“Going the extra mile” is an everyday thing for the Neeco Support Services Team

Maintenance is a complex issue. At first glance, the range of products, solutions, service level agreements (SLAs), and providers seems confusing and intimidating. However, behind the services are real people, and we wanted to find out more about what makes Neeco’s maintenance services tick. So we sat down with Daniela Dohnalova and Katerina Prikrylova of the Support Services Team to gain some more insight. 

First off, we wanted to know how in the world they explain such a complex topic to a layperson. How would you possibly explain maintenance to your grandma??? Daniela laid it out pretty simply: “I tell her that when your computer breaks, someone comes to fix it. That’s basically what we do, except with network hardware.” 

Oh how simple! I guess we’re done here. But no, there’s really a lot more to it… 

What we really wanted to figure out, is what we at Neeco do better than other companies. OEM providers do provide their own maintenance solutions after all, why would clients turn to us?

That’s where things get a little more involved. Katerina made the point that we are able to get hardware and engineers to places that other companies struggle to reach. “If we have a warehouse in our network close to the site, even somewhere totally remote, we will plan ahead and stock spare parts at that facility. That way, when something breaks, we’ll get a replacement on the way in no time. And if we don’t already have a facility nearby, we’ll do our best to find one. We always do our best to focus on client needs, and we always go the extra mile to adapt.” 

“We can make just about any custom SLA you can imagine. If a client needs it, we’ll figure out how to do it. We’re not limited by any fixed number or types SLAs, we always try and find a way. " said Katerina

“Going the extra mile” turned out be a recurring theme in our conversation. Our Support Services Team is constantly looking for ways to adapt to clients and figure out how to fulfil their needs, even if it’s beyond the scope of our standard processes. They are always making exceptions to help clients the best they can, and it seems like “going the extra mile” is an everyday occurrence in the team.  

“Adaptation” is another key word for Neeco’s Support Services Team. Most OEMs have fixed SLAs and rigid guidelines for when and how they can be met, and are hardly ever willing to deviate from their strict protocols. Neeco couldn’t be more different in this way. Katerina explains, “We can make just about any custom SLA you can imagine. If a client needs it, we’ll figure out how to do it. We’re not limited by any fixed number or types SLAs, we always try and find a way. If we need to activate an agreement that will allow for 24/7 coverage and a 4-hour response time in a remote region, we take it as a challenge and get to work.” It’s this type of extraordinary effort that has earned Neeco a reputation for reliability around the world. 

“You can’t become fully self-sufficient in the Support Services Team overnight, sometimes it takes a up to a year or more.” said Daniela

The team itself is also something a bit out of the ordinary. Whereas OEMs provide service for their own products, Neeco provides maintenance support for everything, from every vendor, within one team, under one contract, with a single point of contact for all aspects of service. Daniela explained that it sometimes takes a full year before a new hire is fully onboarded.  

“We constantly keep track of all of the specifications, requirements, protocols, regulations, and procedures of the immense number of vendors we support. We have documents upon documents with logins, flow charts, step-by-step guides, individual End-of-Support term plans. You can’t become fully self-sufficient in the Support Services Team overnight, sometimes it takes a up to a year or more.” 

After sitting down with Daniela and Katerina, a lot of the confusion around maintenance had been cleared up, and it became apparent that the Support Services Team are a force to be reckoned with. We’re proud to have such a driven and ambitious team of professionals tirelessly labouring around the clock to keep client networks up and running, and we have a newfound respect for the work they do. Hats off to the Support Services Team!