Annual Maintenance Contract

When you buy a PC, you make an arrangement with the assembler that includes regular servicing and maintenance of your PC components and can also include equipment such as printers, scanners etc. Such an arrangement or a contract is known as an 'Annual Maintenance Contract' (AMC). 

A repair all of a sudden might prove expensive and going in for an Annual Maintenance Contract can be beneficial. There are however, certain things that you must know about these contracts before you actually get into one.

 
TYPES OF AN ANNUAL MAINTENANCE CONTRACT SERVICES
There are two types of Annual Maintenance Contracts: 1) Comprehensive AMCs and 2) Non comprehensive/Call basis AMCs.

COMPREHENSIVE AMCS are again divided into two parts 

One, which includes repair and replacement of the faulty PC parts for a lump sum price. Here, you are not charged separately for the labour or for the parts replaced, and 

The other type of comprehensive AMC does not include replacement of parts. It does not charge for the labour but the owner has to pay the actual price for the parts replaced.

NON COMPREHENSIVE AMCs one has to pay for both the repairs as well as the replaced parts.

AMCs can also be divided into 'On site' and 'Carry-in' AMCs. Under 'On-site AMCs' the service engineers themselves come to your residence or office and do the repairs or carry the defective piece with them to the workshop and bring it back when it is repaired. Under 'carry-in' contracts, you have to carry the faulty machine to their service center and get it repaired. 

You don't need to be a computer geek to know whether to go in for a comprehensive or a non-comprehensive AMC. You can do a quick calculation on the number of times there have been breakdowns or hardware problems in the past and then make a decision. For all you know, going in for a non-comprehensive AMC might prove to be a lot more economical. As the machine gets older and starts to give more problems or hiccoughs, AMCs become more economical. Usually all machines come with at least a one year warranty where all repairs costs of labour and parts are at the cost of the seller.

Always ensure that the following things are very clearly stated in writing in the Annual Maintenance Contract.

Response time: This refers to the time within which the service engineer attends to your call. You can mention the maximum amount of time you are willing to wait as part of your contract.

The time within which the faulty component is repaired or replaced: Ask if they provide you with a replacement temporarily, so that your work doesn't stop. Large customers usually manage to get this facility.

Check the scope of maintenance: Certain AMCs do not include repairs for any damage caused to the hardware components by the employees or any damage caused by some electric faults or natural calamities such as floods, tornadoes, earthquakes etc.. Ensure that all their terms and conditions are in writing.

Check for the Multiple Vendor policy: There may be many vendors and you must ensure that there is co-ordination and that one vendor does not blame it on the other.

Check for the availability of the service center: It is always better to have a service center nearby as it will ensure prompt services and also save you the time of carrying the components, especially if you have a carry-in contract.

Understand the non-working hours and holiday policy of the organisation and what are their services in cases of severe/emergency problems.

To get a better deal, you can also enter into a multiple year contract to ensure that the price remains constant for you for the next two or three years, provided you pay for them up-front. Many manufacturers (particularly large brands) give you the option of an extendable warranty at the time of purchase. This guarantees free service for more than one year. It is not yet very prevalent in India but works well abroad

Annual Maintenance Contracts usually called as AMC has become an easy money making business for very small companies (Single owner type) to large companies.

While going in for these contracts most of the corporates take a decision mostly on price factor. They totally ignore the fact that while quoting a very low figure for AMC these so called service people are confirming that they will not be able to provide the kind of service they promise on paper. That kind of charges belies that an effective service can be provided.

We deliver what we promise. That is why we accept only those contracts that we can fulfill to the satisfaction of the customers. . We have a standard AMC format linked here for your perusal. click here.
We can provide AMC to any IT HARDWARE

SOFTWARE: This includes an AMC for all the software related issues such as Operating Systems, Mail Software, Database software etc. It is advised that one should always buy licensed and legal software to prevent any software issues and it also makes maintenance easier as the software company will provide you with a new copy in case the older one gets damaged or crashes.