Finchloom FLIGHT – Level-Pay Professional Services

Companies struggle to complete projects internally for many reasons. Maybe you are short staffed, lack specific technical resources, or have been thrown an urgent, time sensitive project? If this is you, we can help! If you would like to watch the entire FLIGHT video, please click here.

The Finchloom FLIGHT program is a level pay plan that provides a managed roadmap and staff augmentation to ensure clients complete their projects on time and on budget.

 

“We have worked with Finchloom for the past few years initially utilizing their FLIGHT program, but have since branched out into their security specializations, and help with an international merger as they were professional and trustworthy from the start. We have had a great experience working with their professionals in different Microsoft specializations and would recommend them to any company looking for experts who get projects done the right way, the first time.”

– James Daquino, Senior VP of IT, ICM Partners

What is Finchloom’s FLIGHT ?

We developed our FLIGHT program from real-world experience. Companies hire Finchloom for a variety of project work, and many of these projects would incur change requests that require either extensions or a new project. Extensions obviously throw off timelines and new projects typically require different resources with different associated costs.

FLIGHT is often leveraged when the task of building a detailed SOW is challenging due to timeline or business requirements. Companies choose the FLIGHT program because it is like utilizing an internal team who aren’t constrained by contracts. With FLIGHT, an enterprise can begin implementation at the same time they are determining their business strategy and requirements. Companies who choose FLIGHT often don’t have a defined SOW and need an experienced team to work through the project(s) instead of assessing or quoting it.

So, to prevent delays associated with developing new Scopes of Work, calculating new timelines, and renegotiating project agreements, we decided to introduce a level pay plan across multiple projects, like a public utility.

How Finchloom’s Level Pay FLIGHT Program Benefits Your Organization

In FLIGHT, you don’t have to worry about changes. Our internal project team assigns resources for each phase of your project and sets an average monthly price for all resource levels (L1 up to our senior architects) along with a plan to achieve your goals. This allows you to set a consistent budget, paying a predictable fixed price each month based on the size and scope of your project(s).

Anything that you want to add to your FLIGHT road map can be added, and if you don’t have enough time, you can extend it.

Managed Technical Roadmap

The managed roadmap is the blueprint for all project work. It establishes what resources are needed as well as how long the project will take.  Our team’s senior consultant or architect first assesses your environment for a variety of risk factors.

Our documentation will include:

• Existing infrastructure
  • Servers
  • Software
  • Applications
• Existing Storage
• Networking Topology
• End user computing environment
• Endpoints
  • Desktops
  • Laptops
  • Mobile Devices
• Security
  • How users sign in
  • Tools being used
• Distribution of software and updates
• Access to servers and applications
• Modernization of servers and virtual machines

Our team searches for any yellow and red flags that might be risks to the business. For example, we might observe that a company is not using multi-factor authentication (MFA) for user logins. Since we know the potential risk associated with a compromised password giving cybercriminals access to your network, we would recommend implementing multi-factor authentication as part of the roadmap.

This list of recommendations generally may become a large portion of the technical roadmap and take up to a year to fully implement. The roadmap may be one large project or several, depending on your goals. A project manager is assigned to each of our clients to manage multiple projects in parallel. Our project management team provides clients with the ability to manage multiple resources and projects, and gives us elasticity with our relationship plus the strategic oversight to stay on track.

Our FLIGHT plans start at three months for smaller projects, but from our experience, they generally take longer. But then, in the FLIGHT program, if there’s more work to be done, you always have the ability to renew or extend it.

What professional services are offered through FLIGHT?

• Migration Projects to the Cloud
• Hybrid Connectivity to the Cloud
• Modern Workplace & Endpoint Management
• Security
• Power BI
• And other Infrastructure IT Projects

Key Resources to Your Project Success

What are the types of resources that we can provide through the FLIGHT program?

• Cloud Architect/Senior Consultant – Brains behind the operation
  • Eliminates weeks of company meetings discussing the scope of the project through quick and thorough discovery
  • Sets expectations with your internal stakeholders
  • Establishes a single blueprint for success saving time and money
  • Design the desired environment and oversee entire project from a technology standpoint
• Project Manager and Coordinators – Glue that holds everything together
  • Your personal management team makes sure that all technical work is scheduled and up to date
  • Assists with project plan timeline and ensures its surprise free
  • Schedules resources for the most effective deployment
  • Communicates all issues and addresses changes
• Expert Resources
  • Includes but is not limited to experts in systems engineering, architecture, security, networking, Azure virtual machine, SharePoint, Modern Workplace, & cloud DevOps
  • People who deploy and configure the actual solutions supplementing your internal IT team
  • Train your company how to use new systems moving forward to avoid future support costs
  • Assist with initial support, care and feeding, and questions after the project

Flexible FLIGHT For Your Needs

The FLIGHT program allows you to temporarily augment your existing team without having to go through a cumbersome hiring process, negotiating wages and benefits, buying equipment, or paying payroll taxes, all for level pay.

Plus, many projects demand skillsets that are used only once, like migrating email to the cloud. Instead of researching and training IT employees to do a difficult one-time project perfectly on the first try, Finchloom’s FLIGHT team can:

• Implement your solution effectively, based on 20+ years of experience
• Prevent or course-correct any problems that might arise
• Deliver on a consistent timeline
• Train your team for ongoing operations at the project’s end

Yes, the FLIGHT plan is designed to end. However, it’s also our experience that customers start developing new ideas and projects to re-fill their road map. This is the reason why over 80% of FLIGHT programs are extended — not because projects were not completed — but because our clients want to continue to grow with us.

Conclusion

Lack of technical talent can be detrimental to businesses regardless of their size or positioning. Having a team of experts to manage projects and push them to the finish line is critical to success in the IT world. Whether you have a single project in progress, or multiple coming up soon, the FLIGHT program can augment your current staff, complete your projects in a timely manner, and allow you to focus on the larger issues within your business, all for a predictable monthly spend. For more information on FLIGHT, please visit this page, and if you would like to inquire further, please fill out the form found here.