Hardware Service Contracts: Should You Buy or Should You Go? — Let’s Do Video

Most codec makers require an initial service contract with a hardware purchase. These contracts often provide for software upgrades, advanced hardware replacement, and help-desk support.

When purchasing a codec, the buyer has to decide if they want to get a multi-year service contract to save a little per year. And when the initial service contract period is about to expire, the buyer has to decide if they should renew the service contract.

Just like any insurance policy, it is easy to think of a service contract as a great investment if used, a waste if it isn’t. Any service contract is just a vehicle to mitigate or transfer the risk of technology problems in the future. So there are few guidelines that we can use to decide if a service contract makes financial sense. Of course, I am the guy who canceled his car’s collision insurance a month before totaling the vehicle in a deer accident, so you might want to stop reading now….

For some, a service contract with an advanced hardware replacement makes great sense. If an organization has a room-based system that is used heavily every day, getting a broken system back up and running quickly is imperative. Often the local tech support crew was trained when the system was installed, but they are not AV/VTC geeks and…