3rd Party IT Maintenance Companies: Advantages & Disadvantages

3rd Party IT Maintenance Companies Advantages & Disadvantages


3rd party maintenance services are a reliable option for firms who use original IT equipment which are long past their OEM support. Hence it only makes sense to hire such a maintenance firm if the company wants to continue getting support for their legacy hardware and get regular services.
Advantages of 3rd Party Maintenance Providers

 1. Credible Support after OEM Support Ends: OEMs have a timeline for support for their devices and software, after which they no longer provide updates and service, whether paid or free. This is where 3rd party maintenance providers come in, taking over your maintenance services.

2. Lower Costs as Compared to OEMs: 3rd party providers always charge lower prices for hardware maintenance and support as compared to original equipment manufacturers due to their usage of 3rd party manufactured parts and software, which are cheaper than original parts, while being as reliable and high quality as the original parts.

3. Better Flexibility: While OEMs provide support for their devices and software only, 3rd party providers can handle a wide range of devices and hardware under their maintenance portfolio, making them a much flexible and cheaper option even when the devices are still under OEM support timeline.

Disadvantages of 3rd Party Maintenance Providers

1. Hard to Get Hold Onto: Many 3rd party maintenance companies offer services to a wide range of businesses at the same time, hence it might be difficult to get one on contract for your company, given their increasing demand.
2. Issues on Custom Hardware: If your company runs custom hardware, then 3rd party maintenance providers may have a hard time providing support to that particular hardware because of their lack of knowledge on that. In such cases you might need to share your hardware architecture with them to get proper support.

3. Slightly Less Speed of Support for Legacy Hardware: Because 3rd party maintenance providers offer support for a large catalogue of old hardware, getting timely support for older hardware might take time because they will need to search for parts that are no longer in production officially. While this will eventually be resolved, it just might take more time in case of very old hardware.

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