Acer Africa has selected Getronics as its partner in a warranty programme geared to providing clients with top-level on-site support on its desktop, server and mobile products.
Acer Africa general manager Brian Bogaard says: "Acer introduced its warranty partner programme to offer better consistency in after sales service countrywide, and to give cost- effective, high quality after sales support."
Getronics won the deal, after several potential partners were evaluated, on the strength of its reputation, ability to provide critical mass, infrastructure, internal resources and skills, says Bogaard. "Another consideration was Getronics` impartiality.
Because they don`t sell product, there`s no conflict of interest.
"The on-site warranty service has proven to be beneficial to end- users and channel partners. It has reduced the cost of after sales warranty service, and ensured less downtime for users."
Getronics` Acer account manager John Swanepoel says: "What clients are looking for is consistent, reliable on-site support. The relationship between Acer and Getronics gives Acer`s clients this guarantee.
"Acer had carry-in support centres in most major cities and towns in South Africa, but needed an organisation with a national footprint to provide on-site support, especially at the high-end," says Swanepoel.
"The organisation has decided to bundle a warranty service with its products, as a way of adding value for clients and competing with the major brands. With this agreement, Acer has signalled its intention to establish itself as a leading provider of top quality support and service. The appointment of a national service provider also introduces stability, consistency and clearly defined parameters."
According to Swanepoel, Getronics was selected on the basis of its credibility and reputation in the market, its ability to meet exacting service level standards, and the quality of its services, tools and systems.
The warranty service is built into the price of Acer purchases, while clients also have the choice of an "upliftment" clause at a slight additional cost.
Acer provides strategic replacement parts in all major locations, which Getronics manages and deploys in meeting service requirements. Calls are currently logged with, screened and qualified by Acer. If calls cannot be resolved at the first-stage helpdesk run by Acer, they are routed to Getronics for dispatch to the appropriate regional centre.
Turnaround time ranges from four-hour mean time to clear, to next business day. "We get measured on first time fixes," says Swanepoel, "First prize is obviously to resolve calls within the first visit and at least 95 percent of callouts meet this criterion.
To service the Acer agreement, Getronics has installed dedicated staff at its Rivonia operations centre, while all its regions have engineers specially trained on the Acer range. Volumes of equipment are building steadily, and Getronics is increasing its Acer complement to keep pace. Getronics has 27 service centres countrywide, and about 160 field engineers.
Getronics handles more than 6 000 on-site interventions a month, along with about 18 000 phone calls to its operations centre. More than 120 000 desktop computers are being covered in terms of the warranty partnership.
"The agreement is important for Acer clients because it clearly defines support procedures and turnaround times. Uninterrupted uptime is vital for users, not only to ensure business productivity, but - probably more importantly - to ensure undisrupted supply of service to their clients. This ability to provide service is often totally reliant on desktop technology," says Swanepoel.
"Getronics has found Acer to be an excellent company to do business with and we certainly believe that the relationship is proving to be valuable for both organisations," he concludes.
Getronics is one of the world`s leading providers of Solutions and Services to the professional users of Information and Communication Technology. With 33 000 employees in 44 countries, Getronics works with many of the world`s largest companies to help them maximize the value of their technology investment.
Getronics headquarters is situated in Amsterdam, with regional head Offices in Boston, London, Singapore and Washington DC. Getronics shares are traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (GTN). Further information on Getronics and its services can be found on the World Wide Web @ www.getronics.com.
Share
