievements, explore ideas and come up with initiatives.

  Wellbeing

  Wellbeing is an often-overlooked yet extremely important part of working life. At Transparity, we understand how a holistic approach to wellbeing can truly make a difference to individuals and teams.; Here are just some of our initiatives that we offer to help promote wellbeing and engagement within the team:; • A culture dedicated to openness and transparency, based monthly business updates and weekly check-ins.; • Weekly "Wellbeing Wednesday" calls; a chance for anyone in the business to discuss how their week has been, get advice in a supportive environment, or just take some time out to connect with other team members.; • Regular opportunities to give feedback and suggest improvements that the company could make to keep the business a fantastic place for all.; • Onboarding calls with key Senior Leadership Team members in the first couple of weeks of employment. It doesn't matter whether you're a member of the Extended Leadership Team or a brand-new young apprentice; our CEO will still take the time to get to know you.; • A phenomenal People & Culture team who are not only dedicated to improving internal processes and engagement but will discuss anything you need to in a confidential environment.; • Friday afternoon "All Hands" calls, where we offer shout outs to our colleagues, welcome new starters...and end the week with a hotly-contested quiz!; From a benevolence and social perspective, we consistently support Charitable donations, encourage staff to conduct voluntary days in their communities, conduct team building events and support / sponsor the events of others. We have a large focus upon upskilling our people and we also have a modest size apprenticeship programme here too.

Pricing

• Price: £0.01 to £7,499 a unit a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at hello@transparity.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.