Services
Ongoing Technical Support
Remote and on-site technical assistance for enterprise access control, video and security server systems, provided by people who already know how your site is configured and why.
Continuity
The value is knowing the site before the call starts
On an unfamiliar system, most of a support call is preamble. On a familiar one, there is none.
Every call to a support line that does not know your site begins the same way. Which platform, which version, how many controllers, how the doors are grouped, why that one reader is wired the way it is, what the integration to the video system is supposed to do, what happened the last time somebody touched it. That explanation takes time, it is given by whoever happens to be available, and it is given again on the next call. The site pays for it every time, in hours and in delay.
A support relationship that lasts removes the preamble. We keep a working record of the site: platform and firmware versions, how the servers and the network sit around the security system, the integrations and what depends on them, the faults we have already diagnosed and what caused them, the configuration decisions made and the reasons behind them, and the workarounds still in place. A call that would start from nothing starts from that file instead.
It also matters that the record outlives your staff. Security managers move on, IT leads change roles, and the person who knew why the third floor is programmed differently eventually retires. When that knowledge lives only in one person’s head, their departure is a security event. Holding it externally as well is straightforward continuity planning.
Skyfal is a service company rather than a product vendor. We do not sell cameras, panels or recorders, so the relationship is not built around a refresh cycle or a hardware quota. It is built around the system continuing to work.
- No re-explaining the site. The configuration, the history and the known constraints are already on file.
- Faster triage. A symptom that matches something seen on the same system eighteen months ago is recognized rather than rediscovered.
- Change advice with context. Answers account for what else on your system a change will touch, not just the platform in general.
- Cover for staff turnover. A new security manager or IT lead inherits documentation and a technical contact who knows the site, not a mystery.
- A record you own. Site documentation and configuration backups belong to the site and are handed over on request, whatever happens to the relationship.
What ongoing support covers
Support ranges from a five-minute answer for an operator to a coordinated escalation across your team, ours and a third party. Scope is set in the service agreement.
Remote technical assistance
Most issues are diagnosed, and many are resolved, without anyone travelling. Remote access is by whatever method the site approves, including supervised screen share where no standing access is permitted.
- Fault triage from event history, controller diagnostics and server logs
- Service, database and backup checks after an alarm or a failed job
- Configuration questions and operator procedure questions from your staff
- Guidance to on-site personnel performing a check or a reset under direction
- Review of an alarm or error condition before it becomes an outage
On-site attendance
Where the fault is physical, or where verification requires a person standing at the device, remote work stops and an attendance is arranged.
- Faults that remote diagnosis has localized but cannot correct
- Door hardware, panel, power and termination work
- Testing that requires the door to be operated or the camera to be observed
- Verification after a significant change, upgrade or repair
- Attendance in secure areas requiring escort, clearance or an approved window
Escalation
An issue that is not converging should change hands rather than repeat. The escalation path is defined before it is needed.
- A defined route from first response to senior technical review
- Engagement with the platform vendor’s support channels through the appropriate route where a product defect is suspected
- Handover to your network or IT group where evidence places the fault on their side
- Agreed points at which an issue is raised to management on both sides
- A written position on what has been ruled out, so the next party does not start again from zero
Working alongside your own teams
Most enterprise sites have internal security and IT staff who are capable and want to be involved. We work with them rather than around them.
- Joint troubleshooting sessions with your network or systems administrators
- Providing what IT needs to approve the system: ports, protocols, service accounts, dependencies, patch constraints
- Coordination of change windows, patching and reboots so the security system is not caught by surprise
- Working within your change control process and recording changes the way you record them
- Credential and certificate handling on your terms, including accounts held only by your staff
Advice on planned changes
The cheapest time to raise a problem with a change is before the change. Support includes being asked in advance.
- Whether new doors or cameras fit within current controller, licence and storage capacity
- The effect of an operating system or platform upgrade on the versions you run
- Network changes such as VLAN moves, IP re-addressing and firewall rules, reviewed before they break device communication
- Moving, virtualizing or relocating a security server
- Retention policy changes assessed against actual storage and throughput
- End-of-life planning, feeding into upgrades, migrations and integrations
Coordination with other contractors
Security systems sit inside buildings that other people are also working on. A large share of support work is making sure the security system is considered.
- Working with the installing contractor where an original responsibility still applies
- Coordination with electrical and low-voltage trades on renovation and construction work
- Protecting or scheduling existing devices affected by building projects
- Interfacing with integrators responsible for adjacent systems such as intrusion, intercom, elevator or building automation
- Defining who owns which part of a fault, so the issue is settled rather than passed between parties
Continuity of site knowledge
The part that is hardest to buy back once it is lost, and the reason a long relationship costs less than a series of first visits.
- Configuration history and the reasoning behind past decisions
- A record of previous faults, causes and corrections at this site
- Current system documentation and device inventory
- Dated configuration backups held outside the server
- Awareness of workarounds still in place and what they are standing in for
Coverage and response
Standard coverage hours are 8:00 AM – 5PM. After-hours arrangements are 24/7/365.
