Companies have a range of choices when it comes to choosing a maintenance provider.
You can partner with businesses certified by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) or work with uncertified organizations, like original equipment manufacturers (OEM) or third-party maintenance (TPM) providers.
While your business has a variety of options, many companies find success with GSA-certified companies.
The benefits of a GSA contract range from streamlined communication to optimized budget spending, which impacts not only the day-to-day of your staff but also the bottom line of your business.
Before your company chooses a maintenance provider, whether an OEM, TPM, or GSA-certified organization, it’s essential to understand the value and importance of a GSA-certified partner.
What Is a GSA Certification?
GSA approval is a certification that stipulates the authorization of an organization to engage in commercial transactions with the U.S. government. All sales to the government get handled through the U.S. General Services Administration, which serves as the purchasing branch of the U.S. government. The GSA produces a list of contracts and schedules that approved vendors can access to place bids on government business.
Vendors in a range of industries receive GSA approval.
Any company that manufacturers products which could be of use to the U.S. government can apply. To become eligible, a vendor must get a DUNS number and submit to the federal System for Award Management (SAM) program. An application must also contain contact information of prior customers so that the GSA can evaluate the applicant’s performance history.
To become GSA certified, a vendor must submit to a stringent round of vetting.
In addition to the application period, each applicant must undergo a pricing review and furnish proof of compliance with a range of regulatory entities. Once the application process finishes, certification gets rewarded to vendors that have met strict criteria.
To be approved, your organization will need to have a track record of success, compliance and customer satisfaction.
GSA Schedules classify the various industries and contracts that are open for transactions with certified vendors.
The biggest of the 60-plus GSA Schedulers is IT Schedule 70. Due to the rapid development of computer technology, government entities are taking extra measures to ensure that all new products are tested to the highest standards to prevent the possibility of risk.
Third Party Maintenance Providers vs. Uncertified OEMs
An uncertified original equipment manufacturer will generally require that customers submit to a pre-conceived service-level agreement, granting the customer little in terms of leeway.
OEM companies also fixate on hardware as opposed to service.
Not to mention, OEM protocols are generally rigid, as is often necessary among companies that work at such a massive scale. The service-level agreements are also strict and do not take into account the individual needs of customers. OEMs will typically stuff their service offers with disclaimers, thereby covering themselves if they cannot fulfill an agreement.
The Importance of GSA Certification
Why get GSA-certified help for your business?
When you hire the services of a GSA-certified maintenance provider, you can have access to a range of top-quality tech skills and talents, the likes of which are hard to come across in the outside world. Best of all, the services can get rendered at a much lower cost than you would otherwise pay with an in-house team or by hiring an uncertified OEM.
The best reasons to work with a GSA-certified third-party maintenance provider can be summarized as follows:
1. Communication
One of the most significant benefits of having a GSA contract is the ease of communication that the relationship facilitates between your company and the third-party IT service. The staff that provides GSA-certified maintenance services is always easy to communicate with whenever any questions, concerns or issues arise.
When you hire a GSA service, the personnel are happy to put things in laymen’s terms.
GSA-certified maintenance providers are always available for contact too.
Whether you operate from a single headquarters or multiple locations, your staff can contact people from the third-party IT department to get answers to questions at any time, night or day. GSA-certified services are staffed with IT techs that will answer any questions that you might raise regarding systems or services.
Even if an issue seems confusing to the people on your end, you can get answers quickly with a simple explanation by the IT staff of your third-party GSA-certified maintenance provider.
The IT staff of a GSA-certified maintenance provider will speak in a language that you and your team can understand. You will never have to worry about receiving answers steeped in technical jargon and industry code. Your provider will word answers in a way that’s clear and transparent.
GSA-certified maintenance providers are ready to work on your terms as a company as well.
If you need to scale your business down for a season, the third-party IT staff will be willing and ready to scale back according to your needs. The services are also flexible and accommodating. If you need to scale up for a particular time of year, the third-party staff will be willing and ready to take on the extra workloads.
GSA-certified third-party maintenance providers understand a full range of solutions.
Whatever issues arise in your computing operations, the third-party IT staff will meet the challenges head-on.
2. Service Life
Another one of the benefits of GSA contract services is the skill that the third-party IT techs can provide your organization.
On all the equipment submitted to the third-party IT departments, everything is given careful handling during the technical processes carried out on a given shift. You never have to worry about delicate equipment falling into unskilled hands.
GSA-certified maintenance providers employ qualified techs who have each undergone extensive amounts of training. Each staffer is extensively versed in the full range of hardware installation and software programming.
If you need to have an operating system upgraded or replaced with a newer version, you can count on the expert programming of a third-party IT department from your GSA-certified maintenance provider. Whenever you invest in expensive equipment and high-tech arsenal components, you can count on the third-party IT techs to handle the hardware with the utmost care, ensuring a long-lasting service life for each part in your computer infrastructure.
Unlike in-house operations, which are often blindsided by security breaches, a GSA-certified third-party IT staff will protect your system and computing infrastructure from foreign attacks, taking on challenges the moment they get detected. When you outsource your computing to a third-party IT department, you are protecting your investment in all your high-cost computer equipment.
You never have to worry about viruses due to in-house human error.
