6 common IT Support pitfalls to avoid.
6 Common problems with Supporting Data Centres
Far too often, organisations treat their IT systems as an afterthought rather than a priority. But the harsh reality is that businesses with insufficient technical support are going to have trouble surviving in this day and age of big data and remote work environments. With a variety of support alternatives and solutions on the market, IT leaders often fall for convincing hardware maintenance traps that waste both time and money. Don’t make the same mistakes and avoid these 6 pitfalls of IT hardware support:
1. Self-Support.
Arguably the biggest mistake your organisation could make in terms of IT support is attempting to source/support data centre equipment yourself. While self-support may be a more attractive alternative to the inflated OEM rates faced in years 3+, it’s incredibly risky. For one, it’s nearly impossible to verify that parts from unknown vendors on eBay or Amazon are actually certified, which could mean receiving faulty parts that threaten the stability of your systems. Such unverified equipment could spell costly unexpected downtime or data loss for your entire data centre.
Secondly, you’re likely spending even more money in the employee time cost equivalent in an effort to self-support. Understand that a significant amount of time, money, and resources will be needed to find the right equipment at a reasonable price. Instead, consider selecting a reputable third party vendor to provide you with a more valuable SLA and affordable, certified, pre-owned hardware.
Also, will you need to waste your team’s time and money paying to train engineers on obscure pieces of kit so they can be ready to support equipment that may rarely if ever need any attention?
2. Defaulting to the OEM.
Don’t make the mistake of turning to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for support just by default. While the OEM may be a necessity for certain OS upgrades within the first 2-3 years of equipment’s life, after year 4 sticking with the OEM can be a very inefficient use of company resources.
Be sure to explore other alternatives to OEM services, such as third party maintenance, which offers OEM-level support for a fraction of the price. These third party vendors can provide your data centre with high-quality support / warranty / maintenance services and pre-owned hardware for anywhere from 40% – 70% less than the OEM contract equivalent. The best part? OEMs will often farm out a majority of their break/fix issues to contract engineers in an effort to keep costs down; this means that in many cases, third party support providers employ the very same field engineers as these OEM-contracted technicians. Talk about doing more with less!
3. Poor backup strategies.
One of the most important features of IT support is also the one that’s most easily neglected: data backup. Between system failures, natural disasters, malware, or simply human error, data loss can be catastrophic for Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). According to a study done by the University of Texas, “94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive – 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years.” There is no excuse for failing to backup and maintain your systems. You must backup both servers and IT infrastructure, as well as individual computers, to ensure that your business can quickly recover from any kind of IT disaster. Third party maintenance vendors offer expansion shelves that are separate from the equipment you have, so you can expand or backup data at your own pace, saving both time and money.
4. Overly frequent hardware refreshes.
Why replace current hardware with the newest OEM release when what you already have is working just fine? Well, you really shouldn’t be. IT budgets are obviously tight across the board, and dropping cash unnecessarily isn’t an option. While the end of your initial warranty period signifies that the OEM has switched focus to supporting newer models they’ve brought to market, that doesn’t mean you should do the same. Post-warranty extended support solutions from third party maintenance providers work to help clients break free from regular (and expensive) hardware refresh cycles. Prolong the useful life of your device with post-warranty support, and experience maintenance on your own terms!
5. Permitting slow service.
If your current support provider doesn’t offer 24/7/4hr support, or a 24×7 help desk, you’re putting your data centre at a great disadvantage. These services are now the industry standard for critical equipment and anything less is simply unacceptable. When unexpected downtime stands to cost your business not only money but potentially customers, waiting on hold to be connected with an OEM expert can feel like doing more harm than good. For faster disaster recovery, consider a third party maintenance provider and have equipment malfunctions resolved in 4 hours or less!
6. Having different suppliers blaming each other instead of fixing faults.
You most likely use equipment from at least 2 different OEMs and your business relies on their kit talking seamlessly to each other. Once set up that’s usually fine but what happens when that communication breaks down? You’ll often find engineers for each OEM blame the other manufacturer’s kit and have difficulty talking to each other. This is known as the OEM ‘blame game’ (covered in our post ‘How to avoid the OEM Blame Game’). With TPMs either one engineer is qualified to work on both pieces of kit or both engineers work for the same company so their focus is solely on fixing the issue as quickly as possible.
IT SUPPORT FROM SUPPORT 24/7.
Support 24/7 is a highly qualified provider of IT support solutions. We offer a wide selection of support, maintenance, and warranty services in an effort to solve each of these 6 pitfalls. Our solutions include, but are not limited to:
- Recertified pre-owned hardware
- Savings of up to 80% on support and hardware
- Post-Warranty and Post-EOSL support - prolonging equipment’s life by 5 – 10 years
- 24/7/4hr support with same or NBD Parts.
- Fully qualified engineers for all brands of equipment
Achieve the IT support your business requires to thrive and contact Support 24/7 today to discover how our experienced team may be of service to you! Please contact us here.