What is IBM Business Critical Service Upgrade?
IBM Business Critical Service Upgrades are options to extend your Base support (9×5) to Business Critical (24×7) and usually applies to an Appliance. The main benefit is an upgrade from standard appliance support (contact 24×7) to onsite 24 x 7 for hardware issues.
It is bought under your PA Agreement which is why you should look more closely . This is an extra cost that is renewed each year but is often overlooked as it looks like a product at first glance.
Do we still need it?
Some of these systems have been around a long time and their critical to the business changes over time. You might also find that the hardware, OS or Application versions you are running are no longer covered.
You need to ask the question “do we still need this option”?
- Is the system still critical to the business or is it being retired?
- Does the system owner understand there’s an extra cost?
- How many calls have you made outside work hours, ever!
What do you actually get?
It is also mis-understood what you actually get from this upgrade and what the additional costs will be if you actually invoke the support. It is not unusual for the system owner to think they are getting a lot more for their investment than the actually are.
Action
Whenever you see an option or an add-on to an IBM product or service you should challenge whether it’s still delivering value to the business and if the cost is justified. Don’t just renew because that’s what we always do.
