A maintenance agreement is very
vital if you use computers for business purpose as the data that is stored in
the computer is important.
If you are a home business owner and have a couple of computers under you, or
for that matter if you run a business that uses computers then getting a
computer maintenance agreement that covers all your computer and network
repairs, labor, preventative maintenance and replacement parts from a reputed
service center is utmost important. This article includes some important
agreement clauses that you must ensure are included in your contract.
At the onset, insist on an initial evaluation from the service center to ensure
that all the components are in a good working state. This will be beneficial to
both the parties as any issues that are found can be discussed and resolved so
that there are no issues later as to who has to cover the costs. Further, it is
always advisable to sign a 3 month contract initially wherein you can evaluate
the performance of the services provided by the vendor. If you are satisfied
with the performance, then you can sign a contract for a year or more. While
signing an extended contract, ensure that you negotiate for further reduction in
the charges.
Service providers also provide you with the option of buying hours instead of
getting an annual contract. Under this kind of provision, if you purchase, for
example 100 hours in a year, then you are entitled to 100 hours of service from
the provider. This option works out cheaper and is recommended when you have a
robust system set up at your organization. If required, you can purchase
additional hours at a discounted rate if you have exhausted all the time that
you had purchased earlier. With additional clause in your contract, you can even
carry over the hours bought in one year to the next year.
Computer Maintenance Contract Clauses
Some of the important clauses that your contract must include are:
·
All printers,
servers and workstations must be covered in the contract.
·
The response time
after a request for a service has been placed must be agreed upon. The usual
response time is 4 hours.
·
The service
provider should agree to provide detailed service requests reports quarterly.
·
A very important
clause that you must be very firm on is that the service provider should provide
non-contract services at a discounted rate.
·
All preventive
maintenance activities should be carried out quarterly. This will in the long
run ensure that the numbers of service requests are reduced.
·
The service
provider should ensure that all scheduled back up processed are working. The
criticality of your organization can decide the frequency with which they need
to check on the processes.
·
You should have a
confidentiality agreement wherein the service provider cannot disclose your
network or any data related details to any third party.
·
Ensure that the
agreement covers all charges for spare parts, labor, travel and everything else
that is covered in the agreement eliminating the probability of any hidden
costs.
·
The service
provider should agree to send technicians who have passed some bare minimum
certifications as per the requirement of your organization.
Some of the
clauses that no vendor will agree to in a computer maintenance agreement are:
·
Equipment
upgrades and new installations.
·
Any problems
caused by power surges are usually not covered.
·
Hardware
malfunction due to liquid spills will not be covered.
·
Data corruption
due to virus and hackers are not covered.
·
Support for
software applications like Microsoft Office is not covered.
Proactive
Computer Maintenance Contract
A new concept in the computer maintenance area is a Proactive Maintenance
Agreement which can also be defined as a preventative service. Under this kind
of contract, you are guaranteed monthly scheduled visits as per the number of
hours that you specify in the contract. Some of the additional features that is
covered in this type of contract are:
·
Monitor free disk
space.
·
Manage printers.
·
Monitor error
logs.
·
Manage directory
structure.
·
Maintain all
directory and file permissions.
I hope that the
tips for computer maintenance contract and agreements mentioned above will be
beneficial to you when you approach a service provider for a computer
maintenance contract.
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