Skip to main content

Help us improve the Digital Marketplace - send your feedback

Phoenix Software Ltd

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services

The Dell Technologies APEX managed portfolio of IT infrastructure services offers cloud consumption-based economics. As part of the APEX experience, the APEX Console delivers a unified experience, to manage the entire cloud and as-a-service environment. From a single console, IT admins can manage, optimize, scale, or evolve their IT environment.

Features

  • Deploy new workloads and solutions
  • Scale the environment and add services
  • Right-size capacity for workloads that shrink and grow over time
  • Task automation
  • Deployment and support services in one agreement

Benefits

  • Simplify planning and management
  • Manage your entire as-a-Service journey from a single console
  • Scale capacity up and down seamlessly
  • Active input from Customer Success Manager

Pricing

£80,000 a transaction

  • 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 ccs@phoenixs.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

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

Contact

Phoenix Software Ltd Jonny Scott
Telephone: 01904 562200
Email: ccs@phoenixs.co.uk

Service scope

Service constraints
The Service is both cloud and hybrid-cloud infrastructure based, therefore constraints may include servicing down-time.
System requirements
  • Minimum commitment spend to start the service
  • The service does require some on-premise infrastructure

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Access on a 24x7 basis (including holidays) to the Dell Customer Service and Support organization for troubleshooting assistance.
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
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support accessibility standard
None or don’t know
How the web chat support is accessible
Online, Chat, and Email Support: Dell website, chat, and email support available for select products at https://www.dell.com/support.
Web chat accessibility testing
Unknown
Onsite support
Onsite support
Support levels
Dell provides both ProSupport and ProSupport Plus options to their customers, with a response time of either Next Business Day or within 4hours (dependent upon customer location).
Prices can be provided for the different support options on request.
Technical Account Managers are inclued with the ProSupport Plus option.

All Dell APEX Cloud services benefit from a Customer Success Manager, whose involvement begins prior to the finalisation of the solution, acts as a Customer Advocate and who monitors the coordinated Customer Success Plan for each deployment.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
A Customer Success Manager (CSM) is aligned to all Dell APEX Cloud Services before the service begins. The CSM is responsible for drawing up, in collaboration with the customer, the Customer Success Plan, aligned to the customer's key objectives. Dell Support Engineers will deploy the service, and a TAM may be included in that provision. Knowledge-based articles and full handover documentation will alos be provided.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Customers have up to 30 calendar days after contract expires to delete data from the APEX systems or move data to another location. If the customer needs assistance, they may purchase data migration services from Dell or a partner.
End-of-contract process
If the customer chooses to discontinue the service at the end of their term, the CSM will walk them through the simple, secure decommission process. Retired data-bearing devices are sanitized, rendering all data unrecoverable to help enable data security and regulatory compliance, after which the customer receives a certificate of sanitization aligned to US NIST 800-88R1, a globally recognized standard.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Using the web interface
The APEX Console can be used to discover and order services, deploy workloads, monitor an environment, review capacity utilisation and billing activity. The console also allows an organisation’s administrator to onboard stakeholders and control access and individual privileges.
With just a few clicks, you can subscribe to new cloud infrastructure and get your resources delivered. You can manage cloud workloads and services through a single web interface, integrate monitoring tools to help streamline your operations with real-time actionable insights and provision, operate, optimize, and grow resources on demand.
Web interface accessibility standard
None or don’t know
How the web interface is accessible
APEX console is a GUI Portal that allows users to access all aspects of the Dell Cloud services
Web interface accessibility testing
Unknown
API
No
Command line interface
No

Scaling

Scaling available
Yes
Scaling type
Manual
Independence of resources
Dell APEX Cloud services are scoped for a minimum usage for a customer-specified amount of data / users. It is then supplied with in-built 'burst' capacity to allow for growth. Where the customer sees persistent usage of this 'burst' capapcity, additional resource should be then planned for and ordered, meaning that users do not see any long-term degradation of service.
Usage notifications
Yes
Usage reporting
  • Email
  • Other
Other usage reporting
N/A

Analytics

Infrastructure or application metrics
Yes
Metrics types
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • Memory
Reporting types
Real-time dashboards

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller (no extras)
Organisation whose services are being resold
Dell Technologies

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

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 once a year
Penetration testing approach
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
In-house destruction process

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery
No

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
99.9999% availability, with non-disruptive hardware upgrades and no planned downtime.
Approach to resilience
Available on request
Outage reporting
Email Alerts

