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Wear and tear on your hardware is inevitable. That’s why your IT support’s 24x7x4 SLA is so important to maintain efficient operations.
How quickly you deal with the consequent breakdowns that occur can be the difference between minimal delays and extensive downtime. And a great deal of your ability to respond well to these issues is the speed, quality, and dedication of your maintenance support vendor.
Consider the Following Scenario:
You have a vital piece of hardware that breaks down unexpectedly. All major production across your datacenter halts until you replace or repair that part.
If you’re dealing with an OEM that provides 24x7x4 SLAs, they will acknowledge your maintenance issue and will have a Help Desk representative call you back within their 4-hour response window. OEMs are massive enterprises, so they simply lack the granularity to respond any faster to your queries. From there, they will troubleshoot with your IT team over the phone to determine how to begin to address the situation.
However, even just a few minutes of downtime across critical systems can noticeably affect your operations. At the 4-hour mark, your OEM has yet to instigate any form of action.
OEM vs. Third-Party Maintenance: The Process
Ultimately, third-party maintenance (TPM) has flipped the OEM 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 the OEM does, and they do it by approaching the issue of sparing and maintenance from a global perspective.
Additionally, TPM providers have the granularity to treat that 4-hour response window a bit differently.
At CentricsIT, our global network of engineering talent and presence on the secondary market enable us to take the 4-hour response to a whole new level. This means that, within those 4 fours, we will have:
- Responded directly to your IT team
- Helped to remotely diagnose the issue
- Deployed our engineers to be on-site (with part-in-hand if applicable)
This is because we have built our business model in a way that enables us to provide more client-friendly SLAs than the OEM. Our network of international partners and our streamlined onboarding process is how we accomplish this.
We have an extensive global network of engineers that we deploy depending on the location and expertise needed. These certified engineers are located across the globe to ensure that we have deployable forces ready to address client needs as they arise, well within our 4-hour response window.
It’s Not Just About Speed
We aren’t just fast.
We provide the same quality parts and the same level of support that you are accustomed to receiving with your OEM. But our service methodology provides more consistency.
Because of their size, OEMs often outsource their call centers to other countries, so you (more than likely) must speak to a different representative each time who has little access to previous reference information. In contrast, our systems track all changes and notes for each case so that you see very little difference between case handlers. This consistency also applies to our engineering forces, enabling us to learn and adapt to your processes over time.
More Client-Friendly 24x7x4 SLAs Matter to Your Business
Since we use a different methodology than the OEMs, we can provide unique benefits for our clients’ environments.
While an OEM drives customers toward purchasing all-new technologies, we have the bandwidth and the expertise to help you get the most value out of your current infrastructure. Instead of pressuring you to implement the “latest and greatest,” we focus on providing and maintaining the right technology to support your organization.
And we do it faster.
