Insitu S2 Tikshuv LTD

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the program manager at a telecommunications company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S2 Tikshuv LTD?

We needed assistance with a large project that involved the relocation of a data center.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the relocation, we upgraded all the infrastructure of our software to virtual machines. We moved it into a new monitoring system and a new connection and integration with new storage capabilities.

After that, we did a physical relocation of the hardware to another data center. They installed the VMware and the operating system in Linux Windows. For the monitoring, we used Icinga.

What is the team composition?

There were four people.

How did you come to work with S2 Tikshuv LTD?

I had worked with the manager, and I knew his field of expertise and experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in 2018, and the project was completed in 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

When we started the project, we defined milestones. According to the milestones, we determined success. Their team was present with us for the final milestone of the data center’s relocation.

How did S2 Tikshuv LTD perform from a project management standpoint?

I was the project manager during this engagement. Despite the project including some software objects that weren’t related to them, they remained involved. Their team also had some contact with the customers. We had a project plan.

Since they were outside the company, it was quite tricky to use internal tools like Jira. They didn’t have access to the company portal, and we didn’t want to open that externally for this project. We communicated by sharing the plan and following those milestones.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team was experienced and knowledgeable, working outside of the box with different solutions. With this kind of project, it’s imperative to have the ability to be more flexible. Their efficiency allowed them to find creative ideas and solutions. They’re also responsive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve been more organized with their communication. But we didn’t ask that from them. It’s not the type of project where we had to master very organized documentation. It wasn’t required from their side, but they could benefit from more organized documentation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Allow them to suggest new ideas and think differently. You’ll gain from their knowledge.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the customer operations manager for a telecommunications platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S2 Tikshuv LTD?

We needed some IT customer support, as well as help creating a monitoring system for our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their services included 24/7 support of the system, system expansions, infrastructure and new installations (such as plug-ins to collect loads and allowances).

Their daily work related to live platform monitoring. They spoke to customers directly about expanding and increasing number of subscribers using their platform. They provided support for the customers.

The platform was to allow customers full visibility; installing whatever was necessary into the current software to calculate CPU, performance of the server, dimension of their machine to collect loads for them, and to keep data for 6 months to a year. 

The last project they did was expansion of the system and creating KPIs based on the monitoring system.

What is the team composition?

We work with three or four people permanently. There was one person on-site while others worked remotely. As needed, we had one or two engineers visit to assist us.

How did you come to work with S2 Tikshuv LTD?

They were referred to me when we lost our in-house IT support person. We met to discuss the project and it was determined they could take it on.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent approximately $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the project from January 2017 – July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our customers are happy with the support provided. They did what we hired them to do, and delivered on time.

How did S2 Tikshuv LTD perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job. For the last project, we created a timeline. They worked smoothly and finished within the timeline and budget expected.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work instills confidence in you as a client. Whatever is asked of them, they do well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m very happy with their service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend them completely.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm program director for Ericsson , responsible for Smart Meter project in Israel Electricity Company. Including HW, Product Integration, SW developing and operational support

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S2 Tikshuv LTD?

S2 Tikshuv was our prime integrator for IT HW installation, integration, and support. Including networking, virtualization, integration and troubleshooting. It's complex IT environment with many cyber requirement that require special attentions an knowledge

What were your goals for this project?

Smart Metering pilot including full E2E solution (from meter deployment till billing)

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We've been engaging S2 Tikshuv fro many years with various ELK deployment and Integration projects, we have originally selected other integration - but after several month we've asked S2 Tikshuv support to recover from several project delays

Describe the project in detail.

Project includes meter deployment, product integration, HW setup, Virtualization and product installtion, SW development of required customization, Integration, E2E testing and operational support. All to allow Smart Metering project based on IEC requirements

What was the team composition?

roughly 20 people in several countries, about half of them are SW developers while the other are local team for integration , testing, operations, etc...

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

S2 Tikshuv manage to complete full environment deployment within couple of months and also manage to allow Ericsson to sell ELK solution as add on sales

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

S2 Tiksuva was critical part of project working with our local team shoulder to shoulder, all of SW development and integration are absolutely dependent in HW delivery and system integration provided by S2 Tikshuv

What did you find most impressive about this company?

S2 Tikshuv manage to enter existing project, not in fantastic situation, and recover it in short time. They managed to create a good trustful and professional relationship with all stakeholders in the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No