Take 4 minutes to read this article
A Worldly View on Hardware Sourcing: How TPMs are Turning EMC Third-Party Maintenance on its Head by Going Global
If you have a line item in your budget for “brand inflation,” you’re doing it wrong.
Sure, brands become “name brand” for a reason—their success is a testament to their legacy of quality services and goods. So, we’re not saying that your EMC support contract is inadequate, just like we wouldn’t say that your rain jacket from The North Face wasn’t sufficiently waterproof or that your Starbucks espresso concoction didn’t have sufficient caloric content.
What we will tell you, however, is that you’re paying entirely too much for that name brand EMC service contract (probably that Starbucks, too).
It’s no secret that EMC has become one of the biggest names in the tech industry, leading up to its merger with Dell in 2016 for $67 billion. Together, the two now hold 30% of the U.S. storage market share, allowing them to set exorbitant prices for their new hardware and for subsequent maintenance contracts and parts.
We Have Some Good News
Ultimately, third-party maintenance (TPM) has flipped EMC’s business model on its head, creating an alternative solution for companies looking to maximize their existing budgets. Global TPMs provide the same level of hardware and maintenance expertise as EMC does, and they do it by approaching the issue of sparing and maintenance from a global perspective.
So how have we managed this against such an industry giant? Well, we’ve done so in a few simple — and effective — ways.
Global Reach Means Greater Savings for Both of Us
As a global TPM, CentricsIT has offices all over the world. In addition to our main headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, we support branches in Ontario, Canada; London, England; Prague, Czech Republic, Dubai, UAE; and Sydney, Australia.
Most importantly, our global reach enables us to take full advantage of global hardware markets. Because we are not strictly limited to U.S. price points, we can monitor and move on the best deals available globally. If a tech company goes out of business or decides to refresh its equipment in Dubai, we know about it and can make our purchase locally. In the same way, if an enterprise part sells at a lower price in the Czech Republic, then CentricsIT has the connections to take advantage of that simple arbitrage opportunity. Rather than rely on “home field advantage,” we prefer a “global advantage” in order to source our equipment. And our advantage is your advantage.
We know what you’re probably thinking. Shipping that much stock overseas can get expensive, right? Don’t worry; we make sure that initial hardware savings are significant enough to supersede these expenses, and we take advantage of smart logistics when deploying so that you save even more money in the long run.
As you can see, no distance is too great, no deal too far, because at CentricsIT, we’re prepared to go that extra mile—or several thousand, as the case may be.
OEM Equipment vs. Refurbished Hardware
Our philosophy for our clients: don’t upgrade unnecessarily if your equipment is working great.
While EMC will push you to buy new hardware as soon as yours reaches “end-of-life,” we foster a different approach. We have the engineering power and the refurbished stock to keep your enterprise hardware in business long after that initial EMC warranty expires. Sure, shiny new hardware can be exciting, but unlike EMC, we service your systems through the entire lifecycle, and we can do so because of the strategic stock in our global warehouses.
Believe it or not, EMC and CentricsIT carry the exact same type of refurbished equipment in their warehouses. However, because CentricsIT makes a market on refurbished stock, we have access to a greater variety of refurbished hardware than EMC does.
Price Check
So, we pose the question to you: why are you paying so much more for that EMC brand label when you can get the exact same (or better) level of service and hardware for a significantly reduced price? Yeah, we don’t know either.
CentricsIT does business at a global advantage. Go global with us. Cut out the middleman. Get rid of bureaucracy. And quit buying maintenance from the overpriced name brands.
Pique your interest? Read our new eBook Breaking Down Inflated EMC Maintenance Costs: A Smarter Way to Evaluate Your Maintenance Spend to find out how EMC’s brand inflation is costing you $$.
