An IT annual maintenance contract gives your business a full year of IT support and preventive maintenance under one agreement with a defined scope. VOWTECH, based in Abu Dhabi since 2015, provides IT AMCs covering computers, servers, networks and backups — with scheduled visits, helpdesk access and support available 24/7.
An IT AMC — annual maintenance contract — is an agreement in which an IT company looks after a defined list of your equipment and systems for twelve months in return for a fixed fee. It normally combines two things: reactive support when something goes wrong, and preventive maintenance carried out on a schedule so that fewer things go wrong in the first place. The second part is what separates an AMC from simply calling a technician.
The value of a contract lies in its scope. A good AMC states exactly which devices, users and locations are covered, how support is requested, when it is available, how often an engineer visits and what is excluded. VOWTECH writes this down before anything is signed. Our general AMC support page describes the service, and this page explains how to scope one properly.
An AMC is not the same as fully outsourced IT. It maintains what you already have. If you also want continuous monitoring, security management and someone steering your IT strategy, look at managed IT services in Abu Dhabi. If you are unsure whether you need a contract at all, our comparison of IT AMC and ad-hoc IT support is a useful starting point.
Most disappointment with maintenance contracts comes from assumptions about scope. These are the usual boundaries, which should always be confirmed in writing.
The labour needed to keep the listed equipment working and up to date, delivered remotely and on site, for the whole contract year.
Items that are unpredictable in cost or that amount to new work rather than maintenance. These are usually quoted separately when they arise.
Extra systems that sit on the same network and are often maintained by the same team, so that one contract covers the building’s technology.
The scheduled visit is the heart of an AMC. An engineer works through a checklist rather than waiting for someone to report a fault.
Disk space, disk and RAID status, memory use, event logs, failed services and hardware warning lights are reviewed, since servers often show signs of trouble before they fail.
Backup jobs are checked for successful completion, and a test restore of sample files confirms the data can actually be recovered — the only proof that matters.
Operating system, application and firmware updates are reviewed and applied in a controlled way, with servers and firewalls patched outside working hours where practical.
Switches, routers, firewalls and access points are inspected for errors, overheating, failing ports and outdated firmware. Larger issues are referred to our networking team.
Antivirus status, pending updates, disk health and unauthorised software are checked on user computers, along with anything staff have been putting up with rather than reporting.
UPS battery status and load, rack tidiness, cooling and dust are inspected, because power and heat are behind a great many avoidable hardware failures.
A contract is only as good as its schedule of what is covered. These five steps produce a scope both sides can rely on.
List every computer, server, network device, printer and location to be covered. This list becomes the contract schedule.
Decide whether you need cover during office hours only or around the clock, and how staff will raise requests.
Agree how often preventive visits take place, based on the amount and importance of the equipment.
State clearly whether parts, licences, projects and third-party software are inside or outside the contract.
After signing we document your systems, begin the visit schedule and review the scope with you before renewal.
Both have their place. Very small offices often manage well on ad-hoc support; once the business depends on its systems, the balance shifts.
Support labour is a fixed, budgeted figure instead of an invoice whose size depends on how bad the month was.
Ad-hoc support starts when something has already failed. An AMC pays for the checks that catch problems early.
Your systems are documented and familiar, so time is not spent rediscovering the network on every call.
How to get help, and what is covered, is settled calmly at the start rather than negotiated during an outage.
The step beyond an AMC — continuous monitoring and management of your IT environment.
Learn moreManaged IT for organisations with sites in more than one emirate.
Learn moreOn-site engineers and a remote helpdesk, with or without an annual contract.
Learn moreAnnual maintenance for cameras, recorders and storage, alongside your IT contract.
Learn moreAnnual IT maintenance for Dubai offices, delivered from Abu Dhabi.
Learn moreQuestions to ask any provider before signing a support or maintenance contract.
Learn moreSend us a rough count of your computers, servers, network devices and locations. We will visit, confirm the asset list and give you a written scope showing exactly what is covered.
