MaintenanceNet helps VARs and end-users manage maintenance contracts 18 April, 2005 By Chris Talbot

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Founded in 2001 on the principle of solving end-users' issues around maintenance contracts, MaintenanceNet provides its maintenance contract management services to manufacturers, distributors, VARs and end-users through an ASP model, said Scott Herron, president and CEO of MaintenanceNet. Maintaining and tracking contracts is difficult, especially since end-users tend to have contracts with multiple manufacturers, multiple "anniversary" dates and no alignment of the actual assets with the contract information. Herron said MaintenanceNet can help with the management of those contracts.

"As we delivered this to enterprise clients, what we quickly recognized is the reality is the channel was even a bigger problem and a bigger opportunity of managing this business," Herron said. "They simply did not have the tools and mechanisms in place to notify their clients of these renewals."

A lot of VARs sell maintenance contracts as a by-product of selling hardware, Herron said. When a service contract runs, these VARs aren't going after the renewal. As has been said by vendors, VARs that don't work to renew service contracts with their customers are missing out on a recurring revenue stream.

MaintenanceNet's manages the contract data with a holistic approach, Herron said. It integrates data from the manufacturer, the channel partner and ultimately deliver and integrate that information with the end-user's environment. All of the information is accessible by a VAR and its customers through an online Web portal. The portals are personalized and contain an individual customer's maintenance contract information. Prior to the expiration of a contract, the service sends off an e-mail to the end-user to remind them of the upcoming expiration date.

However, the VAR hasn't had to invest any money with MaintenanceNet until that first contract is sold, Herron said. That's when the fees kick in, although Herron added that the fee structure is reasonable.

MaintenanceNet's business model works like this: The company builds the portfolio, delivers it to the VAR, trains the reseller's staff and supports the account team. The billing starts when the first transaction takes place, Herron said.

"What we do is we provide a service to the VARs that actually enables and promotes the delivery of the solution to end-customers," Herron said.

End-users have been trying to solve the problem of management maintenance contracts for years, so it's excellent for them, but for VARs, it offers the ability to easily manage the up-sell and recurring revenue model of maintenance contracts, Herron said.