When it’s time to deploy new mobile devices across multiple restaurants, most of the focus is on defining your business needs, choosing the right devices, and making sure the rollout, training, and support are smooth and seamless.

That all makes perfect sense because those should certainly be the focal points, especially in the short term. But when you’re planning a mobile deployment, you should also think about maintenance.

For example, think about the following questions:

• If your mobile devices need maintenance, servicing, or repair, where will your restaurants go for help?
• Who is going to provide troubleshooting and support?
• Who is going to do the maintenance and repair work if needed?
• Will work be performed on-site, or will you need to ship devices for depot repairs?
• Are you going to keep a pool of spare devices so you can swap out a device with a new or refurbished one while it’s out for servicing or repair?
• How will you keep track of your support, maintenance, or repair cases?
• Are you confident that you have the right plan, procedures, and technicians in place to support your devices over the long haul?

All of these are crucial questions to ask because planning for mobile device maintenance and having a good strategy in place can save you a lot of time and cost over the life of your hardware investment. It’s also critical to ensuring that an unexpected support, maintenance, or repair issue doesn’t get in the way of your restaurant operations.

This is why we recommend that you explore service plans available from your technology provider and your hardware manufacturer. A good service plan provides answers to all your key support and maintenance questions going into your deployment. That way, you can stay focused on those other near-term implementation goals while still having a great plan for how you’ll support and service your devices over the long term.

Here’s a quick example of how our Macro Integration hardware services and maintenance plans work for our clients, and why they’re so beneficial.

Support and Maintenance Services

When they deploy mobile devices and restaurant technologies such as tablets, mobile computers, barcode scanners, and printers, most of our customers choose to add support and maintenance services to protect their hardware and maximize their return on investment.

Our support and maintenance services include options for a variety of services:

• Help desk support to investigate issues and determine if servicing is needed
• A single point of contact through a dedicated service delivery manager
• On-site or depot repairs by factory-authorized and highly experienced technicians
• Management of new or refurbished devices to swap in for out-of-service hardware
• End-to-end reporting and tracking for all support and maintenance cases
• Additional hardware and support coverage through Zebra OneCare for Zebra devices

Here’s some more detail about each of these options and how it works.

Support: There When You Need Us
The idea behind our support services is simple: you call or email, and we answer. You have a Macro Service Delivery Manager who serves as your primary point of contact and helps you customize your support and service plan. Our technicians are prepared to respond quickly when needed.

We help you investigate any issue with any hardware device you’ve purchased through us, and we’ll quickly determine if there’s any problem at all and whether it can be resolved through troubleshooting, a required software or firmware update, or maintenance or repair.

We do it all through a web-based portal and knowledge base that allows everyone involved to share information, communicate seamlessly, and track any support case or repair when needed.

On-Site Maintenance
If servicing or repair is required and your service agreement includes coverage for on-site maintenance, our factory-trained and certified technicians will provide preventative service or repair on location. We quickly get to your restaurant to perform service or repair, or swap out your device for a replacement in the event that a more extensive depot or manufacturer repair is required.

Depot Repairs and Advanced Exchange
For cases requiring more extensive repair, or if you prefer to receive a spare device to swap in for any hardware that needs to be taken out of service for maintenance, we offer depot repairs and advanced exchange.

In this case, we ship a spare device to you as soon as possible, and you can ship the device that needs servicing to us. We then evaluate your device and perform maintenance at our repair depot, or we send it to the manufacturer if it requires a repair covered under warranty. We can then place that refurbished or repaired device into your spares pool for future use in the event of another servicing requirement.

Alternatively, we can come to your location to bring a spare and take another device back to our repair depot. In either case, you get prompt and outstanding service, and you have the option to use advanced exchange from a spares pool that you own or that we own and maintain for you.

Return to Service
When devices are taken out of service, we do the work to get them back in optimal working order and return them to service, so they can be used in your spares pool or reused elsewhere.

We service, repair, clean, test, reload, and repurpose your hardware, documenting the refurbishment and the testing standard for each piece of your equipment. This way, you have peace of mind that it’s ready to be redeployed into your enterprise.

Case and Maintenance Tracking
When you use our support and maintenance services, you’re in charge. We provide you with real-time information on all support and maintenance cases and their status. Our Macro Contract Portal displays each site, device serial number, part, and all related contract coverage terms, so you can have confidence that your devices are accounted for accurately. An RMA Portal also enables you to search and find the exact status of your device or part with a live link to the tracking information.

Zebra Support Plans
For our QSR customers, we strongly recommend Zebra QSR tablets, mobile computers, barcode scanners, and printers for their exceptional durability, reliability, and low total cost of ownership. Another big advantage is Zebra’s OneCare support services.

Zebra offers a number of support and repair services under the OneCare umbrella, which we can roll into any support and maintenance contract that you set up with us at Macro Integration Services.

These include options for comprehensive coverage for accidental damage and wear and tear, 24/7 dedicated support, standard or express repair turnaround times, on-site repairs, extended warranty coverage, software and security updates, and much more.

With these options, Zebra provides coverage and flexibility for virtually any support and maintenance need and preference, and our team at Macro Integration Services can help you choose the right option and make it part of your services contract with us.

Getting Started with Your Device Maintenance Plan

A good maintenance plan goes a long way toward making sure your mobile device deployment is successful and that you get the most value out of your hardware investment. Hopefully this article has helped you understand those benefits and why maintenance should be part of your deployment plan from the very earliest stages.

The good news is that it’s easy to get started by reaching out to us for more advice and to explore services that can help you through every step of the way.

To learn more about device maintenance planning, service options, and how to figure out the best choices for your business, contact us now at Macro Integration Services. We’d be happy to help.