Getting a service contract with your systems integrator might seem hard to justify. Of course, we all know preventative care is a good idea in theory: we should bring our cars in for routine maintenance, we should go to the dentist a couple of times a year, and we should get our smart building networks checked by a service contractor. In practice, though, it’s not so simple. After all, we don’t actually bring our cars in for regular maintenance to get the oil changed, brakes checked, and spark plugs replaced; we wait until the car is nearly (or completely) undriveable. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
Service contracts are important though, and the stakes can be extremely high in smart buildings. When your car doesn’t start in the morning, it likely won’t cause thousands or millions of dollars in damages. If devices on your property are acting up or shutting down, though, the worst-case scenarios are far more severe. More people — perhaps hundreds or thousands — are depending on that space to work as it should. When devices glitch at universities, data centers, and hospitals, for example, research is at risk and lives are on the line.
Service contracts aren’t a necessary evil; they’re a necessity. Read on for the top three reasons you need a service contract.
1. Benefit from preventative care.
Taking your car into the mechanic might seem expensive, inconvenient, and avoidable (for a time). The same can be said for regular dentist check-ups. You don’t want to go in every three to six months, but you do it to avoid dental degradation and emergency surgeries. It’s a little time and effort that means you might not have bigger problems later on.
Buildings are the same way. Preventative care is an investment, but it’s an investment that you will see returns on. With regular service visits, you can fix problems before they completely devastate your building network. Without these visits, it will take much longer to identify problems and will cost more to fix them, just like dentist visits leading up to a big surgery.
2. Save money.
Preventative care can lead to massive financial savings. You avoid paying for emergency service calls, device overhauls, and the fall-out from building tenants or occupants frustrated by inconveniences. If you don’t have a service contract, big issues become even bigger. You’ll have to pay more for technicians to fix emergencies at 2 a.m. than if you had already scheduled regular maintenance.
Service contracts might also save you money on your building’s energy consumption: buildings consume huge amounts of energy, that could be reduced with maintenance and smart adjustments. Service calls can pinpoint when and why a device is eating up more energy than it should, leading to greater returns on your service contract investment.
3. Get better, faster service.
If you have a service contract, your site becomes a priority when the systems integrator has an influx of service requests: those requests that are attached to contracts will inevitably rise to the top. Add in the growth of remote connections, where service contractors can view your network’s condition remotely to pinpoint issues, and you could get immediate help with problems where you might otherwise have to wait days or weeks.
A service contract is an investment against potential disasters. The contractors know what they’re doing and they are familiar with your site. They have a vested interest in making sure that your building is up and running as it should be. The right service contract will mitigate future problems, save you money, and get you better and faster service. Take preventative action, and look at your options.
Learn how having service contracts helped Princeton University resolve severe network issues.
