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When Accenture talks, we listen. Well known as one of the largest business consulting firms in the world, Accenture stands among the most prominent influencers when it comes to business purchasing insights and trends. That’s why we at CentricsIT were happy to see that Accenture indicates Third Party Maintenance for IT is a “no-brainer” in a recent spend trends report.
The report confirms what we already know—the quality of third-party IT maintenance continues to increase. TPM offers “better savings potential” and “better global coverage,” according to the report. What we love most about this report, is that it substantiates the best business case for Third-Party Maintenance, which is—simply put—the OEMs use TPM, so why can’t you? The OEM cannot avoid sub-contracting out to Third-Party Maintenance providers when you want umbrella coverage that includes assets it didn’t manufacture. This is pretty much always the case unless you prefer the headache of managing multiple support contracts; so why pay the OEM when you can hire a Third-Party Maintenance provider yourself?
Here’s exactly what the report says:
“Although these large hardware providers are ideally suited to provide support for their own hardware, the reality is that most companies have a diverse mix of gear (i.e., servers from one vendor, storage gear from another, networking gear from a third) not to mention a mosaic of data center software. The primary supplier will end up using third-party services to support the hardware/software outside its own brand or in certain geographies where it lacks coverage. This prime/sub-contractor model results in higher costs for the enterprise, and potentially lower service levels. This begs the question, why not go to a third-party maintenance option directly rather than rely on the primary OEM?”
– Accenture Spend Trends Report, Q3 2014
Accenture indicates that the savings potential when switching to TPM can be 30–60%, well worth any potential hassle of unbundling existing agreements. TPM providers (like CentricsIT) also offer the added value of inventory management services, flexible and customizable SLAs, and faster response times—overall, a much better service experience.
Of course, as one of the world’s leading global Third-Party Maintenance providers with contracts in more than 100 countries, we already knew all this. But if the clout Accenture brings to the equation has piqued your interest in Third-Party Maintenance, we encourage you to contact CentricsIT. We’ll provide a free assessment of your current support situation and come up with a game plan that will best meet your needs and put money back into your IT budget.
