Following on from last week’s article about how to get the best out of your UPS system and the benefits of a regular PMV (Preventive Maintenance Visit), now we turn our attention to those customers of yours who would benefit from the peace of mind of an ongoing maintenance contract.
As you learned previously, a newish UPS will likely be covered under warranty, indeed much of Riello UPS’s range comes with a 5-year extended warranty as standard. But a warranty does only offer a ‘best endeavour’ response if something goes wrong, it’s not a guarantee of a speedy solution.
So for additional clarity, many of your customers and facilities managers will opt for a maintenance contract that spells out elements such as the emergency response time it’ll take for engineers to attend site in black and white.
Such agreements also clarify whether or not parts and labour are included, along with the provision for at least one PMV per year.
But as with many such written agreements, not all UPS maintenance contracts are created equally! Too many we come across are full of caveats, get-out clauses, legalese, or confusing terms and conditions.
That’s why your customers need to do their due diligence before they sign on the dotted line with any supplier. You should never be afraid to ask a prospective provider some challenging questions. Do their service level agreements stack up or are they more ‘style over substance’?
Here are the most important questions your customers should ask before agreeing to take on a UPS maintenance contract:
Do I really need a maintenance plan if my UPS is under warranty?
We’ve already touched on this earlier, so we’ll keep this brief. But to reiterate, a warranty only constitutes a ‘best endeavour’ response, it isn’t a guarantee, so in an emergency you could be waiting much longer until your UPS is back online.
Having those guarantees of a specified Emergency Response Time that suits your customer’s requirements, can make all the difference.
Which leads on to probably the most important question…
How quickly will you respond to an emergency call?
Even the most resilient and reliable UPS system can fail, but unfortunately you can’t predict when it might happen – it’s not quite as simple as having technical support on hand 9-5 Monday to Friday, you’re never quite sure when downtime will strike.
Many maintenance providers will claim to offer 24/7/365 coverage with Emergency Response Times ranging from 12 working hours all the way to 4 clock hours for the most mission-critical environments.
But what is the ‘response’? There’s a world of difference from an automated message acknowledging that you’ve reported a fault or an initial phone call with tech support compared to a fully trained engineer onsite and fixing your UPS.
In some circumstances a provider might guarantee you a 24/7 response, but what if your premises are only accessible during standard business hours? You could end up paying a premium for round-the-clock support that you don’t even need – that’s why it’s important to clarify the terms and make sure they suit your customer’s specific needs.
Do you hold spare parts in stock and how quickly can I get them?
Even a speedy response doesn’t guarantee a fast fix – that’s why you need to know where your maintenance provider holds spare parts, and if so, where are they stored. It’s no good to you if they’ve got plenty of components in stock but they’re hundreds of miles away.
Riello UPS takes a different approach to most manufacturers. We have the biggest stockholding of UPS and spares in the UK. But we don’t just store this multi-million pound stockholding at our North Wales headquarters, it’s spread in several strategically located offices, hubs, and warehouses across the country, enabling us to deliver spares or even replacement UPSs within a few hours of an issue being reported.
And while we’re talking about spares, let’s touch on a related question – which parts are covered, and which aren’t, under your maintenance contract? Consumables like batteries and capacitors tend to come at an added cost, but for parts such as fans, it’ll come down to the particular provider, so always check what’s included.
Are your engineers fully trained and certified?
Competence is key when it comes down to servicing your UPS too, so ask about the provider’s engineers. You need to trust that they are 100 per cent up to the task.
You don’t necessarily need to go straight to the UPS manufacturer for maintenance. But you do need to be sure that any engineer is fully trained and certified to work on the particular model. General maintenance or electrical engineers are unlikely to have sufficient product-specific knowledge, and don’t ever forget that human error is the biggest cause of equipment downtime!
To ensure customers have round-the-clock access to competent, experienced technicians, we run a Certified Engineer Programme for both our in-house team and a nationwide network of engineers from authorised UPS resellers.
To feature on this approved list, engineers must successfully complete rigorous training on the commissioning, maintenance, and servicing of Riello UPS products, and undergo regular re-assessment to retain their approved status.
How many PMVs are included?
Any maintenance contract worth its salt should include at least one service visit a year. Think of them in a similar vein to getting an annual service on your car or boiler, it just makes common sense to ensure everything’s in full working order.
Engineers will visit your customer’s premises and inspect the UPS for potential issues, both with the unit itself and whether consumables such as batteries or capacitors may need replacing.
Regular PMVs also provide the perfect opportunity for firmware updates to be installed to optimise performance by ensuring your system is running on the latest software.
All in all, a PMV is an essential regular health-check that can flag up potential problems before they become a critical issue, ensure your system is performing at its very best, and help with forward planning by identifying the need for any replacement parts or consumables well in advance.
Identifying the best UPS partner
Being willing to ask all these questions and getting clarity over issues such as response times, parts, and engineers will help your customers make the most informed decision over who is best placed to entrust with maintaining their vital UPS systems.