In the market for...
What to
consider
The dos & don’ts of
radio maintenance contracts
Do start with the
manufacturer’s
warranty. Look at what’s
covered and what’s excluded.
In many instances an
extended manufacturer’s
warranty might be sufficient
for your service needs.
Do explore the differing
levels of service on offer.
Most resellers offer a wide
range of packages covering
everything from annual
servicing through to engineer
call-outs. Bespoke options are
also available.
Do consider choosing a
service package that
offers 24/7, year-round cover
if communication is missioncritical
to your organisation.
Don’t start looking at
maintenance contracts
as an afterthought. The
support packages available
should be part of the
conversation with your
supplier when you procure
your two-way radio system.
Don’t just opt for the
cheapest service
agreement. It could prove
costly in the long run.
Don’t forget that
maintenance contracts
can cover everything from
the handsets themselves
through to software and
accessories.
“The complexity of integrated radio solutions
requires not just a simple prevention, but a
long-term operational service management”
radio users such as manufacturing
businesses, schools or construction
sites may be able to wait a few days for
issues to be addressed.
“However, with sectors like
retail, the prison service, hospitals
or something similar, they need
to have that service back up and
running immediately,” says Weldon.
“It all depends on how critical to
communications radios are to an
organisation, and this determines what
sort of cover is needed and the level
ofcover.”
It is a view shared by Wilson, who
adds: “In simple terms, an airport
relying on its radios to keep plane
departures on schedule might view its
comms as more mission-critical than a
school that has a push-to-talk system
for dinner ladies to stay in touch with
reception. Therefore, it is also likely that
an airport would demand a servicelevel
agreement which would demand
24-hour instant telephone support with
a one-hour call-out time, but a school
would not.”
Although maintenance contracts
haven’t radically changed that much
over the years, the changes that have
occurred have largely been driven by
advances in technology and structural
changes within end-user organisations –
particularly in the area of IT.
“It is the third-party applications and
amalgamation into IT infrastructures,
which introduced much more elaborate
support contracts, that required more
than a simple ‘turn it o and on again’
response from the radio dealers,”
explains Gwozdz.
“Dual redundancy-path systems
ensuring business continuity mean
that simple preventative maintenance
contracts aren’t sucient any more.
The instant remote access with systems
diagnostics becomes a standard
requirement in any radio tender
documentation, often requesting a
24/7option.”
She adds that the “complexity of
modern integrated radio solutions
requires not just a simple prevention,
but a long-term operational service
management, putting a pressure on
two-way radio suppliers to upskill
their support teams with a relevant IT
knowledge. In return, this provides an
opportunity for radio dealers to expand
their portfolio into more IT/Wi-Fibased
solutions to include PoC and 5G
technologies.”
The pressure on two-way radio
suppliers that Gwozdz refers to is only
likely to intensify in the future given
that the deployment of comms has
increasingly come under the purview
of IT departments since the advent of
DMR radio.
And this shift has at times led to
friction, according to Wilson. “Because a
DMR radio is an IP product, and is often
running a dispatcher software product,
we have increasingly seen problems
such as IT departments unwilling to
give administrator rights to other
departments when trying to install
things such as dispatcher software.”
He cites the example of bodycam
solutions, which have enjoyed an
“explosive upturn” in terms of
deployment over the past six months.
This increased uptake has highlighted
issues around permitting administrator
rights on systems, says Wilson.
“We recently had to find a solution
for a partner which had their bodycam
data management software operating
on a standalone PC and server within
a control room, as the operations team
could not gain agreement from the IT
department to install the software on
the existing infrastructure.”
As the needs of two-way radio
users continue to change and evolve,
manufacturers and resellers will have
to rise to the challenge and provide
aftercare service agreements and
maintenance contracts that meet these
shifting demands.
Twitter:@Land_Mobile | www.landmobile.co.uk | February 2020 23
/www.landmobile.co.uk