XSi IT Maintenance Blog:

Facing Coronavirus Realities: IT Resiliency & Market Readiness Enabled by “Right to Repair” Logic

tbone@xsnet.com (Todd Bone) — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 16:52:59 GMT

Despite the mixed messages circulating throughout the media (and from our politicians), most would now agree that the threat of Coronavirus has become real and the depth of the threat is concerning.

Contracting Officers: Solving the Most Burdensome EoL Hardware Support

dkrueger@xsnet.com (Doug Krueger) — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:15:57 GMT

As a Contracting Officer at a federal agency, you’ve likely run into procurement instances when data center hardware or IT networking equipment still being used has become a tremendous problem – even a “pain in the backside.” Absolutely, we can help!

The Nature of Heroism in a Volatile Marketplace

mhavens@xsnet.com (Mark Havens) — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:00:00 GMT

In yesterday’s blog, I explained that over the weekend I had deeply considered the nature of heroes and how each of us can inspire heroism in others – especially important with last week’s volatility in global markets. Following the reading of several articles in noted psychology and leadership journals, I started my own list of the traits of a hero:

Inspiring “Heroic Readiness” in a Turbulent Market – Thoughts for Enterprise IT

mhavens@xsnet.com (Mark Havens) — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 18:30:11 GMT

I spent part of the weekend pondering the recent market turbulence, political posturing and the flood of information surrounding individual health, community health and business health – should some of these predictions come to fruition. Yet, I can assure you, it was much more enjoyable to think about and research the characteristics of heroes and the methods to inspire heroism (as an automatic and/or permanent trait) within our children, our friends and business colleagues.

On-Demand Tech Expertise (Data Center or Network) from SmartHands

tbone@xsnet.com (Todd Bone) — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 16:17:55 GMT

XSi SmartHands provides onsite technical expertise and support for any server, data storage, networking or UPS hardware projects or requirements. XSi SmartHands is available 24x7x365 and is often relied upon by clients for minimally staffed branch or remote offices. SmartHands eliminates the need to hire full-time, expensive technicians for temporary or very short projects. Alternatively, it’s a helpful solution when your own expensive technical staff are unavailable or unable to complete the project in the timeframe you require. While simple SmartHands projects can be coordinated in an on-demand format, XSi can deploy SmartHands experts for larger projects when such may require a dedicated project manager.

XSi Q1 2020 EoSW or EoS ALERT: Popular OEM Models to Address

tbone@xsnet.com (Todd Bone) — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:03:52 GMT

If you’re not yet monitoring essential Hardware Lifecycle Milestone dates, this ALERT provides a quick-glance review of popular OEM models that have reached (or about to reach) End of Software Support (EoSW) or End of Support (EoS). For these hardware asset models, it no longer makes financial sense to rely on expensive OEM support – but instead, should move to independent (IT Maintenance) support.

Enhancing Federal IT Programs for Systems Integrators

dkrueger@xsnet.com (Doug Krueger) — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 19:30:39 GMT

XSi currently supports 42 federal agencies and 12 of the Top 15 Federal Systems Integrators with IT hardware maintenance (servers, storage, networking) support solutions which aid federal Program capture, impacts contract performance and improves profitability.

IT Procurement Essentials for Hardware Maintenance RFPs: Part Three of Three

mhavens@xsnet.com (Mark Havens) — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 20:23:00 GMT

If you missed part one of this article, click this link to read it, and if you missed part two, here.

IT Procurement Essentials for Hardware Maintenance RFPs: Part Two of Three

mhavens@xsnet.com (Mark Havens) — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:08:42 GMT

If you missed part one of this article, click this link to read it.

IT Procurement Essentials for Hardware Maintenance RFPs: Part One of Three

mhavens@xsnet.com (Mark Havens) — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 12:42:32 GMT

When IT procurement professionals are proactively seeking cost containment and vendor reduction in their 2020 objectives, one of the strategies should include a focus on hardware (data center and/or networking) operational expense, and the proven value propositions of the independent hardware support marketplace. Many of us in this independent support industry, as well as Gartner analysts, have found that standardized RFPs too often include components/questions that don’t apply. Yet, almost all RFPs for hardware maintenance are severely lacking the core elements that would help balance cost reductions with minimized risk. In fact, these RFPs are often two-dimensional and enable misrepresentation and sub-par service. Help us, help you! This three-part blog is designed to educate, while drawing greater attention to internal best practices, critical RFP elements, asset prioritization and a reduced cost without sacrifice to necessary service.