Any hardware needs a certain amount of maintenance in order to continue running at its peak for any length of time; any other plan is basically just a slippery slope to premature obsolescence. Yet there are a lot of different ways to carry out data center hardware maintenance, so take a closer look at the best practices in this field.

How Do I Carry Out the Right Data Center Hardware Maintenance?

Keep these points in mind to find the best course for your data center.

Consider the value. Value is a broad term, but here, there are several points to watch for.

• Reduce costs. There are two points to determining value: lowering costs and increasing income. Look for maintenance programs that directly lower costs, whether it’s the cost of internal IT operations or the cost of a third-party maintenance provider.
• Avoid costs. It’s one thing to reduce costs; it’s another entirely to avoid them. By maintaining old hardware, you can delay the necessary capital expense of new hardware. Losing hardware means lost opportunity in the meantime, which is another cost avoided by maintenance.
• Improve agility. With the right maintenance, your hardware will last longer, need replacing less, and fail less. That gives you more resources to address elsewhere, particularly in aid of response to changing conditions.

Look for focus. Beyond value, be sure to focus on maintenance. Don’t just blithely toss it on IT’s back; making maintenance “one more thing” helps ensure that it will get pushed to the side when “more important” tasks come up.

Check response times. No matter where your maintenance comes from, consider its response time. Having a dedicated provider—internal or external—can help reduce those lost opportunity costs and produce better results.

Find complete processes. Maintenance is best when it follows a process. Start with a complete audit to know what’s on hand and where spare parts might be a problem, then establish procedures to fill any holes and ultimately succeed.

How Can I Get Help With Data Center Hardware Maintenance?

Sometimes the best way to get data center hardware maintenance done right is to subcontract out. Third-party maintenance can go a long way toward getting more life out of the data center hardware in place, and we at EmconIT can provide that kind of maintenance. Whether you need help with networking, servers, storage, or a tape library, just drop us a line to get the best in third-party maintenance going for your vital systems.