Monitoring and alerts
All flows are monitored in Lobster’s dashboards. Failed transactions trigger alerts, so they are dealt with before the customer calls.
Operations, monitoring and support
Managed integration services for companies that would rather not run their integrations themselves
With managed integration services, SublimTech monitors, fixes, maintains and develops your integrations under an ongoing agreement, so you do not need your own people and an on-call rota for it. You keep ownership of the data and the platform. We take care of operations.
This page explains what a managed agreement includes, who it suits, how it differs from running the integrations in-house, and how we take over an existing setup.
- 40+ customers on the Lobster platform
- 10+ years of experience in data integration
- 99.6% uptime on Lobster Cloud
- Lobster’s own figure
What is it?
What are managed integration services?
A managed agreement is an ongoing operations agreement. We monitor your integrations, handle errors and exceptions, keep mappings, certificates and connections up to date, and build new flows when the business needs them. EDI, API integrations and internal system integrations can all be covered by the same agreement.
The opposite is the project model, where the supplier builds the solution and leaves, and every subsequent change means a new quote. That model works until the first trading partner changes something without warning.
The agreement is typically built on Lobster Data Platform, but we also take over the operation of existing installations. The scope is agreed based on your flows, your partners and how critical they are to day-to-day operations.
Who is it for?
When integration should be infrastructure, not a core competence
Managed services suit companies that see integration as infrastructure. They want it to work, they want someone to react when it does not, and they want new needs met without a new project every time.
The model rarely suits companies with a strong internal integration team that wants to own every mapping itself. We help them with implementation and training instead, and stay on hand in the background. If you recognise several of these signs, a managed agreement is worth considering:
- The integrations depend on one employee who had better never fall ill or hand in their notice
- The IT department has neither the time nor the appetite to watch for EDI errors
- New trading partners have to be onboarded on an ongoing basis
- You have just gone live with an integration project and want to be sure it keeps working
- Your current supplier is slow to respond, and every change means a new quote
- You are growing through acquisitions and need to connect new companies quickly
- You want integration expertise without having to hire it
What is included
What does a managed agreement include?
Error handling
We analyse, fix and resend. If the error lies with a partner, we get in touch with them and see the issue through until it is resolved.
Partner onboarding
New customers, suppliers and logistics partners are connected with reusable mappings and test scenarios.
Changes and new flows
A new document type, a new system or a new business rule: changes are agreed and delivered within the agreement, not as a new project.
Maintenance
Certificates, protocol versions and platform updates are kept up to date, so connections do not drop out on a Friday afternoon.
Documentation and reporting
Flows, mappings and partner agreements are documented as we go, and you get regular status updates on operations, incidents and upcoming changes.
Scope, response times and reporting are set out in the operations agreement, based on the number of flows and partners and how business-critical they are. We do not promise more than the agreement describes, and the agreement describes what you actually need.
Not sure how much operational support your integrations need? Then we start with a review that gives you a list to base your decisions on.
Get your integration setup assessedOperating models
In-house, managed or something in between?
Whatever the model, you own the platform, data and documentation. That means you can switch models later, in either direction, without starting again.
| Area | In-house | Managed | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform and data | Yours | Yours | Yours |
| Day-to-day monitoring | Your team | SublimTech | SublimTech |
| Error handling | Your team, with us as back-up | SublimTech | SublimTech, within the agreed scope |
| New flows and partners | Your team | SublimTech | Your team, with our support |
| In-house expertise | Required | Not needed | One person responsible |
| Best for | Companies with their own integration team | Companies with little or no in-house IT operations | Companies that want to build expertise over time |
The hybrid model is for companies that want to build their own expertise over time: one internal owner who works closely with us, while we handle the monitoring and the difficult cases.
Takeover
We also take over existing integrations
Managed services do not require us to have built the solution. We take over the operation of existing Lobster installations and of integrations on other platforms, often as part of a migration.
A takeover always starts with a review: which flows exist, what is documented, where the errors are, and what should be tidied up before we promise anything. The result is a list you can act on.
If you run EDI on a platform that is being phased out, we look at migrating to Lobster as part of the agreement. Read more about EDI integration and about how we build ERP integration between internal systems.
How SublimTech helps
How a managed agreement gets started
- Review. We map your flows, partners and current operations and find the places where you are most vulnerable today.
- Operations agreement. Scope, contacts, response times and reporting are agreed, so both sides know what is included.
- Handover. Monitoring and alerts are set up, the documentation is gathered, and we take it from there.
If you are in the middle of an implementation project with us, operations slot in as the last phase of the process: phase five, go-live and operations.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about managed integration services
What do managed integration services cost?
The price is a fixed monthly fee, set according to the number of flows and partners and the agreed scope of monitoring, changes and reporting. We give you a specific quote once we have been through your setup.
What is your response time?
Response times and staffing are agreed in the operations agreement, based on how business-critical the flows are. The monitoring itself runs automatically around the clock in the platform, so any issues are picked up straight away.
Can we take operations back in-house?
Yes. You own the platform, data and documentation, and we keep the documentation up to date precisely so that this is possible. Some customers choose to start with a managed agreement and build up their own expertise along the way.
Do we have to use Lobster to get managed services?
No, but it is the platform we run most, and the one we recommend. If you run something else, we first assess whether it makes sense to keep running it or to migrate.
Does the agreement cover both EDI and API integrations?
Yes. Managed integration services cover all your flows, whether they are EDI with trading partners, API integrations between internal systems or file-based integrations with 3PL warehouses.
How do managed services differ from support?
Support reacts when you report an error. Managed services monitor, detect and resolve, often before you notice anything, and also cover maintenance and new flows. Support can be part of a managed agreement, but not the other way round.
Shall we take over running your integrations?
Tell us what you run today and what worries you most. We will get back to you with a proposal for an operations agreement.