Networks have evolved into service delivery platforms for a variety of real-time communication and collaboration applications. In these business critical environments, relying on a warranty is no longer enough, nor is it advisable business practice – with so many important services running off your network, downtime can be detrimental.
Addressing this challenge, Westcon Comztek’s Services and Comstor divisions offers Cisco Technical Services, to ensure networks are properly maintained and issues can be proactively addressed before they result in costly downtime, enabling customers to leverage full value from their technology investment and minimise risk, among other benefits.
“While all Cisco products come with a warranty, this is designed to remedy manufacturing defects and any damage that may occur during transit. Both hardware and software are guaranteed as free of defects.
“However, this does not address any issues relating to the proper operation or configuration of devices or systems. Warranties also expire, which means that once out of warranty, customers will be charged for any repairs,” says Hanle Carver, business development manager at Westcon Comztek.
“Technical Service contracts, on the other hand, offer access to technical skill and expertise. They provide services that can help customers to improve business agility, ensure availability of their network and business critical applications, and reduce the total cost of ownership while increasing business value and return on investment of solutions,” she explains.
Without a Cisco Technical Services contract, customers will have to pay transactional fees and wait longer for the delivery of spare parts, further impacting their ability to avoid the costs of downtime. Technical Services provide rapid response to problems that can affect network availability and reliability, as well as 24-hour access to Cisco technical experts, who can help to quickly resolve network problems.
These services allow customers to run highly available end-to-end networks, enhance security, and provide the scalability necessary when implementing multiple applications, to ensure that network performance is not adversely affected.
“Today’s technology solutions are constantly evolving, and without technical support organisations may be unable to use their network to full advantage. Services can provide help with configuration and troubleshooting, faster hardware replacement options, access to operating system software updates, proactive problem prevention and access to expert advice and comprehensive technical guidance.
“A warranty simply does not provide adequate coverage for customers to realise the full value of their solutions,” Carver concludes.