An Interview Answering Your Top DevOps Partnership Questions

When choosing a tech partner, you can easily assess their portfolio and certifications. These give you a solid idea of their technical expertise. But what about the day-to-day collaboration? How do they communicate, handle unexpected challenges, or structure their pricing?

So, let's pull back the curtain. Here's an inside look at how we collaborate with our clients.

How do you kick off a new project?

We start by building a foundation. Our team dives deep to understand our client's needs and objectives, then creates a detailed plan outlining goals, approaches, and timelines. Our project managers keep a close eye on progress throughout.

What about communication?

Communication is key! We also develop a communication plan for each client, covering meeting schedules, participants, agendas, and preferred channels. While we typically use Slack and Google Meet, we're flexible and can adapt to our client's preferred platforms. Need an urgent chat? We're always available for impromptu video calls.

How do you handle unexpected challenges?

Prevention is our focus, but we're always prepared. We create a risk register at the start of each project, identifying potential issues and strategies to address them. Our team also has disaster recovery plans ready to go. Depending on the root cause, we either tackle it ourselves or collaborate with the client's team to solve the problem.

Can you give an example of problem-solving in action?

Sure! We once received alerts about latency issues. Our team discovered it wasn't an infrastructure problem but rather heavy queries within the apps. We quickly disabled the problematic queries to resolve immediate user issues, then worked with developers to optimize the code for a permanent fix.

What's your core principle when working with clients?

Our goal is to lighten our clients' workload. We integrate seamlessly with your organization, acting as a natural extension of your existing team. By taking full ownership of infrastructure management, cloud services, system monitoring, and related technical processes, IT Outposts allows you to channel your energy and resources into what matters most — your business growth strategies.

Can you break down your pricing options?

Absolutely. We've crafted two flexible pricing models to cater to diverse project needs:

1. Dedicated team model. For a fixed price, you get a full team of experts — from project managers to senior engineers — focused solely on your project. You simply have your own DevOps department, minus the overhead. This option is great for complex, long-term projects where you need consistent, specialized attention.

1. Outstaffing model. This is our pay-as-you-go option. Need a cloud expert for a few months? You can handpick the talent you need, when you need it. We offer a range of skill levels and specialties, each with its own hourly rate. It's perfect if your needs fluctuate or if you want to maintain direct control over your project's direction.

Both options are designed with transparency in mind. We'll sit down with you, understand your project inside and out, and recommend the best fit for your goals and budget. IT Outposts aims to give you top-notch DevOps support!

Stay tuned for part two of this interview!