In my last blog, I introduced a well kept secret that is becoming a popular trend, Third Party Maintenance vs. OEM Maintenance.    This type of maintenance is not a new concept and I would like to educate you a little on how the maintenance world works.   Third party maintenance companies have been around for over 30 years.  In many cases, they support the back line for the OEM’s.  As the economic times have gotten tighter and tighter, large companies (OEM’s) have had to cut back payroll.  In doing so, they have outsourced many of their service roles – hence the growth of the third party maintenance companies.   Also, where do you think many of these ex-IBM, ex-Sun, etc.  engineers have landed?  Many work for the third party maintenance companies.

I explain this, because I think it is important that you understand that if you go to the OEM, do you really think that they can cover all the zip codes in the US?  Or can they support equipment other than what they manufacture?

Just this past week, I was at my daughter’s soccer game and I struck up a conversation with a parent from the other team.  We went through the basic introductory conversations and that led to the conversation of our professions.  I was explaining to him how I was involved in selling third party maintenance and this struck an interest on his part.  He shared a story with me that impacted him and he saw the correlation with the third party maintenance world.   A few years back he bought a high end refrigerator.  Not one that you would replace with the first sign of problems.  He called the manufacturer (OEM) to get help but it was like calling a black hole.  No one wanted to help, no one could lead him to a solution, the call center was a revolving door, etc.

The frustration he shared is not much different than what we hear from our customers that convert from their OEM maintenance to Third Party Maintenance.  His frustration led him to begin calling local service providers.  Companies that returned his call and came out when they said they would.  To make a long story short, he had a local company come out and fix his problem.  They were concerned, courteous, and reasonably priced.  Bottom line, they were responsive to his needs.

If there’s something to always remember, it’s this:  OEM’s are in the business of manufacturing IT equipment, NOT servicing it.