$$$Avaya service and support modifications $$$$ 1

[listhist]

I was just informed by my business partner that Avaya is restructuring their advanced T3+ customer technical support center policies and operations, such that all required technical support services will require mandatory customer system/site registration. Beginning Sept 1/07 in addition to any business partner maintenance agreements or T&M type agreements your systems MUST be registered with Avaya for support and of course its not cheap.

In addition I'm told Avaya has introduced cost based changes to end customer logins with MSP access. That is access to commands such as test, busyout, reset, clear, ping etc.

This one is hard to swallow... $0.896/monthly per software defined port for access to these commands!

Any feedback on the above would be appreciated... thanks

 

[wildcard100001]

All I've got to say is that is weak... it used to be .40 per port...

Wildcard

 

[mikeydidit]

I hear that .60 per port is normal nowdays. You could look into the "Maintenance assist" program and save a lot of money. Of course you would have to be comfortable in self maintaining your system. If so I have an FAQ about self maintenacne at the top of the page. In fact there are several. Paying once in a while for help on major problems is a lot better than paying all the time for something you don't use. At least thats MHO..

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
Thomas A. Edison

For the best response to a question, read faq690-6594

 

[listhist]

Mikey...

I should say that I am in Canada. Also have self-maintained my switch for a number of years with a T&M relationship with my business partner only. But with what I'm being told now this will be no more... we must now register with Avaya if we ever want tier 3+ support in the future (approx 30k/yr) otherwise we won't have access.

Also the MSP charge is in addition to this, I'll be talking with Avaya tomorrow on this so I'll keep you posted.

 

[pd1x0n]

I support Avaya systems old and new and have severe problems with all that Avaya is trying to do to milk more out of the customers. Several of my clients still run 9.5 and enjoy all the features that customers with new systems are at a fraction of the cost. The key is finding someone who really knows what they are doing as well as having the right contacts in the right places. I also work with a lot of business partners and they aren't happy with all of this either. The ones who really care about their customer base are finding ways to get around the issue by either taking it on internally or other creative ways. Have faith - IBM tried this crap years ago and had to eat crow when their customer base balked and refused to renew maintenance contracts. They can't survive without the free money.

 

[mikeydidit]

Let me know what you find out on this listhist. Right now I have several items that are under the original warranty, but most of the system is covered under maintenance assist. I haven't heard any rumors of this in the states.. YET.


And pd1x0n is right on the money. Since conseption, Avaya is wanting more and more for doing less.


Thanks, Mike.

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.
Thomas A. Edison

For the best response to a question, read faq690-6594

 

[jimbojimbo]

FYI,

I am an Avaya Business Partner. Yes, Avaya is changing their maintenance infrastructure. Registering your system with Avaya has always been a requirement for Business Partners even if you don't want maintenance. The new policy includes the purchase of Software Support with the purchase of the system for a specific amount of time. You will see this in the sales quote. You can also get Software Support with Upgrades. According to Avaya this can provide you significant savings over the long run although I will reserve judgement on this one. Software Support gives you access to firmware downloads and software updates. There is also a change to the patch policy. Critical patches will still be worked but non-critical patches will be combined in to 'service packs' so be prepared to live with a problem for a couple of months. Supposedly Avaya will also be opening up their knowledge base to the end customers (we'll see what they really let out). The software support is completely separate from hardware maintenance.

If anyone is suprised, then your eyes have been shut. The shift in the model is a direct result of market drivers. Unfortunately people actually bought Cisco phones when they didn't work. Anyone ever go through the once a month patch pain with Cisco?

As the hardware becomes more of a commodity and as Avaya opens up and supports more third party vendor hardware (Juniper Gateway is a good example) the shift of the services goes from hardware support to software support. I don't expect Avaya technicians to be around more than another 5 years (my personal opinion) except possibly for dedicated technicians. Expect IBM Global Services to start taking on the larger enterprises for physical support. For smaller customers, be prepared to enter into an agreement with your business partner.

James Middleton
ACSCI/ACSCD/MCSE
Xeta Technologies

http://www.xeta.com

 

[DTLegend]

Jim,

You are right on! Tell Spence Clark Don Stewart Jr. says hello.

 

[listhist]

This is good information, I appreciate everyones input here. I did speak directly with Avaya this week and they did confirm what I had been told and did tell me these changes are accross the board not just this side of the border.

 

[jimbojimbo]

Passed the hello on Don. Glad to see your still out there kick'in.

James Middleton
ACSCI/ACSCD/MCSE
Xeta Technologies
jim.middleton@xeta.com