Maintenance or not?

[Bobg1]

We have a definity g3 and with the budget cuts we have been having, the question has come up, Do we really need to be paying these costs for maintenance on this system. I would like to hear pros and cons on keeping or not a maintenance program with Avaya. I know they have now gone to several differnet programs that are available and so would also like to hear what the thoughts are as to the minimum level of maintenance. Thanks

 

[heyitsthephoneguy]

I basically maintain my own system, while the company has purchased a "maintenance" agreement through a non Lucent business partner company.

Personally I think we're throwing money away for what basically amounts to an insurance policy on our switches (the company we deal with is totally inept in regards to anything other than inserting a card into our switch).

You can pay Avaya on a per call basis, and refurbished equipment is so cheap now a days it really is a question of does the cost of a maintenance plan compare to the costs of refurb equip & paying avaya once in a while on a call by call basis.

It's an expensive gamble. You may win, you may lose.

 

[Phoneman2]

Is it wise to compare the cost of replacement part to a contract....or should we compare the amount of money lost due to the phone system being down. If the phone system supports a call center or is the major money maker. the cost of making sure it works become very little. Wisdom is Knowledge
that is Shared

Thanks All Phoneman2

 

[applepie]

Does anyone have maintenance agreement through a broker, like Chicago-based UAC? From what I have been told you can then use any business partner for servicing your switch. We do not have call center, and at the cost of maintenance through Avaya, I am beginning to consider this.

 

[vaoldschl]

Anoter option to consider is Maintenance Assist. If you have a competent tech on site and do most of your maintenance yourself this is a relatively decent option. You basically pay Avaya to remain your friend. You keep your MSPs (or get them if you don't have them) and keep your alarm origination. You get a discount rate for on-site support and direct access to Tier III. I wanted to drop the maintenance all together but my management opted for this instead. It's the 'in case the tech gets hit by a bus' option. Since I work in the health care industry I also stock spares for everything including the processor complex so down time is a non-issue. I prefer this to even going through the partners at this point; since they started farming maintenance work out to every telephone man who once upon a time looked at a key system I don't trust anyone but me to open the door to my system.

 

[lopes1211]

Maxg - What did you need to go on the MA program? It sounds like the best option for me but Avaya threw up all sorts of road blocks when I tried to get it a year ago. They wanted us to buy some sort of monitoring software for $25K and take some sort of classes? -CL

 

[vaoldschl]

I just talked to the regional rep and had her send the paperwork. I basically put it that they had to come up with an option I would accept or I was dropping them entirely. Some money v. No money seemed to be a decent motivator. I believe you will find that in the past year Avaya's attitude toward the whole maintenance game has changed a little, they don't want to give up the cash but they really don't want to be maintaining these systems anymore. Try again, I'm guessing they'll be more receptive to the idea.

 

[lopes1211]

I went to the support website to refresh my memory and found a PDF on the service offerings. It lists Customer Maintenance Participation (CMP) with 2 levels. It explicitly states the customer must purchase and use "Definity Fault Management" which is the $25K software package I referred to. I'm going to try again with our rep. Which level did you pick and what do you pay per port (excluding audix, cms, cti, etc., which makes it too complicated)? -CL

 

[vaoldschl]

Point me to that PDF., I'm not finding it. As to cost I pay $.60 per port.

 

[lopes1211]

http://support.avaya.com/service_agreement/AVA-1544_5-01.pdf

-CL

 

[Bobg1]

The way it reads, it says that "Utilizatiuon of the Definity Fault managment product is required as part of this offering". Hmmm, says nothing about purchasing....
So the question I have for that would be, What exactly is the definity fault managment product??
I would think that as long as you had craft level access to the switch you would have fault management.

So maxg is this what you have going? Or exactly what dod you get for $.60/port? That sure is a far cry from the basic standard of 2.48/port.

 

[vaoldschl]

I'm saying that doc is outdated. First because it references maintenance coverage on a Sys 75 which Avaya doesn't do maintenance on anymore and second because these are the terms of the Maintenance Assist Agreement I entered:

2. ESSENTIAL SERVICE - Avaya shall provide the following services as part of your Maintenance Assist Essential Service:

A. Unlimited access to the Avaya Customer Support Web site, including:
·Service request/creation, case status, status by Installation Location;
·an extensive list of Frequently Asked Questions, sorted by product, developed and updated by the Avaya Technical Service Organization (TSO);
·an on-line electronic library of maintenance manuals (including the Little Instruction Books); and
·a list of all Quality Protection Plans (QPPs), including descriptions and ordering information.
You are responsible for providing your own Internet access.

B. Access to Avaya engineers in the TSO, seven (7) days per week, twenty-four (24) hours per day. Actual engineering support time is billable at Avaya’s then current time and material charge for such service.

C. A fifty-percent (50%) discount on Avaya’s standard premise visit charge if the dispatch of an Avaya technician is requested. Avaya’s then current time and material charges will also apply.

D. In addition to the services listed above, as part of your Maintenance Assist Essential Service Avaya grants to you a right to use the Maintenance Software Permissions to Maintain Stations and Trunks, as well as Maintenance Software Permissions to Maintain System and Processor.

No, 25K for software; I'm just paying Avaya to be my friend. I maintain everything. And I rechecked my math, it actually works out to $.55 a port. lopes, I think you just need to use the right buzz words, don't call it CMP call it Maintenance Assist Essential Service.