Preventive Maintenance
Why Preventive Maintenance? "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
This old saying was never more true than in the PC industry. Most of us have the oil changed in our cars every few months, have the heating or air conditioning system in our homes serviced each year, and hopefully we have regular checkups with our doctor and dentist. We do these things to detect and correct problems before they become serious.
While proper preventive maintenance of any sort provides the opportunity to detect and correct problems before they become failures, it cannot prevent all failures. No amount of preventive maintenance would have saved the Titanic. Similarly, if you're driving down the road, then suddenly close your eyes and let go of the steering wheel, you will crash no matter when you changed the oil, washed the windshield, checked the brakes, or had a tune-up. If anyone thinks that proper maintenance makes anything last forever, they should think again.
Computer systems represent a large investment in money, time, and valuable data. Professional preventive maintenance can preserve computer systems and avoid serious problems in the long run. A good maintenance program can provide maximum utilization with minimum downtime for the life of the system. Just as no car drives forever, no PC, Server or Network runs forever. To prevent damage to the system and loss of critical data, it is important to have systems regularly serviced.
Stabilization & Assessment [1]
RIC will perform a complete network/system assessment. – This is the one-time process required to bring a system’s existing hardware and software to its maximum potential in terms of stability and performance. It can include some or all of the following:
- Installing and configuring Operating System and Application updates, Services Packs, hot fixes, and security updates.
- Running utilities to insure physical integrity of hard drive, cabling, and other components.
- Check and adjust Operating System and Application configurations to optimal settings.
- Remove unneeded files and applets.
- A comprehensive report describing any situations that needs to be addressed immediately.
What Do You Get With a Preventive Maintenance Agreement?
Scheduled Visits – RIC will establish a schedule of maintenance visits to help maintain your system and keep it running in peak condition. Physical PM's address hardware issues, keeping the machine clean and free of obstructions, while system PM's consist of routine operating system maintenance. RIC will inventory all your machines and the installed applications, and establish a baseline schedule. Before each visit, we check for service releases, maintenance upgrades, bug and security fixes for all PC's/Servers in your environment. We will visit your site and perform the PM on each machine on the schedule.
Discounted Hourly Rates – In consideration for a PM agreement, you will receive a discounted hourly rate for services not included with the monthly PM agreement. (See attached rate schedule for details)
Priority Response – Clients on a PM agreement will receive priority response (usually same day) for emergencies with your systems or network.
Peace of Mind – Confidence that their systems are consistently performing at their peak level of efficiency.
[1] Fee varies depending on network configuration.