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In the competition between an insurance policy versus a maintenance plan, having a maintenance plan for your hardware will always win out. But are you using your OEM’s limited warranty from your initial hardware purchase as your maintenance plan? When you rely on limited warranties and complimentary service bundles for support, you don’t have a maintenance plan.
You currently have what we like to call a “hardware insurance policy.” And this differs from a “maintenance plan” in that it is much more expensive and less efficient for your operations.
Here’s why.
The OEM’s (Severely) Limited Warranties
When you contract with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for your procurement needs, they provide you with brand new equipment. Upon initial purchase, it comes with a discounted and sometimes even “complimentary” service bundle. It’s a good deal, for a time.
The limited warranty covers the proper manufacture of your equipment. A discounted maintenance contract provides the necessary replacement parts when hardware fails. However, after 2–3 years, after your warranties have run out. The OEM increases the cost of your basic maintenance plan for the minimum amount of necessary support regardless of when the hardware will go EOL. If you still have critical workloads running on those systems that you’re not yet ready to migrate, your next maintenance bill from the OEM will jump drastically (especially when EOL is announced).
The OEM’s or VAR’s will always encourage you to upgrade the hardware over extending the maintenance. Even if you overpay to extend the maintenance with the OEM, it’s not their ideal scenario.
OEMs apply this pressure even when your hardware is still performing the way that you need it to. This is regardless of whether you have a business reason to upgrade —other than the high cost of maintenance, of course.
Why the Rush?
Your OEM is not actively trying to gouge your OPEX. Their business model is simply limited in sustainability and longevity. Rather than being a true maintenance provider, they intrinsically act as an insurance company and have incentive to turn the new technology.
OEMs aren’t protecting you; your maintenance bills are protecting them.
It costs money to procure and maintain hardware, and OEMs don’t plan for long-term support services. They often choose not to buy back used equipment from secondary markets. Instead, they have a predetermined, minimum pool of new and used equipment that they accept and house for short-term operations. That 2-3 years of “complimentary” support is ultimately determined by the fact that the OEM eventually runs out of refurbished parts to service your infrastructure. When they run out of refurbished stock to give you, they begrudgingly begin supplementing with the remaining new (significantly more expensive) parts from distribution. This further drives up maintenance costs for you.
Due to this procurement-focused business model, OEMs simply don’t build in the bandwidth to indefinitely support your legacy operations.
Drop the Insurance. You Need a Maintenance Program.
CentricsIT takes a common-sense approach to IT maintenance.
We take advantage of the secondary markets to obtain, stock, and repurpose greater pools of refurbished stock. Our business model is more favorable for our clients. Because we have strategically positioned ourselves within the global market on refurbished hardware, CentricsIT maintains an in-house inventory that regularly surpasses that of the OEMs. The disparity is such at times that OEMs will approach us for replacement parts as their hardware stores begin to dwindle.
Moreover, our extensive network of international partners enables us to strategically purchase refurbished stock from around the world at any time. We get the very best deals on the parts that our customers need. Not only that, the price of industry hardware trends downward over time. The cost savings that we receive are extended to our clients, and a low-cost maintenance program is delivered. In fact, those who have switched from their OEM “insurance plan” to our Third-Party Maintenance support have seen savings from 40–70%. This is due greatly to our extended maintenance offerings and our economical pricing.
If It’s Not Broken, Why Replace It?
You’re paying a premium for an insurance policy designed to benefit of the OEM.
In contrast, CentricsIT helps you maintain your hardware for as long as you want to sustain it. Our extensive stores of refurbished stock mean you get spare parts when you need them, without the inflated OEM price. Contact us to learn more about your options to reduce cost and limit risk.