A GSA-certified IT staff can make expensive computer equipment last far longer than it would otherwise last if subjected to the use and abuse of less qualified hands. As such, you can save money that would otherwise get invested in the frequent replacement of computer parts.
Third-party IT services allow you to maximize your investment in a computer infrastructure. Instead of having to adjust to new operating systems and update each component on a one-by-one basis for compatibility, everything gets updated and made fully compatible at once.
With all the benefits of GSA contract services, your organization can become a more profitable enterprise because it allows you to save money and time that might otherwise get spent on computing. Instead, you can focus on your core strengths as a company.
3. Savings
GSA-certified maintenance services are reasonably priced, especially when compared to some of the other options on the market in today’s third-party services sector. For example, a GSA-certified maintenance service will generally help you reap significant savings in contrast to the equivalent services of an uncertified OEM or TPM, which sometimes charge twice as much for the same services.
OEM prices are typically steep and inflexible, with a service-level agreement designed to put their needs over yours.
You are unlikely to find an uncertified OEM that will negotiate terms with consideration for your needs as a client business. OEMs will often set terms that include other services that might be unnecessary for your business. Despite this, you will still have to pay for these extra services because the agreement is ironclad and will not allow flexibility.
For example, there may be times when your business will only require computing for a range of operations at a moderate scale, yet the OEM will still have you pay for maximum, full-scale services that could more than double your overhead.
Likewise, an OEM might lock you into a set of terms with no flexibility for possible changes that may occur over the year. If you suddenly need to scale up or scale down because of a surge or gap in business, for example, you are still likely to be charged a stiff, flat rate with an uncertified OEM.
GSA-certified maintenance providers receive certification, in part, due to fair pricing and a proven track record of customer satisfaction. During the stringent application process, a service provider must demonstrate its commitment to fair service prices to become certified.
The money that your company could save by employing a GSA-certified maintenance provider could ultimately get allocated for other uses, such as new equipment, increased advertising and employee pay raises.
Overall, choosing a GSA-certified service over an OEM or TPM can help you lower costs and increase your bottom line, leaving you with more money to invest in other areas.
4. Centralized Maintenance
The importance of GSA certification becomes readily apparent when you consider the benefits of centralized maintenance, which gets provided to the highest standards by third-party IT teams.
GSA-certified maintenance providers work with simple setups that utilize necessary hardware and software. Thanks to the tech expertise of the staff at GSA-certified companies, computing arsenals are minimized to their essentials.
When you employ a GSA-certified maintenance provider, your entire IT arsenal gets organized for maximum efficiency.
There is no risk of equipment wearing down due to bent cords or dusty parts. Unlike in regular IT departments, where a company runs everything in-house and a company’s staff handles computing tasks, there is no disorganization with a certified maintenance provider.
With a GSA-certified third-party maintenance provider, all equipment gets conveniently laid out so that all functions are immediately accessible the moment one needs activating. While an in-house IT department might consist of an overcrowded room with company staff that often fumble for different commands, everything is laid out for maximum ease of use by a third-party maintenance provider.
The services provided by a GSA-certified maintenance provider get designed to meet your needs, regardless of the size, scope or scale of your company. In the areas where computing gets handled, there are no external components to soak up energy, adding needlessly to your monthly expenses.
If a component is not necessary for your operations, it is not left plugged in to serve as an energy drain.
GSA-certified third-party maintenance providers have all IT arsenals set up for easy execution.
If you need to have a program or update rolled out, it will all be done from a remote location and made universally compatible across your active, in-house devices. GSA-certified services also offer maximum security, keeping your computer system protected from viruses and cyber attacks.
5. Qualified Staff
When you enlist the services of a GSA-certified maintenance provider for your IT needs, your company will benefit from an in-depth level of computing knowledge second to none.
GSA-certified maintenance providers only employ the most qualified IT techs, each of whom come to the job with vast experience in all areas of computing technology, from hardware repair and troubleshooting to program installation and security.
The skills that each IT tech brings to the table for a GSA maintenance provider combine to make third-party IT services virtually foolproof. There is almost no risk of programs getting executed poorly or corrupting your pre-existing system when you outsource to a third party.
With a third-party IT service, you also get access to numerous insights regarding computer efficiency.
You might learn that various machines within your arsenal are unnecessary and have served as nothing more than an energy drain. The IT tech professionals employed by GSA-certified maintenance providers are also known for having great foresight when it comes to security matters.
The moment a new threat appears, the IT staff will set up barriers to prevent an attack on your system.
GSA-certified maintenance technicians are also creative when it comes to solutions that make computer arsenals more efficient and up-to-date. When you have access to the ingenuity of some of the most skilled and insightful minds and hands in the tech world, your company can gain invaluable insights that will help you save money and move forward in the marketplace.
Overall, GSA-certified companies provide organization to the computing operations of the client businesses they serve. When you outsource your computing operations to a GSA-certified third party, you can save money and allocate more resources for running your company.
GSA-Certified Maintenance From Worldwide Services
When you run a business, many different areas need simultaneous management.
Even though computing is one of the most crucial aspects of business operations in today’s world, computing requires a set of skills peripheral to most companies. The solution is to hire a GSA-certified maintenance third-party service provider, which will handle your computing needs so that you can focus on running your business.
Consider GSA-certified third-party maintenance with Worldwide Services.
To learn more about our range of services, contact us today and request a quote.
