The dreaded question that follows many technology purchases is whether you want to buy a service contract. Your audiovisual (AV) system isn’t your average technology purchase, though. One meeting room may be worth thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. And in today’s world of endless conference calls, it’s important to properly maintain your AV equipment because your business probably depends on it.
AV service and support contracts can go by other names like service agreements, service level agreements, or managed service contracts. Not all support contracts are created equal and will vary from company to company. They can include repair, maintenance, and even user training. A managed service contract is a comprehensive service agreement that ensures a provider will be available as needed.
Here are some practical tips for when you should consider purchasing a service contract.
Are AV Service Contracts Worth It?
Are AV service and support contracts worth the money? It’s usually worth it if a contract increases your ROI for the original technology investment or prevents business disruption. Consider these questions:
- Do I need a contract if the equipment is under warranty? If it’s under warranty, a service provider can help you communicate with the manufacturer. If it’s out of warranty, a support contract can cover repairs. Either way, proper maintenance helps maximize the life of equipment.
- Are you already doing regular maintenance and updates?If you’re behind on maintenance, updates, and testing, a service provider can share the workload and get your systems back on track.
- If your AV system stopped working, how would that impact your business? AV technology issues may interfere with meetings and work, make you look bad to clients, and cause employee frustration
- Do you have extra resources to devote to repair if something goes wrong? If your IT teams are already busy, they probably don’t have time to handle equipment failure.
Which Equipment Needs Ongoing Service?
If you’re not sure which components of your AV system really need ongoing service, consider what would happen if they stopped working. If it would significantly disrupt your business, consider a contract that includes same-day emergency repair services. Remote monitoring and remote access are also options that allow for faster diagnosis and response.
If you don’t have an internal team that can take care of your AV system, it should have a basic maintenance contract. This may include annual testing as well as inspections a couple of times a year. It can also include security checks and updates.
Do We Need User Training?
To make the most of your investment, users should be trained in how to use the solutions. We say the best service agreements support people, not the equipment. This means making people’s jobs easier by maintaining equipment and also helping users learn to operate the equipment. It also includes taking some of the workload off support and IT departments.
Sometimes users don’t take advantage of all the features because they don’t know how or aren’t aware they even exist. The right training will ensure a better user experience and help everyone work as efficiently as possible.
How We Help Local Businesses
We have a passion for solving problems that bug our customers. That’s why we offer repair, maintenance, and comprehensive managed services contracts. It’s also why our active on-site service department is so popular and able to keep well-made legacy systems operating long past their expected duty cycles.
Nationwide AV’s comprehensive Managed Services contracts are tailored to your business and users. We include time to train users on an ongoing basis. The agreements include system upgrades, programming changes, relocations and reconfigurations. They also include time for firmware updates, security updates, software patches, as well as for operational reviews, upgrade planning, and more.
If you want to find out how a managed services contract can be tailored for your business, contact us today.
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