We currently have a setup of a Toshiba CIX6700 with Taske for statistics and Talkument for recording of calls. We have around 30 telephones, some IP phones, and some wired phones as part of the system.

We have a few service and software maintenance agreements up for renewal, and I wanted to gather options on the worth of renewing these agreements. It seems to me like a bit of overkill in terms of the costs involved.

The first agreement we have is with our installer, which costs xxxx a year. This basically covers hardware failure and other maintenance, questions and issues that may come up. They offer a 4 hour response time for emergencies like a card failure, etc. They will give us a new telephone for free if one breaks.

The second agreement is software maintenance which apparently covers new versions of the software that may come out (through Toshiba, but through our telecommunications company). This costs us $xxxx a year and covers new versions of the Taske, Talkument, and Toshiba Strata software. When a new version comes out, they will only install it if we either ask them to, or if we are having a problem with the previous version.

Do we need BOTH of these agreements? It seems a heavy cost for a system that basically we make changes to ourselves (phone settings, new users, etc). And if new software comes out, couldn’t we just purchase the updates when we need them. It seems like we could go for years without having to update?

Thanks for the opinions.

Please, no prices! -Hal

You're bound to get varied opinions on those 2 questions.

Personally, I recommend the maintenance agreement, others won't. It's up to you, however keep in mind that it is the same as any other business insurance that you should be carrying. If you don't have it when you need it, best be ready to spend maybe even more to get it back up & running.

You may want to talk to your vendor about options. My contracts have options, like "Basic Service Only", "Basic Parts Only", "Standard Plan" (Wich is both), and the "Supreme Plan" which is for 24 hour service.

As well the client can "pick & choose" which items are covered or not. I can't make any more options than that for them. If they still don't want a plan, it's basically their tough luck when they need me. Did I mention that "Maintenance Plan" clients get PRIORITY service over Non-Contracted clients, as well as discounts?

Your 2nd contract is a big iffy to me. Sounds kind of expensive when he may or may not install unless you ask him. Thern again, I'm not dealing with Toshiba and am not privy to their pricing policies.

Again, Talk to your vendor and please refrain was posting prices.

No, you don't have to buy the maintenance contracts if you don't want to. I know that on some systems there is a recurring license fee that if you don't pay it, the software stops working. Not so with Toshiba. Your software will still continue to work. I have some customers that keep current with the maintenance agreements and others that don't. Those that don't are still happy with what the software does for them and don't feel the need to have the latest and greatest. However, if they ever have a problem down the road and it requires technical support from the manufacturer, or if they need software upgrades, new features, etc. then they'll have to pay for the support.

Thanks for the replies. I will refrain from posting prices.

(I was unaware that posting of prices was not allowed, as the user agreement only bans mentioning pricing in terms of a solicitation, and does not mention that you can't post a price you paid for something.)