What Does a Telephone System Maintenance Contract Cover?

 

Before deciding whether to take out a telephone system maintenance contract, it is important to understand what you will be covered for and what you won’t be covered for.

 

What’s Not Covered

 

Although a telephone system maintenance contract aims to provide a safety net in the event of a communications problem, there are limits to what the contract can reasonably be said to cover. The elements that aren’t covered are usually covered by the company’s insurance policy. These include:

• Acts of God
• Power surges
• Contact with any liquid such as water damage or harmful substances
• Malicious damage
• Rodent damage
• Intervention by 3rd party

The aim of a systems maintenance contract is to ensure that the systems run as they are supposed to. If there are wider problems then Insurance policies kick in: there’s no point in the policies overlapping because the customer is essentially paying twice for the same thing.

 

Equipment

 

Generally, a telephone system maintenance will cover the costs of fixing & replacing equipment. In the agreement will be a list of equipment that is covered as well as a list of repairs or replacements that will be covered. For example, a maintenance will usually cover the following:

• Wear & tear
• Faults
• Engineers visits

Faulty equipment & engineers visits would normally then be free of charge.

 

Databases

 

Many telephone systems have database software that keeps the records that the system needs to run. It is important that this is backed up in order to run.

A telephone systems maintenance contract should cover these databases, keeping an up-to-date database on-site and one off-site in case it is needed for disaster recovery purposes.

 

Software Upgrades

 

Telephone systems software will periodically need to be upgraded in order to ensure security, smooth-running & functionality. A maintenance agreement should cover these software updates.

 

Stock

 

A reputable telecommunications company should be able to replace most faulty equipment out of stock in order to ensure that systems aren’t down & that people can work without a problem. Telecom Services keep a minimum of £20k of stock for this purpose, for example.

 

Remote Support

 

Remote support should be covered in a telephone systems maintenance agreement. This service is a win-win for customers and telecoms companies as it enables customers to be back up & running quicker in the event of a problem and saves transport costs for the telecoms company. This service should be free of charge to maintenance customers.

 

Response Times

 

Response times are the most important part of a telephone systems maintenance contract. The costs of a telephone system being down can soon mount up and a contract should provide the client with support that will prevent them from losing money, prevent them from losing reputation and from paying their staff to do nothing. In many cases, telecoms companies will offer a range of different responses dependent upon the complexity of the system or the cost to the customer of the system going down. For normal systems, a typical telecoms agreement might also offer a 4 hour response time for emergencies (significant system problems or more than 50% of the system being down) & 16 hours for simpler or more localised problems.