When faced with challenges in sourcing products or dealing with supply chain issues, MSPs feel the pressure to keep their business moving forward.
For many, sourcing new hardware has been a roadblock in helping their clients stay up to date. That’s why warranties have been a big boon to MSPs as they need to keep clients covered, while the search for hardware replacements take longer.
But as many in the MSP industry know, warranty management and procurement is easier said than done. Often taking up massive amounts of staff time to source specific information for an asset, get information from the manufacturer and process a warranty purchase or renewal.
SUCCESS Computer Consulting, an MSP and MSSP based in Golden Valley, Minnesota, also faced this issue. Now they’ve found a solution that lets them do their jobs more efficiently while reducing costs to clients and generating more revenue from warranties than ever before; Lifecycle Manager.
Serving the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, SUCCESS has more than 100 employees and targets small to medium size businesses. Specifically, they have a big focus on non-profits, manufacturing, legal, and healthcare industries.
Dee Ramos, continuous improvement engineer, works on the SUCCESS team to manage and improve processes and workflow. Ramos has spent much of her time on the warranty process and working to roll out more warranty sales across their client base.
Take warranty sales to the next level
Evolving the warranty process
When they faced roadblocks to hardware procurement and supply chain issues, SUCCESS chose to refocus on warranties as a way to protect their clients and buy time until the market can normalize. However, they also found it was a new way to develop ongoing revenue as well.
They couldn’t replace equipment, Ramos explained. So they needed to get warranty coverage on equipment, hoping that the warranty term would get them one more year of time to source replacement hardware.
Renewing warranties manually was a high-effort process. SUCCESS used a tool to get a list of all the hardware items and their serial numbers. From there, staff would have to take that serial numbers to the manufacturer’s website to enter the data and request a warranty renewal.
Like many other MSPs, SUCCESS has partnerships with hardware brands and tries to keep their clients consistent with that hardware. But it’s common for many clients to enter into contracts with preexisting hardware that may be from different manufacturers.
When working with warranties from companies they weren’t partnered with, it would often be difficult to get some of the important information to help them track their warranties.
With Lifecycle Manager, SUCCESS found their solution to this issue. Because of Lifecycle Manager’s integration support, Ramos and her team were able to integrate it with their other tools like IT Glue, to fit right into their workflow.
Lifecycle Manager lets SUCCESS track warranty information, create quotes and determine custom markups, and renew warranties right from within the app. According to Ramos, this has saved hours of time for staff every week. In fact, the sales coordinator team saves at least 15 hours per month. Before, they had to wait up to 48 hours to get warranty date confirmation, but with Lifecycle Manager they get those dates immediately.
With more than 20,000 end users, Ramos said it would have been nearly impossible to look up all the information accurately and on time. Saving all of that time has allowed the SUCCESS team to focus more on growth as well as creating a better employee experience so that everyone can do their best work.
Improving your bottom line with warranties
Signing on new clients with a warranty service agreement has been a big benefit for SUCCESS, as all clients agree to keep their hardware on a three to five year replacement cycle. Ramos said it is expected that clients have warranties on their hardware. If a piece of equipment is not replaced, it is expected the warranty is renewed.
Ramos finds that clients have been accepting of this standard and that the task of keeping to it has been made easier with Lifecycle Manager’s asset monitoring functionality.
The ability to create custom markups with ScalePad Warranty Services allows MSPs to evaluate what the best balance for their business is. Ramos said that when they were first looking into Lifecycle Manager, prior to using Lifecycle Manager, SUCCESS' potential for margin was limiting and often not as profitable as other products and services. Since the implementation of Lifecycle Manager, SUCCESS has been able to sell warranties more frequently for higher margins.
Ramos said they are now generating more revenue with Lifecycle Manager warranties than before because it's easier and faster to find and propose warranty renewals.
Transforming Warranty Management at SUCCESS Computer Consulting
| Aspect | Before Lifecycle Manager | After Lifecycle Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Warranty Tracking Process | Manual tracking via bookmarks, spreadsheets, and manufacturer websites | Automated tracking integrated with IT Glue and other tools |
| Time to Retrieve Warranty Info | Up to 48 hours to confirm expiration dates | Immediate access to warranty data |
| Staff Time Spent | High effort; sales coordinators spent 15+ hours/month | Significant time saved, freeing staff for higher-value tasks |
| Hardware Brand Inconsistencies | Difficult to manage warranties across mixed hardware brands | Unified view and proactive management regardless of manufacturer |
| Quote Preparation | Manual, inconsistent, and delayed | Fast, consistent, and all quotes can be done in bulk |
| Revenue from Warranties | Limited margins, less frequent warranty sales | Increased revenue and higher margins on warranty renewals |
| Client Expectations | Harder to enforce warranty coverage standards | Easier to monitor and enforce 3-5 year replacement/warranty cycle |
| Operational Workflow | Reactive and fragmented across platforms | Streamlined and integrated workflow with full visibility |
| Employee Experience | Tedious, manual tasks created inefficiencies | Proactive, high-impact work improves staff satisfaction |
| Scalability | Difficult to scale across 20,000+ end users | Scalable warranty process with centralized automation |
| Overall Business Impact | Time-consuming and error-prone warranty process | More profitable, efficient, and client-friendly approach |