Where response targets apply, the target for remote response is 1.5 Hour and for on-site attendance is 3.5 Hours.
Coverage, response targets, priority levels, escalation and scope are defined in each customer’s approved service agreement and vary with the criticality of the site. The values shown here are placeholders and do not constitute a commitment. See service agreements.
How a support request runs
- 01 Intake — The site, the system, the symptom, when it started, what changed before it started, and whether a security function is currently affected. A request that includes an event log extract or a screenshot of the error usually saves a round trip.
- 02 Triage and priority — Priority is set on operational impact and agreed with you. A door on a secure perimeter that will not lock is not the same request as a reporting question, and it should not sit in the same queue.
- 03 Remote diagnosis — Logs, event history and system state are examined remotely where access allows. A large proportion of requests are resolved at this stage, and the ones that are not have usually been narrowed to a specific device, layer or configuration item.
- 04 On-site attendance where needed — Where the work requires hands on equipment, an attendance is arranged with whatever escort, clearance or window the site requires. The technician arrives knowing what the remote work has already ruled out.
- 05 Escalation if it is not converging — If the issue is not resolving on the current path, it escalates rather than repeats: senior technical review, engagement of your IT or network team, or the platform vendor’s support channel where a product defect is suspected.
- 06 Resolution and verification — The correction is verified under real conditions rather than declared. Where the fault was intermittent, verification runs across the window in which it previously occurred.
- 07 Site record updated — The symptom, cause, correction and any configuration change are added to the site file, and a configuration backup is refreshed where the change warrants it. That is what makes the next call shorter than this one.
How support connects to the rest of the work
Support is the standing relationship. These are the pieces of work it draws on.
Troubleshooting and System Restoration
Root-cause diagnosis when a fault needs to be found rather than worked around.
Preventive Maintenance
Scheduled inspection and a written deficiency report, so support is not purely reactive.
Programming and Configuration
Cardholder, door, schedule, clearance and rule changes as the site changes.
Security Server Infrastructure
Server build, migration and platform work behind the security application.
Upgrades, Migrations and Integrations
Planned version changes and system replacement when the current platform reaches its limit.
Service Agreements
How coverage, priority, escalation and scheduled visits are defined for your site.
Common questions
Do we need a service agreement to get support?
No. Individual requests are handled on a call-out basis, and many relationships begin that way with a single fault or a first assessment visit.
An agreement changes three things. It defines coverage and priority in advance, so nobody is negotiating terms while a door is failing. It funds the continuity work, meaning the site record, documentation and configuration backups are kept current rather than rebuilt at the start of each call. And it makes scheduled maintenance part of the arrangement instead of something that gets postponed. See service agreements.
Can you work with our internal IT and security teams rather than around them?
That is the normal arrangement on enterprise sites and it produces better outcomes. Your IT group controls the network and the server platform the security system depends on, and diagnosing a communication fault without them is guesswork.
In practice that means joint sessions where your administrators run the commands and hold the credentials, giving IT the specific information they need to assess the system, working inside your change control process, and being explicit about which side of a fault the evidence points to. Where your own staff are capable of the correction, we will say so rather than book an attendance.
How do you handle remote access on a secure site?
On the site’s terms, without exception. Some customers permit a managed remote access path with named accounts and logging. Others allow access only during a supervised session that their staff initiate and end. Some permit no remote access at all, in which case log extracts and diagnostics are provided by your staff and the diagnosis proceeds from those.
Correctional, government, healthcare and financial sites frequently have policies that rule out standing access, and that is workable. It changes how evidence is gathered, not whether the fault can be found. Access arrangements are agreed in writing as part of the service agreement rather than negotiated during an incident.
Our security manager is leaving. Can you hold the knowledge in the meantime?
That is one of the clearest cases for ongoing support. Before a departure, the useful step is a documentation review: current system inventory, configuration state, integrations, known workarounds, open deficiencies, licence and version records, and where the configuration backups are held. Much of that is often undocumented and known only to the person leaving.
After the departure, their replacement inherits a written record and a technical contact who already knows the site, instead of a system with no institutional memory. The same applies to IT staff turnover, which on many sites affects the security system just as much.
Will you coordinate with the contractor who installed the system?
Yes, and where an original responsibility, warranty or existing contract applies to a fault, we will say so plainly rather than performing the work ourselves and billing you for it. Passing an item back to the party that owes it is part of representing the site’s interest.
The same applies during construction and renovation projects. Coordination with the trades working in the building is often what keeps existing devices from being damaged, disconnected or quietly left offline at the end of a project.
Is this a product sales relationship?
No. Skyfal does not sell cameras, panels, readers or recorders and holds no manufacturer dealership or partner status. Where hardware is required for a repair or an expansion, it is specified for a stated technical reason and sourced as part of the work.
The practical effect is that a recommendation to replace something is a technical position rather than a sales target, and a recommendation to keep running what you have costs us nothing to make. More than 12 years of this work is on systems other companies supplied. See about Skyfal.
Support from people who will still know your site next year
Tell us what you are running and what you need covered, and we will set out how support would work for your site.