In the market for...
In the market for…radio
maintenance contracts
Historically, radio maintenance
Adobe Stock/zoneteen
What kind of maintenance contract a customer chooses will largely depend on in-house
resources and how critical the radio system is to its business operations. Simon Creasey looks
at some of the options on offer
contracts were a bit of an
afterthought and considered
a ‘nice to have’ rather than
a ‘need to have’ by end-users buying
a two-way system, according to Ola
Gwozdz, head of innovation and
business development at PMR Products.
“Ad hoc repairs or battery
replacements, often purchased from
the company oering the cheapest deal
at the time, rather than the original
supplier, were the norm,” says Gwozdz.
But the DMR era marked a shift
from simple preventative maintenance
contracts to more elaborate servicelevel
agreements oering firmware
upgrades, unlocking new features and
with that new possibilities for vendors
and customers.
Today, aftercare is a major
consideration for customers who need
to carefully choose the level of ongoing
support they need for system and
hardware maintenance, in addition to
repairs and software updates.
So, what sort of maintenance options
are available to end-users and how do
they go about selecting an aftercare
agreement package that meets their
specific needs?
The obvious starting point for
two-way radio users looking for postpurchase
peace of mind is manufacturer
warranties. These dier from
manufacturer to manufacturer, but a
standard warranty, which would typically
exclude things like accessories and
batteries, runs for two years and includes
software updates in addition to repairs.
However, there is usually an option to
take an extended warranty that provides
more comprehensive coverage over a
longer period of time.
For instance, Motorola oers a
MOTOTRBO ‘Subscribers Essentials
Service’ extended warranty package
that has three dierent levels of service.
Over a five-year period, the most basic
level includes software updates, technical
and service desk support 24/7 for 365
days of the year, with turnaround times
of under 10 days. The most advanced
package includes all of these things
in addition to one-day priority repair,
accidental damage repair and collect/
return shipping.
Similar extended warranty packages
are available for equipment oered by
other manufacturers, such as Hytera,
which oers a 24-month standard
guarantee on all hardware.
“We also oer extended warranty up
to three years for radios and repeaters,
but in my experience warrantied items
will fail in the first week if they are going
to fail at all, so selling a dealer extended
warranty feels a little bit like selling
insurance that will never be needed,”
says Andrew Wilson, managing director
at Hytera distributor Syndico.
“Of course, we will provide a
three-year warranty if the customer
is determined, or has a special
circumstance, but it goes against
Syndico’s core values to sell something to
a partner we don’t think they will need.”
For many users, an extended warranty
will probably be sucient to meet their
needs, but often customers are looking
for a greater level of support, so it may
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