Procurri is the channel’s leading third-party provider of Global IT Maintenance, and we’re well known for our vast expertise spanning all OEMs and product types; and flexibility as a result. One such feature of working with us is our ability to offer co-term support for your data center needs – and here, we explain exactly what that is and how it works.
What is Co-Term Support?
In this context, co-term support refers to combining support for different products, devices and services under a single support contract or agreement – even if their coverage dates, SLAs and EOSL points are all different. This allows for businesses to simplify their contracts for support into a ‘one stop shop’ as such, without the need for multiple different contracts with different firms, clauses and exclusions.
At Procurri, we also offer multi-vendor hardware contracts alongside co-term support; as we operate entirely vendor-neutrally and across all OEMs in any configuration.
Why would a Business need Co-Term Support?
Historically, when businesses tended to operate only data center hardware from a single OEM and had purchased and installed all of it at the same time, only a single support contract would ever be necessary – and this was usually provided by the OEM before being withdrawn at EOSL point, and the whole system replaced.
Now, as businesses become more reliant on IT systems than ever before and their growth and development has led to vast diversification within data centers, it is not uncommon to find multiple products within a business; much more a sort of ‘mix and match’ approach than conventionally apparent. For example, a data center may have a Netapp network but an EMC storage device.
Without co-term support, a business is forced to seek individual service agreements for every product in their configuration. This presents a complicated picture of ongoing support and break-fix solutions, and can be financially extremely cost-heavy.
The synchronization of support into a Co-Term agreement can be considered to bring the following benefits:
- Simplifying Contract Management:
- Synchronizing contracts facilitates easier tracking and renewal of support needs
- Reduced overall administration.
- Improving Budget Planning:
- Providing predictable annual costs; all due at one time rather than several contracts requiring expenditure at different times
- Facilitating easier procurement approvals.
- Reduces Risk:
- Avoids lapsed coverage due to missed renewals; as everything is due at the same time
- Ensures consistent support across the IT environment as the support provider is a single entity.
- Streamlines Vendor Communication:
- Provides a single point of renewal discussion.
How does Procurri work with OEMs?
Many Third Party Maintenance providers operate on a OEM-loyal basis, which means they only have the capacity and ability to work with hardware made by specific OEMs. However, Procurri operates entirely neutral of all vendors; and our team of specialist technicians and engineers worldwide allows us to offer support across all OEMs.
For many OEMs, we also offer vendor-authorized new and refurbished spare parts as part of our global hardware stockholding (the largest worldwide!).
How do Procurri’s Flexible SLAs work?
Procurri offers a variety of flexible SLAs (Service Level Agreements), which allow customers to select their desired level of service to best meet the needs of their business. With Procurri, customers are able to have different SLAs in place for different hardware; allowing a truly flexible contract that provides exactly what can work for a business’ idiosyncrasies. As such, there are 3 standard SLA offerings from Procurri. These are:
BASIC: 9×5 Help Desk, Online Portal, Next Business Day (customer replaceable unit) parts.
ENHANCED: 9×5 Help Desk, Online Portal, Field Engineer onsite Next Business Day with parts.
PREMIUM: 24x7x4 Help Desk, Online Portal, Field Engineer onsite within 4 hours of diagnosis with parts.
As if that wasn’t unique enough, we also then offer customizable SLAs to meet more specific business needs. This involves us working out an SOW (Statement of Work) to set out requirements for call to repair, dedicated field engineers and technicians, and/or parts required on-site.
If you have specific requirements that a customizable Co-Term Support SLA could help, get in touch with the Procurri team to discuss your needs.
How does Co-Term Support Begin?
Procurri offers flexible support across hardware no matter its OEM, EOSL date or existing support agreements in place. Oftentimes when a business approaches us for the first time, they have multiple service agreements in place, scattered across dates and levels of support.
Initiating co-term support may involve:
- Aligning existing contract dates – adjusting the new contract to include a common end date, synchronizing all for simplification
- Proration of existing contracts – some existing contracts may need to be ended partially through their term, or continued on outside of the co-term support agreement before being added later (whatever works best for the preference of the customer)
- Adding in new purchases or IT acquisitions to the co-term date and aligning them as required.
No matter how complicated your existing configuration, Procurri has the expertise to help manage it – and make it easier.
The Challenges of Implementing Co-Term Support
As with anything quite so complicated, there are a variety of factors that businesses should be aware of when they intend to enter into a new co-term support agreement – and the Procurri team can work through all of these with you to help navigate the transition. Such considerations may include:
- Upfront costs – OEMs may incur fees for mid-term contract cancellation, and pro-rata’d fees can increase the short-term costs involved
- Vendor limitations – for obvious reasons, OEMs are not always supportive of co-term support and so are unlikely to aid of the transition in moving contracts away from them to a third party
- Contract complexity – it is likely there will be vast administrative and perhaps even legal resource required during the transition to co-term support
- Timing – while co-term support is best implemented during an infrastructure refresh or renewal cycle, this is not always practical and may therefore involve a lot of separate ‘moving parts’.
The Best Practices of Co-Term Support
While the Procurri team will help you navigate the onboarding process however complex your existing situation may be, there are some best practices that businesses can take before initiating contact to help best understand their current situation and identify the right co-term support vendor for them. These include:
- Carry out a full up-to-date product inventory along with a contract inventory to understand all support providers, levels, types and end dates
- If possible, identify a co-term date that would sufficiently align with either the business’ fiscal, budgetary or infrastructure refresh cycle/s
- Establish communication internally with finance and procurement teams to understand internal practices and how a co-term support contract could benefit areas of the business other than just IT
- Utilise a centralized contract management tool to track everything and allow all involved parties oversight of the current, past and future contract situation so that it is well understood and sufficiently managed internally.
Co-Term Support: The Bottom Line
In theory, co-term support makes perfect sense for businesses with a varied and complex IT infrastructure; as it works strategically to improve operational efficiency, simplified renewals, better budget management and bespoke IT support that meets the needs and idiosyncrasies of every organization.
However, the ever-evolving IT needs of businesses means that often by the time they come to approach a co-term support contract, they already have a myriad of providers and contracts in place – spanning varying OEMs, hardware ages, device types and EOSL dates. This means that the implementation of such an agreement can require hefty planning and co-ordination, often making it a major internal project that can be considered by some a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a business-critical function.
In the long run, there is no doubt that co-term support contracts pay off – in time, effort, and financial returns. That’s why with Procurri, we make the onboarding process as easy as possible for new customers. With a dedicated point of contact in-house, we can help sort and manage all of your existing contracts and build up a tailored agreement that works for you and your business. Operating on an entirely vendor-neutral basis, we’re able to support, maintain, update and upgrade hardware spanning all OEMs with no bias and will always offer independent advice that works for you, not just a sales team.
If you’d like to know more about the most flexible contracts and comprehensive support in the channel, get in touch. You may just be surprised at how much, for how little, we can offer!
