Computer Maintenance Contract
- All printers, servers and workstations must be covered in the contract.
- The response time after a request for a service has been placed must be agreed upon. The usual response time is 4 hours.
- The service provider should agree to provide detailed service requests reports quarterly.
- A very important clause that you must be very firm on is that the service provider should provide non-contract services at a discounted rate.
- All preventive maintenance activities should be carried out quarterly. This will in the long run ensure that the numbers of service requests are reduced.
- The service provider should ensure that all scheduled back up processed are working. The criticality of your organization can decide the frequency with which they need to check on the processes.
- You should have a confidentiality agreement wherein the service provider cannot disclose your network or any data related details to any third party.
- Ensure that the agreement covers all charges for spare parts, labor, travel and everything else that is covered in the agreement eliminating the probability of any hidden costs.
- The service provider should agree to send technicians who have passed some bare minimum certifications as per the requirement of your organization.
Some of the clauses that no vendor will agree to in a computer maintenance agreement are:
- Equipment upgrades and new installations.
- Any problems caused by power surges are usually not covered.
- Hardware malfunction due to liquid spills will not be covered.
- Data corruption due to virus and hackers are not covered.
- Support for software applications like Microsoft Office is not covered.
Proactive Computer Maintenance Contract
A new concept in the computer maintenance area is a Proactive Maintenance Agreement which can also be defined as a preventative service. Under this kind of contract, you are guaranteed monthly scheduled visits as per the number of hours that you specify in the contract. Some of the additional features that is covered in this type of contract are:
- Monitor free disk space.
- Manage printers.
- Monitor error logs.
- Manage directory structure.
- Maintain all directory and file permissions.
I hope that the tips for computer maintenance contract and agreements mentioned above will be beneficial to you when you approach a service provider for a computer maintenance contract.