South African companies running a mixture of branded personal computers, printers and Intel servers now have one-stop access to an accredited service resource for all their equipment.
This follows the appointment of First Technology as a Hewlett-Packard authorised service provider (ASP). First Technology already held ASP accreditation from IBM and Compaq. The latest move means First Technology can now execute warranty repairs on all three of the top-selling branded IT equipment in the country.
Dennis Duff, Regional Technical Manager, First Technology says organising warranty repairs for faulty equipment in a mixed IT environment can be an administrative nightmare and can increase the total cost of ownership of the equipment.
"Corporates usually have to deal with several different support companies. Now they can turn to First Technology," he adds.
"First Technology`s decision to support all three PC brands entailed substantial investment in physical resources, such as special equipment, in new processes to comply with the different vendor criteria, and in training staff on the different systems.
"We have a large contingent of engineers, all of whom are accredited by the respective vendors to carry out warranty repairs."
Henry Sebata, authorised service partner manager at HP says that for a company to become a HP service partner, it must be a substantial enterprise, with national facilities.
"It must meet our strict criteria and engineers have to be trained on our equipment. First Technology complies with all these requirements," he adds.
In fact, all First Technology`s service outlets, which are located in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Durban, had to comply with the different criteria of each vendor. IBM, for example, authorises each centre individually.
"Each branch has to apply for authorisation but First Technology actually exceeds our requirements. For example, rather than use our support line which provides diagnostics support, First Technology handle all diagnosis themselves," explains Rian Kriel, Business Partner Manager, IBM SA.
IBM also monitors ASP performance strictly to ensure its warranty obligations on the IBM ThinkPad Notebook, NetVista desktop PCs and NetFinity server ranges are being met.
"Aspects such as claims validity, meantime between failure of repaired equipment and first time fix are all monitored. To date First Technology has been rated 100%," he says.
According to Steffen Schulz, Senior Account Manager, Compaq South Africa, Compaq ASPs have to comply with eight main criteria.
"These include equipment, skills, call management systems and processes and First Technology met or exceeded all of them.
"Once authorised, we monitor key performance indicators such as fixing time within warranty obligation, service quality or parts use on a continuous basis and to date First Technology is performing exceptionally," Schulz concludes.
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