Choosing a Service Provider

When sourcing a warranty services provider partner, it is important to keep the following issues in mind:

(Note, please click on issue to expand importance)

1

Help Desk Availability and Response Time (Immediate diagnosis)

Importance:

In order to achieve the best customer satisfaction level, the end-user must begin to feel comfortable immediately when calling in a service event. The on-site help desk technician must be available immediately or have a minimum call back not to exceed 1 hour so that the diagnosis can begin immediately. This is also very important for 24/7 after hours support with how quickly the help desk technician responds to any and all calls and how it is measured, etc.

2

Help Desk Ownership

Importance:

Many help desks have varying levels of capability divided up with different levels of resources. The most effective help desk is one where the initial technician, who takes the first call, has full ownership of the call from start to finish. Handing off of the call midway to move up from Level 1 to Level 2 is time consuming and frustrating for the end user.

3

Help Desk Expertise and capability to handle your type of systems

Importance:

The ability to effectively diagnose your company's systems is a necessity. An onsite technician can service a Linux cluster without having Linux experience as long as the help desk technician has the capabilities and experience necessary. It is vital to have the appropriate help desk technician, which can be determined with an interview. References are helpful as well.

4

Help Desk Decision Making capability

Importance:

The help desk technician should be the one, who is not only able to diagnose the problem and decide which spare parts are needed, but also has the decision making power to arrange for the proper spare parts to be immediately shipped out. Additionally, he/she should have the authority to dispatch a technician for 4-hour and next business day on-site. Too often, end-users are frustrated while service company's scramble to get the proper approvals and authority to dispatch parts and or on-site technicians.

5

On-Site Coverage

Importance:

Your warranty partner needs to be able to service your systems wherever needed and give you excellent sales tools demonstrating this capability to help reduce the explanation time in front of your end-users.

6

On-Site Certification Program?

Importance:

Your Warranty Services Provider needs to have a "Certification / Qualification" program in place to ensure that quality technicians are used. It is also an excellent advantage if they are willing to work with you to create a Certification Program, specific to your company's products so that when a technician goes on-site to one of your end-users, he is wearing a "Certified Technician badge" with your company's name on it.

7

Installation & Non-Warranty Service Capabilities

Importance:

Your Warranty Service Provider should be able to offer installation capabilities as well as aggressive "hardware maintenance plans" for non-warranty devices.

8

Real Time Service Call Tracking Program

Importance:

In order to ensure the best communication between you and your Warranty Service Provider, it is essential that the provider have a real time, web-based service call tracking program. This will allow you and your end-users to initiate, track and monitor all service events at a particular site, a particular re-seller, or for your entire product line.

9

Real Time Reporting Capability

Importance:

Your Warranty Service Provider should be able to provide you with reports on the performance of your systems, including failure rates (at the component level,) as well as performance on their own company's handling of any and all service events.

10

Escalation Plans

Importance:

A clear and adhered to escalation plan is necessary to ensure that any "non-standard" events or issues are brought to the proper management's attention within both companies, in a timely fashion.

11

Dedicated Phone Line Capability

Importance:

Although not a necessity, the ability to give an extremely seamless and transparent picture to your end user is often considered very important. If your Warranty Service Provider can work with you to set up a dedicated toll free number to ring at the Providers help desk with the Provider answering the phone in your name, it eliminates any potential for confusion with the end-user. The end user has bought your product, dialed your number, and heard your name on the other end of the phone even though you have outsourced the help desk and warranty service.

12

Full RMA Capability

Importance:

Even though you may be initially looking at an "on-site provider" as a partner, you will quickly find that there may be areas in your organization (specific products, geographic regions, or types of channel partners) where more than just an on-site offering is beneficial. Taking the first call on the help desk is a great way to begin relieving some of the after-sales pain and headaches of a computer manufacturer's support team. The ability to administer, own, and completely handle the RMA process can be a great advantage when sourcing an on-site provider for the time being. However, in the future you may additional services, so selecting a company that can provide this will save lots of un-necessary transition time down the road. Can you partner handle RMA's, including the logistics, inventory, and in-house depot repair? What is their experience in this?!

13

Pricing model by country and not by city

Importance:

It is very important to make sure that the on-site coverage costs are not based upon distances to major cities. An effective pricing model is the one with the fewest variants. A standard price per system is the easiest way to work using one pricing model for North America, one for Europe and one for Asia.

14

Ease of Quoting Warranty

Importance:

Quoting and selling warranty needs to be very quick and easy. A "Pricing Calculator" of needs to be provided by your Warranty Services Partner so that the sales team of the computer manufacturer can easily get costs, independent of where it's going (US vs. International,) including the value and quantity of systems. You do not want to have to request a quote for each time you quote warranty.

15

International Capabilities

Importance:

If you are selling your systems both domestically and internationally, it is very helpful to have the same partner handling the warranty services. Does your Warranty provider have "Regional Help Desk" support capability? Europe Help Desk and Asia Pacific Help Desk? Of course, an on-site network covering these regions is also important. The same basic way of working and on-line service call program is very important in keeping in-touch with these remote end-users.

16

Flexibility

Importance:

Providers must display the ability and willingness to be flexible to your needs. Quite often with larger companies, the procedures in place prohibit the ability to be flexible. While it is important to follow procedures, the end-user may suffer as a result in the delay associated with it. A quality-driven, yet flexible organization is extremely important. Can your partner be flexible, and still provide you with the quality documentation and communication needed to ensure customer satisfaction?