1

I do all IT purchases and have to keep up with warranties, support mantainance and whatever software subscriptions that come with them. For example, all my sonicwalls have 3-6 different services that run on them and are on a subscription basis.

We are small and cant have a uniform all Dell or HP environment. We buy whatever is cheap, but buy support from manufacturer.

I deal with multiple vendors (middlemen) and manufacturers on all this. Would i be better off if i consolidate all purchases and just go with one vendor, say CDW? Right now i am all over, i have a different vendor for everything. 3CX, Office365, Veeam, Sonicwall, HP…
My spreadsheet is just loaded with different reps contact info and some are just not reliable. Do you use one vendor?

7 Spice ups
2

Personally I have a Google Calendar for it, at work it’s all handled by pretty much the same var so it’s whatever lol

3

I am kind of in the same boat. I tried to get my boss to pony up for a decent helpdesk ticketing system where I could scan contracts and receipt into and warn me 15 to 30 days out before a subscription runs out. But he loves the basic ticket system we have in sharepoint which does not have all that functionality.

4

Some things I go directly to the manufacturer, just because it is easier. In some cases, dealing directly with the manufacturer (lets say Dell) you are able to get things tailored to meet your specific needs with a quick turnaround time. My experience dealing with 3rd parties on things like PC’s and servers is that their tends to be a delay, and a limit on configuration options.
With other things that require subscriptions, I deal with one company. The primary reason is that the rep I deal with is awesome. He calls a few weeks prior to my renewals being due, and will typically let me know of any known issues, upgrades, or better applications to meet our needs. Unfortunately, the price is not always the cheapest, but in many cases the discounts we receive on some items and customer service makes up for this.

5

Calendar reminders are helpful.

1 Spice up
6

Standardize on one reseller and hardware vendor if possible and put them to work for you. For example we buy all HP Desktops Laptops and Servers and our reseller tracks all regular/extended warranties for us. We also can just E-Mail them for warranty hardware issues and they take care of contacting HP and ordering the parts for us. You also need to make sure you shop their prices every once in a while to make sure they aren’t overcharging and be sure to let them know you are doing it.

I also use a sharepoint site to track almost everything else and sort by when it is due. Our entire software/hardware inventory and support tracking system are on a custom made sharepoint site.

7

I set calendar reminders for myself all the time. It’s really not much different than if you were to set on your personal calendar when specific bills are due. Personal suggestion would be to consolidate as much as you can. Maybe not all to one vendor but if you’re dealing with so many you will lose track of deadlines, it might be best to go with a few that you have a solid relationship with.

8

This is a great feature of our IT management solution through ITGlue. It tracks all contract expirations, SSL expirations, domain expirations, UPS battery expirations, etc. on its dashboard and is in your face every day with a countdown. It’s just a small piece of the software package. It has been an incredible system for us.

9

We co-term everything possible so renewals are “once and done” annually or longer with each vendor. Beyond that we use a reseller for almost everything and they track all of this for us, and send us a teaser email reminder starting about 90 days out with a quote attached or linked. We’ve found this to be about the only way to keep that purchasing workload at a minimum, aside from not renewing at all - which is a whole other can of worms.

Whatever you implement, Keep It Simple Stupid!

10

Hi Lahi - I think Support Warehouse is the answer to some of your prayers! We are the official HPE Renewal Reminder Service for HPE Technical Services in the US and many other countries worldwide and, as a result of requests from our customers, we have now further expanded to offer the technical support services of other vendors for both hardware and software.

Simply put, we are here to manage support renewals for customers. If you are able to send us a full kit list, we will verify the support status of each piece of hardware, and let you know how we can help. Once we have all of your hardware recorded in our system, we will contact you before your support expires to ensure that you benefit from uninterrupted service. We can also provide multi-vendor contracts, so it’s possible that we could put all of your support on one contract, with one expiry date!

Feel free to ping me or email me on michelle.robinson@supportwarehouse.com

@lahimakonem

11

Hi Lahi - I think Support Warehouse is the answer to some of your prayers! We are the official HPE Renewal Reminder Service for HPE Technical Services in the US and many other countries worldwide and, as a result of requests from our customers, we have now further expanded to offer the technical support services of other vendors for both hardware and software.

Simply put, we are here to manage support renewals for customers. If you are able to send us a full kit list, we will verify the support status of each piece of hardware, and let you know how we can help. Once we have all of your hardware recorded in our system, we will contact you before your support expires to ensure that you benefit from uninterrupted service. We can also provide multi-vendor contracts, so it’s possible that we could put all of your support on one contract, with one expiry date!

Feel free to ping me or email me on michelle.robinson@supportwarehouse.com

@lahimakonem

12

It definitely would help you to stick with one reseller who can help you keep track of it all. No doubt you have plenty else to take worry about! We’d love to help and you can get everything you need through us with great prices. Here’s our website for more information: Managed IT Services for Small and Medium Businesses | CCB Technology =

Feel free to request access to our online store and check it out! https://store.ccbtechnology.com/store/start.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2Fstore%2F

Best of luck!

1 Spice up
13

Nothing wrong with going where you get the best value. Do you have a budget spreadsheet? I keep my warranties on a per-item basis in my budget spreadsheet with a short note indicating to buy on even or odd years or whatever the renewal period is. I also show which month it needs to be purchased by having separate columns for Jan-Dec. This becomes not only my budget, but pays it forward budgeting for future years, and it’s my calendar that I open a few times a month to see what’s due and what’s coming up.

1 Spice up
14

Google Sheet with the purchases categorized by month. Each month I look at the month ahead renewals and get the requisite invoices.

15

Maybe a Software Asset Management program would be of help to you? I just wanted to let you know that Acrodex Software Asset Management Services ensures your business is fully compliant with software asset management and licensing through a joint partnership between ourselves and your organization. Not only does this enable us to control and protect your software assets, but it also reduces IT costs and legal risks, including keeping up with subscriptions and renewals.

Linking to some info here: https://www.acrodex.com/software-management-services/

Let me know if you have any questions!