.png?width=200&height=59&name=IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500%20(1).png "IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500 (1)")
Letting an outside team into your network raises sensible questions about data, scope and control. Part 1 of this series covered day-to-day support. In this blog, we'll answer four more questions we're regularly asked: whether it's risky to involve a third party, what infrastructure we can manage, why you might outsource only part of it and how firewall changes are handled.
Data Risk: Is It Safe to Let a Third Party Manage Our Network?
The risk is lower than most people expect. Our tools collect telemetry about your network (device health, performance and events) rather than the business data travelling across it. IPTel is also ISO 27001 accredited, so the way we handle access and information is governed by an audited information security management system.
You stay in control as well. Our managed services are co-managed, so your admins hold on to their own access for as long as we work together, and every ticket, change and report is recorded in the customer portal. There's always a clear record of who did what and when.
There's independent evidence to point to, too. Under the Cisco Powered program, Cisco reviews how we operate once a year, which is useful when your risk or compliance team asks how a provider has been vetted.
Pro-Tip: Ask any provider (us included) how privileged access is granted, logged and removed when an engineer leaves the business. A clear, documented answer tells you more about their security practice than a page of logos.
Infrastructure: Which Networks and Platforms Can You Manage?
We manage Cisco, Meraki and multi-vendor networks across nine service domains. Cisco and Meraki are our core, and the domains span campus, WAN, security, collaboration and data centre infrastructure, so you can bring most of your network under one agreement instead of splitting it between providers.
Running Meraki? Your LAN, wireless and simpler single-WAN sites belong in Meraki Access, and your firewalls, multi-WAN and SD-WAN overlay in Meraki Security and SD-WAN.
Running Catalyst? Campus switching, wireless and the Catalyst Center platform that drives them sit in Cisco Campus Access, while the overlay, controllers and edge routers of a Catalyst SD-WAN sit in Cisco SD-WAN.
Security has two domains of its own: Cisco ISE for network access control, and Security Service Edge for Umbrella, Secure Access and Secure Connect. Beyond the network, we look after Webex rooms through Meeting Rooms and the compute and data centre fabric behind AI workloads through AI Infrastructure.
And because few networks are all Cisco, Non-Cisco Devices covers third-party switching, wireless, WAN edge and firewalls at base feature parity, with vendor-specific features scoped case by case.
Partial Outsourcing: Why Hand Over Only Part of the Network?
Because the routine work of keeping a core network healthy rarely moves the business forward, yet it consumes the hours your team needs for work that does. Handing over monitoring, patching and incident response for the parts you choose frees your people for customer experience, cloud and SaaS projects, and the security initiatives that keep getting pushed back.
Choose the domains that make sense and they're scoped into a single agreement. A common approach is to start with the part of the network that generates the most after-hours calls, then add domains as confidence grows.
The tier then sets how deep the cover goes. If your team wants to keep running operations itself, Enablement helps you get value from your licences and features, trains your people and plans the lifecycle, but leaves monitoring and incident response with you. From Essential upwards we take those on: in business hours on Essential, extended hours with security-aware operations on Advanced, and 24x7 on Critical.
Firewall Changes: How Are Security Changes Managed?
Firewall changes follow a formal, ITIL-aligned change process. Each request is assessed for impact and urgency and classified, and changes that need it are proposed, discussed and approved through a change advisory board (CAB) before anyone touches the rule base. The work then happens in an agreed window, with a rollback plan ready.
We run dedicated CABs for our customers, so the people who understand your business risk are part of the decision rather than told about it afterwards.
Planned changes and maintenance windows are visible in the customer portal. The Advanced and Critical tiers also include a monthly allowance of simple changes.
For Meraki MX firewalls, this sits within our Meraki Security and SD-WAN service. For cloud firewall and secure web gateway policy in Cisco Umbrella or Cisco Secure Access, it sits within Security Service Edge.
Managed Services Scope: FAQs
Does IPTel Access Our Business Data?
Our monitoring works with network telemetry such as device health, performance and events, not the business data crossing your network. Access is handled under our ISO 27001 accredited information security practices.
Can We Keep Managing Some Domains Ourselves?
Yes. You choose which service domains go into the agreement, and because the service is co-managed your team keeps full administrative access everywhere, including the domains we look after.
Do You Manage Equipment That Isn't Cisco?
Yes. Our Non-Cisco Devices service manages switching, wireless, WAN edge and firewall platforms from vendors such as Aruba, Juniper, Fortinet and Palo Alto at base feature parity, with advanced vendor features scoped case by case.
Who Approves Changes to Our Firewall?
Changes are classified by impact and urgency, and those that need approval go through the dedicated change advisory board we run for your organisation before they're scheduled, so significant changes are agreed with you before any work starts.
Managed Services Scope: Summary
Outsourcing part of your network doesn't mean giving up control of it. We work with telemetry rather than business data under ISO 27001 accredited practices, you keep full access to your environment, you choose the domains and tier that suit you, and every firewall change goes through a documented, approved process. For day-to-day support questions, see Managed Services FAQs Part 1.
Need Help With Managed Services?
Not sure which parts of your network to hand over? Our free 10-minute Build Your Business Case assessment suggests a service tier and puts a figure on the value at stake, which makes the scoping conversation much easier. Read more about our managed services, make an enquiry or drop us a line at sales@iptel.com.au. If that's useful, get in touch with the IPTel team.