Identity and authentication

User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Only authorized Dell Team Members are allowed access to Dell Data Centers supporting the cloud. The Physical Security team shall restrict physical access to information assets and functions by users and support personnel to Dell Data Centers supporting the cloud offer.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
Devices users manage the service through
Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

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
Undisclosed
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
Undisclosed
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Undisclised
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
  • ISO 27002
  • ISO 27017
  • ISO 27018
  • NIST SP 800-53
  • AICPA TSC
  • ENISA Information Assurance Framework

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
Dell's security controls follow the Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Control Matrix (CCM), with 133 controls mapped against industry, security standards, regulations and controls. These include (but are not limited to): ISO 27001/27002/27017/27018, NIST SP 800-53revision 4, AICPA TSC, ENISA Information Assurance Framework, German BSI C5, PCI DSS, ISACA COBIT,and NERC CIP.
This document maps each control in the CCM to the minimum applicable SRO SAFE Dell policies, standards and guidance. Any Dell offering delivered as a cloud offer is assessed against the requirements set forth in this guidance.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Any changes are controlled under project management and done with validated testing to ensure changes are stable
Vulnerability management type
Undisclosed
Vulnerability management approach
Dell defines its own policies and maintains a high level awareness of industry approaches and fixes to defined issues and ensures adoption of these fixes as soon as is possible.
Dell works with its customers to implement technical measures to ensure timely detection of vulnerabilities within Dell-owned or managed cloud applications and offers related infrastructure network and system components (such as through network vulnerability assessment, and penetration testing).
Dell follow a risk-based model for prioritizing remediation of identified vulnerabilities and a change management process for all vendor-supplied patches, configuration changes, or changes to Dell cloud software.
Protective monitoring type
Undisclosed
Protective monitoring approach
Dell's Cloud Operations team monitors the services on a 24x7x365 basis.
Incident management type
Undisclosed
Incident management approach
Dell has a documented Incident Response Plan that includes steps to triage security incidents including identification, investigation, timely response, mitigation, management, customer notification, and root cause analysis.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Supplier-defined process

Separation between users

Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart
No

Energy efficiency

Energy-efficient datacentres
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

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

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change
Effective stewardship of the environment with activities that deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract including working towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
We can support customers environmental goals by providing annual carbon emissions on contract and reduction plans.

We will run free of charge sustainability infrastructure reviews for customers to understand how they can reduce carbon emissions of their IT services.

We are working towards 2040 Net-Zero GreenHouseGas emissions.
Since 2021 we have been Carbon Neutral with Gold Standard Certified carbon credits - partner Ecologi.
By 2026 we aimed to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% from a 20/21 baseline year and which we have now achieved.
By 2030 we aim to reduce all of our emissions (including Scope 3) by 50% this is from a 22/23 baseline year.

Achievement of 2030 50% reduction targets (based on last FY) would mean a minimum carbon reduction of 142tCO2e per year for the public sector.

We record and monitor our usage/ conversion to carbon emissions monthly and progress is published annually on the website in accordance with PPN06/21 and SECR guidelines. We are ISO14001 certified, and our targets are currently being verified by SBTi.

Overall, the business:
-Generates solar energy (85%) with REGO renewable purchased energy.
-Zero waste to landfill waste management
-Minimises travel emissions by 60%
-Uses water wisely – reduced by 15%

Influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support environmental protection and improvement.

We work hard to influence others and change behaviours to help fight climate change.

Workforce:
-Sustainability inductions
-Sustainability training
-Staff campaigns
-Volunteering opportunities
-Family woodland tree planting

Suppliers:
-Supply-chain reviews
-Sustainability training
-Blogs/ media content
-Sustainability training

Customers:
-Sustainability Infrastructure Review
-Hardware Carbon-Assessments
-Circular-Economy support
-Sustainability training

Covid-19 recovery

COVID-19
Help local communities to manage and recover from the impact of COVID-19 with activities in the delivery of the contract which:
Create employment, re-training and other return to work opportunities for those left unemployed by COVID-19, particularly new opportunities in high growth sectors.
- Phoenix Employability Outreach Programme - Unique access to Microsoft Career Essentials programme
Support organisations and businesses to manage and recover from the impacts of COVID-19, including where new ways of working are needed to deliver services.
-Phoenix Small Business Digital Skills Outreach programme – webinars supporting cyber security, accessibility and licensing.
-Phoenix VCSE Digital Skills Outreach Programme – webinars supporting cyber security, accessibility and licensing.
Support the physical and mental health of people affected by COVID-19, including reducing the demand on health and care services.
-Phoenix Digital Skills Outreach Programme – Supporting people to access services services online e.g NHS app and Banking apps.
Examples of our working with London and Quadrant Housing Association to deliver befriending calls for tenants who were lonely and isolated as a result of Covid19.
We have also worked with Liverpool City Council to promote employability courses to those left unemployed by Covid-19 and who are now in employment.
We provided free of charge IT service desk to 15 charities during the pandemic and have worked closely with them to support them with returning to full operation again.

Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality
Create new businesses, new jobs and new skills with activities that, in the delivery of the contract:
Create opportunities for entrepreneurship and help new, small organisations to grow, supporting economic growth and business creation.
-60% of our supply chain are SME’s
-We are signatories and adhere to the Prompt Payment Code
-Host Dragons Den SME supply chain sessions for new suppliers to showcase their services for our customers.
Create employment opportunities particularly for those who face barriers to employment and/or who are located in deprived areas.
- The Phoenix Employability Outreach Programme provide unique access to Microsoft Career Essentials digital literacy programme, career talks and employability advice.
Create employment and training opportunities, particularly for people in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors.
-Graduate work placements
-Phoenix Employability Outreach Programme - Unique access to Microsoft Career Essentials programme for certifications to skill up for roles in the IT sector.
-We work with our supply-chain to create job roles with shared apprenticeship heads and promotion to permanent employment.
Support educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications.
-Apprenticeships whereby we aim for c.10 graduating apprentices and all are moved into permanent employment with Phoenix.
-Skills City Bootcamp where we deliver career talks and provide projects to 19+ year olds seeking to upskill for employment in the technology sector.
Influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support employment and skills opportunities in high growth sectors.
-Our programmes are delivered in partnership with our customers, supply chain and workforce, including Career talks, mentoring and IT challenge activities.

Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity
Reduce the disability employment gap with activities that:
Demonstrate action to increase the representation of disabled people in the contract workforce.
-We are certified Disability Confident Employers (level 2).
-We provide Digital Accessibility training for all staff so we can communicate with each other and our customers in an inclusive manner.
-We are exploring the use of the Voluntary Reporting Framework for understanding the disability makeup of the workforce.
Tackling workforce inequalities with activities that demonstrate action to identify and tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce.
- We focus on ensuring an inclusive and unbiased recruitment strategy, with unconscious-bias training, blind recruitment processes, and reviewing language and placement of advertisements.

-All staff trained receive mandatory EDI training annually.

Various initiatives include
-Signatories of the Race at Work Charter,
-Disability Confident Committed Employer
-Signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant
-Gender-Neutral toilets
-Prayer room
-Milk-pumping room
-Sponsor York Pride
-We have specific policies for Menopause, and LGBTQ+.
-We have established an Accessibility-Centre-of-Excellence to display the latest technology
-We monitor our workforce statistics and report on them:
Gender 65% male /35% female (industry-average 20%)
Ethnicity 5.6% (local-area 3.9%)
Staff turnover 12.3% (industry-average 13.2%)
Using the Voluntary Reporting Framework, we are working on what and how we can report metrics around disabled people in the workforce, including those with hidden disabilities.

We have been recertified as a Great Place to Work™ and UK's Best Workplaces™ for Women.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing
The mental health and well-being (MHWB) of our staff is of the utmost importance to us and our MHWB Policy aims to provide a working environment that promotes and supports the MHWB of all employees.
Activities that demonstrate action to support the health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce at Phoenix include:
-We utilise different resources not least those from Mental Health at Work Commitment, NHS Every Mind Matters, and the MIND employer toolkit to improve our employee MHWB programme.
-All our staff heavily discounted private health insurance includes mental wellness. Plan members access a range of health treatments including face to face counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy.
-Phoenix invests in the St Johns Ambulance Mental Health First Aid training course to ensure we have MH first aiders in the business and the skills to address MH in the workplace.
-The new challenges the pandemic has raised, on our employee’s MHWB, has led to the creation of a staff network group who meet monthly, to ensure that all we do and say truly covers all aspects of MHWB.
-All employees are given a monthly wellbeing hour to take for their own personal time and are also supported with monthly tea and toast sessions discussing and normalising MHWB topics.

We influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health.
-We provide Digital Accessibility training for all staff so we can communicate with each other and our customers in an inclusive manner.
-We have established an Accessibility-Centre-of-Excellence to display the latest technology to the workforce, supply chain and our customers
-We deliver digital accessibility training to customers
-We are sponsors of the Neurodiversity Awards

Pricing

Price
£80,000 a transaction
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
No

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 ccs@phoenixs.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.