In the complex world of IT infrastructure, keeping your hardware running smoothly is paramount. Data centers, network equipment, and servers are the backbone of modern business, and when they fail, operations can grind to a halt.
For many organisations, managing IT maintenance and support contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has become a significant challenge. In countless cases, businesses find themselves overpaying substantially for IT assets, often by thousands, if not millions, of dollars annually, while simultaneously encountering considerable gaps in service coverage for critical or numerous IT components.
Research from Gartner indicates that the average business allocates around 6.4% of its annual revenue to IT expenses, a significant portion of which often goes towards maintenance. When service is actually needed, the traditional technical support request process with OEMs can be cumbersome, lengthy, and overly complex to navigate. Without specific contract IDs tied to each individual IT asset, obtaining the necessary help to configure, troubleshoot, or replace a key component can seem impossible.
This traditional IT maintenance model often sees OEMs imposing premature obsolescence through rapidly increasing maintenance prices, coupled with aggressive product milestones such as End-of-Software-Updates (EoSW) and End-of-Support (EOS) dates.
According to IT analysts, a staggering 80% of total IT costs occur after the initial purchase, primarily due to the high maintenance costs imposed on organisations by the OEMs. It’s common practice for OEMs to increase annual hardware maintenance prices by 10-15% per year for the first five years of a purchase, and then, as they see fit thereafter – sometimes even up to an annual increase of 100% for end-of-life products.
Against this backdrop, there’s a growing trend towards an alternative solution: Third-Party Maintenance (TPM). This blog post will dive deep into what Third-Party Maintenance is, who provides it, how it fits into your hardware’s lifecycle, the essential services it offers, and why it’s becoming an increasingly popular choice for organisations looking to optimise their IT support strategy.
What is Third-Party Maintenance (or TPM)?
Third-Party Maintenance (TPM) refers to hardware maintenance and support services for IT infrastructure — specifically for data center and network equipment — provided by an independent company, rather than the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Occasionally referred to as ‘alternative maintenance’ or ‘unauthorised maintenance,’ TPM offers a flexible and often more cost-effective alternative to traditional OEM support contracts.
Essentially, a TPM provider steps in to offer support for your servers, storage, networking equipment, and other data center hardware once it’s out of the OEM’s warranty period, or even while it’s still under warranty if you choose a hybrid strategy; like upscaling basic OEM support with local TPM support. This allows businesses to extend the life of their IT assets, gain greater control over their support contracts, and manage their budgets more effectively.
Who is a TPM Provider?
A TPM provider is an independent service organisation, like Total IT Global, that specialises in delivering hardware maintenance and technical support for a wide range of IT equipment from various OEMs. Unlike OEMs, whose primary business is selling new hardware, TPM providers are solely focused on delivering comprehensive, multi-vendor support solutions.
These providers often maintain extensive inventories of spare parts, as SLA’s often require a 4-8 hour resolution, parts are stored in a nearby location (WHaaS). For coverage managing a global network of highly skilled engineers, and develop deep expertise across diverse hardware and software platforms. They operate independently from the hardware manufacturers, offering an unbiased approach to support that prioritises the client’s operational needs and budget.
Understand OEM Maintenance
Before we delve deeper into TPM, it’s important to understand the traditional support model offered by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). OEM maintenance refers to the hardware support contracts purchased directly from the company that manufactured your IT equipment (e.g., Dell, HP, Cisco, IBM).
These contracts typically come bundled with new equipment purchases and cover services like hardware replacement, technical support, and access to firmware updates for a defined period. While OEM maintenance ensures direct support from the manufacturer, it often comes with specific limitations regarding contract flexibility, cost, and support for equipment nearing its “End-of-Life” or “End-of-Service-Life” dates, which we’ll explore further with TPM.
How TPM Services fit in your Equipment’s Lifecycle
The decision between OEM and TPM often becomes critical as your hardware progresses through its lifecycle. Traditionally, organisations would refresh their entire hardware stack every 3-5 years, aligning with OEM support cycles. However, modern hardware is often robust enough to perform efficiently for much longer.
This is where TPM creates a significant opportunity:
- Extending Asset Life: TPM allows organisations to extend the useful life of their IT assets well beyond the OEM’s End-of-Life (EOL) or End-of-Service (EOS) dates. When an OEM declares a product EOL/EOS, they typically cease providing support, forcing customers into expensive hardware upgrades. TPM steps in to offer continued, high-quality support for these assets, delaying costly refreshes and maximising your existing investment.
