Specialty IT Manufacturer Partners with Lexicon

Outsourcing Repair Function Makes $$ Sense; OEM Branded Services Delivered Seamlessly

THE CHALLENGE

Specialty technology Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) must decide how to allocate resources to provide the “in-demand” products and solutions customers require.  They also have to deliver the support services, including warranty service, ongoing hardware maintenance and repair, etc., that are essential to be competitive in the North American market.  However, a thorough analysis of “repair function” costs and revenues motivated a major enterprise mobility OEM to find a better way.

THE SOLUTION

More chief executives of technology providers are concluding that their core value lies in the engineering and design (the “product realization”) of hardware platforms, which in combination with solid applications, constitutes a solution and provides value for a client.  Hardware maintenance, though essential, is usually not a core competency possessed by an OEM.  Typical OEMs often lack “critical mass” for repair scale, and focused processes for repair quality, productivity, and unit repair cost reduction.  Quality is there, but often unit costs are high.

The enterprise mobility OEM approached Lexicon to discuss how their company could outsource hardware support for selected product families.  Lexicon repair analysts worked to design a program that would meet service level expectations for warranty, maintenance, and per incident repair programs.  Business processes and transactions were defined to automate information flow between the OEM and Lexicon.  Quality metrics were defined and monitoring and reporting systems created.  A customized, OEM-branded repair portal, built on Lexicon’s RepairEngine® web-based service management system was deployed to manage the outsourced repair process.

Results to date:  OEM resources are focused on product innovation.  Customer satisfaction with OEM-branded repair and maintenance is high.  Profits and service level performance are improved, as well.  OEM customer relationships and repair transaction visibility (thanks to their RepairEngine®-based service portal), are better than ever.  OEM administrative and overhead costs are way down – outsourcing the repair function to Lexicon was a better way to go.