How to Choose the Best Imaging Equipment Service Provider

How to Choose the Best Imaging Equipment Service Provider

Picking the right service provider to maintain your imaging equipment is a highly subjective decision. What may be a significant service feature for one facility may fall further down the list of importance for another. The goal of this article is to help you ask questions that will qualify which service organization will best serve your needs.

Uptime Guarantee

Uptime guarantees have become increasingly common for service providers to offer in full-service contracts. Essentially, the service provider guarantees that your system will be functional X amount of days (commonly between 95 to 97 percent) over the contract period. If the percentage is less than the agreed amount, the service provider typically offers some sort of extension or discount on the contract. This can be a bargaining chip to ensure that the level of service sold is the level of service received. To some, especially high-volume facilities, this is essential. To others, an uptime guarantee does not impact the decision to use a specific service vendor. If you have a longstanding relationship with your service provider, the trust you’ve built with them can be more important. Does having an uptime guarantee give you the peace of mind needed to sign a service contract or are you satisfied with the trust you’ve built in an existing organization?

Response Time

Coming to a mutual understanding on engineer response time is crucial. Service buyers should be wary of contract language that defines response time as the amount of hours it takes for an engineer to call the site, not physically have hands on the equipment. Some sites demand a 4-6 hour response time to have an engineer onsite while others have engineers that they prefer, and are willing to wait for. Preferences in this area are often determined by patient volume.

A specific response time is especially difficult to promise in rural or low-population areas. It’s advisable to consider your geographic location when negotiating response time with your service vendor. Whether your imaging equipment is in Aberdeen, S.D., or Chicago both the customer and the service provider need to have reasonable expectations of response times. What is your response time expectation and has your service provider agreed to meet it?

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