PASS Basic and PASS Plus support. Does anyone aware of this?

[TechCUTelecom]

Hello,

My phone support account manager informed me that starting 7-1-2010, if you don't have the PASS Basic technical support they will not be able to access Avaya technical support for assistance. This also includes access to patches and corrective content.

We currently pay for the phone vendor support and now they make us to pay PASS support to Nortel which is now Avaya. The cost will be around $3.00 per port. This is the additional cost we have to pay.

Does anyone hear anything from your phone vendor sale account manager about this? please share your thoughts.

Thanks

 

[bigindian65]

yep, post on that from about last week early

Mato' Was'aka

 

[DScot]

Yep, it's coming....

Nortel Legacy Customers who may want to retain Tier 3 or 4 support from Avaya for their Legacy Nortel PBX's that a new program is coming out called PASS and PASS+.

In an effort to re-align itself and become more competitive within the industry, Avaya is examining many of Nortel’s business practices. As part of that effort, and to try and support its distributors and service partners as well as its customer base more effectively, Avaya has taken a closer look at its support model regarding the identification, repair and maintenance of its enterprise class data and voice switching products.

Nortel’s original support model was such that any and all cases of defective software code or hardware could be taken to Nortel Channel Partners directly who then would work the issue until it had exhausted all available options. Once the partner had determined that the defect needed escalation and depending upon its registered status with Nortel (example - Elite Status) the partner could then engage Nortel Technical Services for additional support without charge. Two years ago that model changed – after all partner efforts had been exhausted the option to go to Nortel still existed, but at substantial cost to the partner. Nortel would charge the partner per incident to ‘open a ticket’. If the issue in question was determined to be caused by Nortel than the cost of engaging Nortel would be waived – if not, the partner would have to absorb those costs. Regardless of the cause, Nortel required the partner to have in a place a technical support contract. While effective in most cases, this process created confusion and issues between Nortel and resellers in some instances where direct identification of cause was difficult to determine.

In an effort to streamline support of both the reseller channel and customers Avaya has re-focused its approach once again. Avaya’s rationale behind this is to more closely align its practices with the industry standard model for reseller and customer support. It will allow for advanced ability to monitor and forecast trouble ticket/call volume and to allow improved staffing. It will also eliminate the confusion between billable and non-billable issues and reduce the number of un-supported or under supported customers.

Again, for the last two years customers have been able to purchase “Nortel Technical Support” at no cost to them in the event they needed to engage Nortel. However the process now is such that each end user must purchase software and hardware technical and software support through the partner via its newly identified Avaya ‘PASS’ (Partner Assurance Support Services) program.

The newly defined PASS program will have two distinct options.

• The first option will allow for the purchase of software and hardware support only.
• The second option will add a software upgrade assurance component along with hardware and software support.
• Both options are product dependent and will individually be available for CS 1000, CallPilot, Contact Center Manager and the entire BCM platform.
• Pricing will generally be based on the quantities of ISM’s, Voicemail Boxes and ACD agents.

In an effort to ease the initial costs (buy-in) of the PASS program, Avaya and a few Avaya partners are offering some substantial introductory pricing for a limited time - BY JULY 1, 2010.......

Contact your current provider and get these details right away. I'm not at all trying to scare anyone, but huge discounts are available now and these are slated to expire JULY 1, 2010. Hoepfully Avaya will extend these discounts until next year as most companies DID NOT budget this extra expense for this year..

One more expense from Avaya.....