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The Virtual Forge

Global Helpdesk and Cloud Services

The Helpdesk is used as a means of underpinning the products and services of The Virtual Forge with a stable, resilient support structure to ensure any issues experienced by customers are handled swiftly. We provide the full range of cloud services for consultancy, security, DevOps with AWS and Azure support.

Features

  • Triage of incidents
  • General help and advice
  • User training
  • Ticket reporting
  • System monitoring

Benefits

  • Ensure clients can deliver services to their end users
  • Log tickets to ensure fast resolution of incidents
  • Incident tracking to enable monthly reviews

Pricing

£100 to £1,000 a unit

  • Education pricing available

Service documents

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 connect@thevirtualforge.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

7 2 6 8 2 1 2 4 6 0 1 9 1 5 0

Contact

The Virtual Forge The Virtual Forge
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 078 8855
Email: connect@thevirtualforge.com

Planning

Planning service
Yes
How the planning service works
A team is assembled including members from our PMO, DevOps and Business Analysts to assess the client requirements. Typically this would involve an initial call to ascertain client requirements followed by a workshop with relevant team members from supplier and client.
From this an agreement of the most suitable solution is acquired. A Scope of Works document is drafted and once signed off, a sprint-based project plan is then created to achieve the desired outcome
Planning service works with specific services
Yes
Hosting or software services the planning service works with
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Azure

Training

Training service provided
Yes
How the training service works
Each solution is bespoke to the client so training is based on the product created and the level of training required by end users.
Training is tied to specific services
No

Setup and migration

Setup or migration service available
Yes
How the setup or migration service works
Our developers will work with you to design the architecture and set up for your AWS/Azure or Google infrastructure and we provide the technical resources to support the service once in place.
We are a leading certified partner and global reseller of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure & Google. Our dedicated team in the UK, Portugal, and North America will guide you seamlessly through new projects and system migrations, from traditional data centres to full or hybrid cloud solutions.
Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services
Yes
List of supported services
  • Amazon AWS
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Google

Quality assurance and performance testing

Quality assurance and performance testing service
Yes
How the quality assurance and performance testing works
Load Testing, Security Testing

Security testing

Security services
Yes
Security services type
  • Security strategy
  • Security risk management
  • Cyber security consultancy
  • Security incident management

Ongoing support

Ongoing support service
Yes
Types of service supported
  • Hosting or software provided by your organisation
  • Hosting or software provided by a third-party organisation
How the support service works
Our products are supported by a team of specialists who are passionate about customer service and determined to ensure the best user experience following the handover of live products and services from the project team.

Using our ticketing system ‘Freshdesk’, clients insure their product or service with a helpdesk contract and can raise tickets at any point. They will receive an immediate acknowledgement and reference number to use in the tracking of the issue to closure. Tickets are managed by the team who will triage and answer the query, or ascertain any relevant information to liaise with the development teams and address the issue. Tickets can be raised by using an online portal or by simply sending an email. Use of the portal enables the customer to keep track of their tickets, or all of those from their company if they so choose.

Using this method ensures accurate tracking of all issues, and allows us to identify problem areas and prevent further issues in the future. It also allows us to accurately estimate the amount of assistance a customer requires.

Service scope

Service constraints
Services are cloud-based so remote support is normally sufficient. On-site support is available with reasonable notice based on client location. We have offices in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
We current support UK hours from 8am to 9pm.

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
P1 - Critical - 2 hours
P2 - High - 4 hours
P3 - Medium - 8 hours
P4 - Low - 24 hours
UK hours 8am - 9pm. Out of hours support for P1 only.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Support levels
Priority levels set out below. Clients can opt to have support out of hours for premium level, however this is for P1 only.

Priority 1 / Urgent
Service down; unusable by all parties,

Priority 2 / High
Major problem; system is functioning but severely affecting all parties. Priority 2 problems may be fixed with a workaround. If a workaround is provided, the priority level may be downgraded to Priority 3.

Priority 3 / Medium
Minor problem; system is functioning and workaround is available. One or some parties affected, Priority 3 parties may be resolved with a fix or workaround.

Priority 4 / Low
Minor problem; system functioning or only issue affecting one party. General questions or queries relating to the service or new products.

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra support
Organisation whose services are being resold
AWS, Azure, Google

Staff security

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

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
British Assessment Bureau
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
21/12/2021
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
-
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change The Virtual Forge are committed to ● Complying and keeping up to date with environmental legislation ● Preventing pollution ● Continually working to reduce our environmental impacts – minimising waste produced, minimising our energy use, training staff and encouraging greener transport options Specific areas where we are working to reduce our environmental footprint: ● Working with our staff and building users to make all of the building’s operations as environmentally friendly as we can, heating and lighting our premises efficiently ● Investigating how much waste we generate, using segregation to enable higher rates of recycling ● Looking at how people travel to and from our site: encouraging public transport and cycling ● Looking at what we buy – sourcing goods with low environmental impact and working with local suppliers wherever possible

Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity The Virtual Forge Limited is committed to achieving a working environment which provides equality of opportunity and freedom from unlawful discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, pregnancy and maternity, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, disability, religion or beliefs, age or sexual orientation.

Wellbeing

Health and wellbeing initiatives run throughout the year encouraging the wider VF family & friends to get involved.

Pricing

Price
£100 to £1,000 a unit
Discount for educational organisations
Yes

Service documents

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 connect@thevirtualforge.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.