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To maintain or not to maintain

Maintenance of security equipment is one of those topics everybody agrees about in principle, but often causes problems when it’s time to sign the cheque. In reality, just like any technical solution, security equipment needs to be maintained to keep it running optimally.

To understand the approach to maintenance agreements, Hi-Tech Security Solutions spoke to Piet Vermeulen from Card Control Systems, Brendon Cowley from C3 Shared Services and Kevin Monk from SW Security Solutions SA to find out how they approach this issue with clients.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Are you selling maintenance services at the moment? Does this form part of every deal or do you only do it when asked or when you feel it is required?

Piet Vermeulen: Yes we do, but only about 15% of customers will opt for a preventative maintenance agreement (PMA) and not one of our customers has yet opted for a comprehensive maintenance agreement.

Brendon Cowley: We sell a maintenance agreement as part of every deal / project.

Kevin Monk: Yes, we do sell maintenance wherever possible, the frequency of the maintenance will vary from site to site and the size of the installation, as in the IT space no IT manager will buy equipment without an SLA.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What services do you typically include in a maintenance contract? What should the client demand to see in the contract?

Piet Vermeulen: Normally we sell labour time on a PMA. We do a monthly site visit on small sites and weekly on busy and critical installations, with any spares needed supplied and charged for additionally. Ideally, the client should ask for a system report if it is an online system to verify that the work was carried out. They should also demand a specified maximum response time with a penalty clause.

Brendon Cowley: We typically include four services:

* Preventative maintenance.

* Response time.

* Resolution time.

* Strategic spares.

We feel this covers the most important aspects of a well-rounded maintenance plan. The company provides two types of maintenance agreements which complement each other and ensure that systems run optimally. The preventative maintenance agreement entails regular servicing of systems while the maintenance plan is tailored to suit customer requirements and budget.

Kevin Monk: This again will vary from site to site and the size of the system. A large site in an industrial or mining sector might require full time technical support, while smaller commercial and retail environments might require monthly or quarterly visits. The SLA is normally sold around preventative maintenance, but a more comprehensive solution would allow for the building in of a factor for replacement stock, which is a benefit on the larger installations.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What do clients do when faced with the additional costs of maintenance? Do they pay up, spend that money on training their own maintenance teams, or do they just save the money and hope for the best?

Piet Vermeulen: The advantage of a PMA is that a specified response time must be in the contract to allow for minimum downtime. Alternatively, clients can train their own maintenance team to do first line maintenance and only call professional service when needed.

Brendon Cowley: To date, our clients see the value in the implementation of a maintenance agreement, as the four services mentioned above are key points in keeping a system functioning at optimum performance levels. Training your own team is not a good option when it comes to specialised systems such as ours, due to the fact that our technical teams are specifically trained on our system and are up to date with the latest technologies. ‘Hoping for the best’ is certainly not an option when you are protecting a National Keypoint.

Kevin Monk: The approach is varied within the industry, however the corporates are seen the value in ongoing maintenance and SLA contracts. Additionally, with the IT departments involvement, the trend to SLA is on the increase. Some organisations have looked at taking this in-house, but after the cost analysis with regards to training and upskilling of the technical team, revert to contracting this out. For instance, if you have your own in-house team and they are off sick, there is no relief team, whereas that would be the contracting company’s problem and they will still have to supply the manpower to complete the maintenance.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: If maintenance does impact the ultimate value of the project and its performance positively, how can the end user measure what impact it has?

Piet Vermeulen: If PM is not done, for instance on vehicle barriers, the unit can destroy itself and the repair cost can easily be 50% more than it should have. With a PMA, the downtime should be minimal as well. Ignoring maintenance is the same as not servicing your car and hoping for the best.

Brendon Cowley: A system can not only be measured by its output, but also by its availability. There is no point in having a formidable security system that has more downtime than up, so one can measure the impact a maintenance agreement has by looking at the amount of downtime that a system may have suffered.

Kevin Monk: Many of the big tenders that go to market have a specific line item which allows for a 3-year maintenance contract built in to the project price. That way the client is getting the benefit upfront in a capex expense and not carrying the opex budget.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What do clients need to include in their maintenance contracts to ensure they get value for money?

Piet Vermeulen: Itemise the equipment and draw up an equipment list, then itemise and list what needs to be done with each service.

Brendon Cowley: An SLA’s (service level agreement) value for money can be measured according to the performance of the service provider. For example, the standard response time may be four hours and should the service provider respond slower, the client may be able to incur a credit.

Kevin Monk: Proper SLA contract with a proper monitoring tool or reporting structure. For example, many of the SI companies have mobility solutions available with real-time reporting, they also supply the customer with verification and authentication via geocoding and signatures

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: If one looks at a security project realistically, how much of the budget should be allocated to maintenance?

Piet Vermeulen: I would say around 12% of the full security project’s budget.

Brendon Cowley: It’s almost impossible to answer this question as it depends very much on the client and how serious or committed they are to the implemented security system. We have clients who have allocated as much as 10% to the maintenance agreements and others that have not allocated more than 1%.

Kevin Monk: This would vary, but I use the following equations for preventative maintenance: 8,8% of project divided by 12 with an 8% annual escalation, and for a more comprehensive package 14% divided by 12 with an 8% annual escalation.

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