“I Don’t Need Help Managing Contracts” IT Myths Debunked

We often hear this myth about companies trying to remain self-sufficient in managing their various lifecycle contracts for their IT equipment and devices. But the truth is, this idea is becoming near impossible as companies procure more hardware and software.

Organizations and agencies frequently work in a dynamic and ever-expanding IT landscape. It is not unusual for a company to have hundreds or thousands of individual devices on their network. Each of these devices could then have their own unique lifecycle contracts to manage. Customers looking to manage each of these contracts for every device will have to devote considerable time and resources just to keep up with their changing environment.

Managing these contracts requires proactive best practices to identify when a device is moved, replaced, updated, taken off the network or nearing end-of-life. Managing these lifecycle contracts can quickly become a daily challenge that slows down your internal IT staff and distracts from more strategic initiatives. Companies looking to remain self-sufficient will face three main issues.

Cost

Cost is a major issue when trying to manage the various contracts for hardware and software. A company might need a devoted team member to monitor and keep track of the lifecycle of every device as well as the corresponding contracts. With an already overworked IT staff, this could mean hiring additional team members to ensure hardware issues are resolved quickly.

IT will need to devote a lot of unnecessary resources and time just to manage every device and track their updates, warranties or renewals. By leveraging Red River’s lifecycle services, we take on the responsibility of contract management to ensure customers are getting the most out of their IT investments.

Complexity

Managing your own contracts might be possible for a smaller organization, but many larger companies and agencies could easily have over 10,000 devices on their network. The various devices would need to be managed on their own specific lifecycle contract. Any large environment is also subject to continued change. Devices and software are often moved, deleted, added or updated daily. The massive amounts of variables and contracts can quickly overwhelm any company trying to manage it all on their own.

Red River has the tools to help reduce the complexity and allow you to gain greater visibility over your various asset contracts. One tool to help reduce complexity is RedConnect – our secure, proprietary web-based service for complete multi-vendor hardware and software service, warranty, and contracts management. With RedConnect, customers can securely access multiple support contracts and warranty information with one click and designate user access levels to maintain control.

Security

Security is top-of-mind for most organizations and network managers. Failing to keep track of your maintenance contracts can result in vulnerabilities into your environment. Organizations are often managing dozens of contracts and without clear visibility, run the risk of non-compliance. With a proactive lifecycle support services team, customers can identify and address future IT vulnerabilities related to End of Life (EoL) hardware and software.

The truth is, most organizations and agencies will need help when managing their support services contracts. Red River has the expertise and past performance to manage these contracts for our customers through our lifecycle support services. We have the tools and infrastructure to monitor these contracts on their behalf. Our teams work with the customer to make sure that both hardware and software are kept up-to-date and working as intended. We are here to optimize the refresh and replace lifecycle to align with your contract agreements and maximize your technology investment.