- Optimising Refresh Cycles: Instead of being forced into a hardware refresh based on OEM support policies, businesses can adopt a strategy based on their own performance needs and budget. TPM provides the flexibility to replace hardware only when performance dictates, not when a support contract dictates.
- Seamless Upgrade Projects at Scale: For enterprises managing thousands of devices, a full hardware refresh can be a major logistical and operational challenge. TPM providers can integrate with these projects, offering support for older hardware during a staggered transition, managing inventory for the new rollout, and handling the eventual retirement and disposal of legacy equipment. This creates a more seamless upgrade path without rigid OEM-enforced timelines.
A hybrid maintenance strategy — using a mix of OEM-authorised and OEM-independent maintenance — is becoming increasingly common. End-user customers are selectively using TPMs to cost-effectively extend the life of IT assets, control OEM-forced upgrades, and save money.
Core Services that Third-Party Maintenance Providers offer
TPM providers offer a comprehensive suite of services designed to keep your multi-vendor IT environment running smoothly. These services go beyond simple break-fix and often include proactive support and strategic guidance.
- Hardware Maintenance: At its foundation, TPM provides comprehensive hardware maintenance. This includes parts replacement, repair, and often, on-site field engineering. TPM providers maintain vast inventories of certified spare parts, often exceeding OEM availability for older or end-of-life equipment, ensuring quick access when failures occur.
- 24/7 Technical Support: Access to expert technical assistance around the clock is crucial for any critical IT infrastructure. TPM providers offer 24/7 global help desk support, allowing your team to reach certified engineers who can troubleshoot issues, provide guidance, and initiate dispatches at short notice.
- Remote Monitoring and Management: Many TPM solutions include proactive monitoring of your hardware. This involves using specialised tools to continuously track the health and performance of your servers, storage, and network devices. When anomalies or potential issues are detected, the TPM provider can often alert your team or even initiate corrective actions remotely, often before you’re aware of a problem.
- On-Site Support and Field Services: For issues that cannot be resolved remotely, TPM providers dispatch skilled field engineers directly to your data center or remote site. These engineers are equipped to perform diagnostics, conduct repairs, replace components, and ensure your systems are back online quickly. This is akin to having your own specialised IT team dispersed globally.
- Inventory Management and Spare Parts Logistics: A critical component of effective hardware support is the availability of spare parts. TPM providers manage extensive global inventories of certified spare parts, strategically located to ensure rapid delivery to your facilities when needed. This includes sourcing, warehousing, and logistics, taking the burden of spare parts management off your plate.
- Customised Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Unlike rigid OEM contracts, TPM providers often offer highly flexible and customised SLAs. You can tailor response times, resolution times, parts availability, and coverage windows (e.g., 9x5xNBD, 24x7x5, 24x7x2) to match the specific criticality of each piece of equipment in your environment, ensuring you only pay for the level of support you truly need.
- End-of-Life (EOL) and End-of-Service (EOS) Support: This is a major differentiator. When OEMs declare equipment EOL or EOS, they typically stop selling new support contracts and eventually cease providing technical assistance and spare parts. TPM providers specialise in filling this gap, offering continued, high-quality support for your “legacy” or “post-warranty” hardware, allowing you to maximise the lifespan of your assets without forced upgrades.
- Consulting and Advisory Services: Beyond break-fix, many TPM providers offer strategic guidance. This can include advice on asset lifecycle management, recommendations for optimising your IT infrastructure, support for multi-vendor environments, and strategies for managing EOL equipment.
- Compliance and Regulatory Support: For organisations in regulated industries, TPM providers can help ensure that maintenance and disposal procedures adhere to industry-specific compliance standards and data security regulations, providing audit-ready documentation.
- Asset Management and Lifecycle Services: Comprehensive TPM often extends to assisting with the entire asset lifecycle, including initial deployments, upgrades, relocation services, and secure IT asset disposition (ITAD) for equipment that is finally retired. This holistic approach helps streamline your IT operations from end to end.
Why consider Third-Party Maintenance?
