When a company upgrades their network infrastructure, it’s not enough to just install and forget it, because if a business doesn’t consider server support as well, it could be a serious liability should something go wrong. Fortunately, a reputable refurbished hardware professional will offer maintenance contracts as well, or pass along the OEM maintenance contractor to the buyer. A company can customize their maintenance plan to make it as responsive as needed, and delegate certain duties to maintenance professionals. A company can also outsource certain tasks that would normally be handed to an in-house IT department, which may be necessary for smaller businesses.

What kind of server support can a business get from a hardware refurbishment expert?

There are multiple tiers of assistance that a company can get from a maintenance provider. These include:

• Next day maintenance – for low priority hardware, a maintenance contract that stipulates next-day assistance can be plenty. This is also an ideal choice for hardware that is stable or has robust fault protection in place.
• Same business day maintenance – for higher priority hardware that a company can’t afford to lose for long, a maintenance contract that offers same-day maintenance during normal business hours can address most issues. However, maintenance professionals will only work on the hardware during business hours, so if there is a problem outside of normal operational hours, a business will risk downtime during production.
• Critical application maintenance – High priority hardware that supports large parts of the network will need to offer near 100 percent uptime. Critical application maintenance ensures a response time of four hours or less, and technicians will work on the problem until it is resolved. With critical application maintenance, a business can get a response even if the fault occurs in the middle of the night.

Of course, server support is more than just responding to a technical fault. It also includes essential upkeep duties like backing up data, downloading and installing patches, and maintaining an image of the company’s data in case it needs to be restored following a catastrophic failure. For the most part, businesses delegate these duties to their own IT technicians, but smaller businesses may not have the resources to maintain an in-house IT crew. For these clients, a refurbished hardware dealer can often work with their clients to assist with basic maintenance and data backup. There are also data centers that house the hardware offsite and promise greater than 99 percent uptime. And if there are any faults with the hardware, technicians at the datacenter will be able to respond immediately.

Purchasing the hardware is just the first step in upgrading the network’s infrastructure. Server support is what keeps the network up and running, and something a company will need to consider carefully when looking for a hardware dealer.