With over 38 years in the industry, JETCAM has thousands of customers around the world. However,...
When times are tight it’s commonplace to cut back on seemingly non-essential items. Maintenance contracts, while a low cost, can be one of the first casualties. Aside from a small one-off saving over the year, what are the risks of not having a maintenance contract in place?
What does JETCAM software maintenance provide?
There are three main areas:
- Technical support
- Software updates
- Companion apps
Technical Support
The biggest cost will be if a problem prevents your production from running. A good example might be a computer crash, with no backup in place. This would require an engineer to reinstall your JETCAM software and reconfigure it to your requirements – effectively a new installation. This would typically be covered under maintenance, but without maintenance might result in hours or days of down time and would incur an engineer’s daily rate and travel costs. It is feasible that a single on-site day could cost the same or more than your annual maintenance contract altogether!
General technical support, such as dealing with the day to day ‘how do I do this?’ questions would also be covered under maintenance, but would be, at best, limited or chargeable without maintenance. While JETCAM does provide comprehensive F1 help and free access to the University, sometimes a quick call or remote session with technical staff can save hours of time searching and learning. The Solutions Centre is now also provided under maintenance, offering an ever-expanding knowledgebase of articles.
An additional service that JETCAM provides to customers under maintenance is free online backups of their JETCAM Expert system. Simply log into the Download Wizard, select your license, and then upload a Support File from your JETCAM Expert system. Then, should the worst happen, you can easily get back up and running. This would not include component and nest files – these would usually be stored on your network, which should have adequate backup provisions in place.
JETCAM operates through a network of resellers. While the local reseller provides support, in the rare event that this support is no longer available, JETCAM will offer assistance directly. This is important, as it acts as an insurance that you are guaranteed access to support.
Software updates
Much of JETCAM’s overheads relate to development costs, as we invest heavily in developing and expanding our products. These in turn deliver real world savings back to the user.
A good example is the Expert v24 release – skeleton parting helps sheet metal users to cut the skeleton automatically into manageable pieces. This makes unloading easier, faster and safer. The new 64-bit release provides all users with a noticeable performance improvement, but High Performance and Ultra Performance nesting users will benefit further, as the software can take full advantage of the computer to deliver more efficient nests much quicker than before. Other features include 80% reduction in NC code generation time and automatic cutoff of remnants.
As a part of development, we also ensure that all products use the latest underlying code, such as Microsoft components. This ensures that the latest releases are running on code supported by all vendors, not just JETCAM. IT departments may also scan new apps to ensure that they do not contain unsupported technologies, blocking those that do.
Many users have noted additional savings due to an update delivered at no extra cost under maintenance. You can read about these in dozens of case studies.
CompanionApps
JETCAM provides free access to additional apps, such as JOC Lite, CAD interfaces to popular systems such as SolidEdge and SolidWorks, the CAD Splitter and QuickCost costing app at no extra charge. These add further value by providing functionality that you may not have initially needed. The CAD Splitter, for example, provides a fast way to split a DXF containing the geometry of multiple shapes. It then saves them as individual DXFs, ready for CAD import. DXFs can be named automatically using text inside each geometry. This cuts down a process that can take many minutes or even hours to just a few seconds.
Is maintenance the same as subscription?
No. While JETCAM does offer rental/subscription to access licenses (which includes maintenance), most customers purchase the software. Maintenance is then an optional but recommended extra. The core software will continue to work when maintenance expires, but companion apps will not.
Calculating the ROI of maintenance
Every business cost needs to be justified. It is sometimes difficult to attribute a value to something as intangible as a maintenance contract, however past experience should give you a good indication of either the support requirements needed by your staff or benefits received due to new versions.
Estimate how many hours over the course of a year staff have needed support. How many more hours would they have spent answering questions had they not had access to support? In addition, what would the hourly or daily rate be to obtain that same amount of support?
Why Skipping Maintenance is a False Economy
When companies choose to forego annual maintenance, they not only miss the essential benefits mentioned but also expose themselves to potential additional risks and costs. Here is a summary of the key issues.
Delayed Response: Without a maintenance contract, fast access to support becomes limited. Should an issue arise, the downtime waiting for a resolution can far outweigh the perceived savings from not paying for maintenance.
Compatibility and Update Issues: New releases are continually being developed with new functions. Without access to these updates, customers risk operating with outdated versions that may not be compatible with newer hardware or may lack the latest features. This can affect productivity and competitiveness.
Unplanned Expenses: Opting out of maintenance means any needed support or updates become out-of-pocket expenses. This can be significantly higher than the annual maintenance fee. Also, without regular updates, running older software on newer, updated operating systems may cause unexpected issues.
Missing new features or savings: Maintenance customers gain access to additional free software applications that further streamline processes and save money. There is also the opportunity to save 5% on annual maintenance with auto-renewal, ensuring continuous coverage and cost savings.
Update fees: If a customer is out of maintenance there will be an update fee to cover back maintenance. While this is capped at a maximum of 12 months, dropping out of maintenance incurs an additional and unnecessary expense.
While it may seem tempting to save on the annual maintenance fee upfront, the long-term costs and risks associated with this decision can be significant. The value of staying enrolled in JETCAM's maintenance program goes beyond just financial savings; it’s about ensuring sustainable productivity, access to the latest innovations, and peace of mind knowing you’re supported every step of the way.
Therefore, the question isn’t should you take out/renew maintenance, but can you afford not to?