Businesses choose Third Party Maintenance for compelling reasons, primarily revolving around flexibility, control, and cost optimisation. TPM allows organisations to break free from rigid OEM policies, extend the life of their valuable IT assets, and tailor support to their exact needs.
Here are some key benefits that drive organisations to consider TPM:
- Realise Substantial Savings: Organisations can typically realise upto 70% savings over traditional OEM maintenance support contracts, freeing up significant budget for other critical IT initiatives or reinvestment.
- Achieve Contract Flexibility: TPM allows you to perform contract additions, deletions, and changes with ease, adapting support precisely to your evolving hardware inventory and operational needs, rather than being locked into rigid OEM terms.
- Decrease IT Staff Workloads: By entrusting hardware maintenance to a TPM provider, internal IT staff can see a decrease in their workloads through contract optimisation and the offloading of routine or complex break-fix tasks. This enables your team to focus on strategic projects and innovation.
- Improve Asset Visibility and Control: Reputable TPM providers implement procedures and systems to help you track all contracts, device SLAs, milestones, contract start and end dates, node names, IP addresses, and many other attributes. This comprehensive asset tracking provides unparalleled visibility and control over your entire IT infrastructure support landscape.
For a comprehensive deep dive into the many advantages and specific benefits that Third-Party Maintenance can bring to your organisation, you can explore our detailed blog post on the topic: Benefits of Third-Party Maintenance.
How much does TPM Cost?
One of the most significant attractions of Third-Party Maintenance is its potential for substantial cost savings compared to OEM contracts. TPM providers operate with a different business model, focusing solely on service delivery rather than new hardware sales. This often translates directly into lower support costs for end-users.
Indeed, industry research supports this trend: Gartner estimates organisations can save up to 70% on hardware maintenance costs with Third-Party Maintenance. These savings can free up considerable budget that can then be reinvested into innovation, new technologies, or other critical business initiatives. While exact costs vary based on equipment type, age, desired SLA, and the provider, the overall value proposition of TPM is often highly compelling from a financial perspective.
Conclusion: Total IT Global’s TPM – A strategic choice for Modern IT
Higher operational efficiencies, lower IT costs, and immediate technical support are all tangible benefits made possible with third-party maintenance agreements. The days of rigid, OEM-driven support models are increasingly numbered, as organisations are opting for more flexible, comprehensive, and affordable third-party IT maintenance arrangements that better align with their evolving needs.
Total IT Global is leading the way in helping businesses to identify excess IT costs, install thorough asset tracking systems, and improve the overall utilisation of IT assets across a variety of organisations.
Total IT Global manages all facets of an organisation’s IT assets from the point of acquisition until they are decommissioned. Our cost savings are achieved through a collaborative and analytical approach that emphasises superior customer service, empowering organisations to achieve optimal efficiency and greater independence from the often restrictive service level agreements imposed by existing OEMs.
FAQs about TPM
Can Third-Party Maintenance provide software support?
Generally, Third-Party Maintenance (TPM) primarily focuses on hardware maintenance and support. This includes diagnostics, repair, and replacement of physical components. While TPM providers may assist with basic firmware updates or operating system reloads as part of a hardware repair, they typically do not provide software-level support, patching, or troubleshooting for operating systems, applications, or licensing issues. That type of support usually remains with the software vendor (e.g., Microsoft, Red Hat) or a dedicated software support partner.
What types of companies use Third-party Maintenance Services?
A wide range of companies across various industries utilise third-party maintenance services. This includes:
- Large Enterprises: Companies with vast, geographically dispersed IT infrastructures, often including a mix of legacy and newer hardware from multiple vendors. They use TPM to consolidate support, reduce costs, and extend asset life.
- Mid-Market Businesses: Organisations that need to optimise their IT budgets and may not have the internal resources to manage all hardware support in-house.
- Colocation Providers and Managed Service Providers (MSPs): These companies often leverage TPM to provide comprehensive support to their own clients without having to build out extensive multi-vendor hardware expertise themselves.
- Companies with Specialised or Legacy Hardware: Businesses that rely on older, critical systems that are past OEM support dates but are still essential for operations.
- Organisations focused on Sustainability: Companies looking to maximise the lifespan of their IT assets and reduce electronic waste through extended hardware use.
- Any company seeking cost savings, greater flexibility, and vendor independence in their IT hardware support strategy.
