|
|
article
page | 1 | 2 |
can concurrently offer proactive monitoring services and differentiated management services while leveraging existing investments in back-office management tools. By using appropriate RPS tools, service providers have multiple opportunities to offer remote maintenance, integrated remote access, and remote monitoring with differentiated services. Beyond the ability to perform immediate remediation when problems arise, service providers can use RPS tools to leverage the embedded management capabilities of the devices. In addition, these tools can leverage the best-of-breed network management tools and offer value-added services modules such as:
-
details and performance metrics analysis
-
root cause analysis
-
asset and customer utilization
-
upgrade & patch distribution
|
|
With the proper remote support tool, service providers can also accomplish all these services without the need for customer intervention. |
|
- guarantee that access can only be gained to devices or applications under contract.
- assure end-to-end security of the management data transported between the service provider and the customer site.
- maintain an audit trail of where, when, and by whom a remote management session was performed to meet any regulatory reporting.
- deploy the services without the need to pass any deployment costs onto customers, or require customers to modify their operational practices or network security in order to accommodate the service.
|
|
|
|
Another remote maintenance opportunity for service providers is to offer preventive maintenance contracts that can be performed more frequently and at lower costs than traditional preventative maintenance contracts. This can be done for less money because preventative maintenance can be executed remotely without the costs of sending personnel on-site. With the proper remote support tool, service providers can also accomplish all these services without the need for customer intervention.
Before jumping into the enhanced remote maintenance market and selecting a RPS tool, there are some issues that service providers should consider, like security. Most companies that are evaluating outsourcing options are concerned about security. Enterprising service providers can address this concern by using an RPS tool that can perform remote maintenance while meeting customer internal security practices and regulatory obligations.
Service providers can increase the adoption of their remote maintenance service offerings if they can:
- demonstrate that their RPS tools do not introduce any security risks to customer networks.
|
|
Another consideration, service providers should bear in mind is the remote maintenance services impact on current customer business practices. The transition from a centralized support team to a "field-based" support team can introduce significant changes to an organization. To mitigate this issue, service providers should look for an RPS solution that allows service technicians to utilize the same diagnostics and remediation tools that they are accustomed to using. If service providers can seamlessly gain remote access to customer assets as if they were on-site, this will provide a smoother migration, eliminate the need for retraining, and minimize disruption for customers.
In these times, when service providers are scrambling to find ways to increase service solutions to their customers, it makes sense to add value-added proactive-based services to their portfolios. RPS tools provide service providers with new opportunities to add differentiated remote services to their service portfolio beyond remote monitoring that will capture greater market share of customers that require higher asset uptime.
|
|
|
