The technical support team places great emphasis on the need to have expert engineering skills available to offer support for customers.  These skills can be provided in a variety of forms, ensuring that the right level of support is delivered in the most effective and economical way.  Local and remotely appointed personnel offer support, either by telephone, remote access or on-site, dependent on the critical nature of the downtime.  24 hour emergency support is also available if requested.

Help desk facilities

The priority of any service provided by the technical support team is to ensure that, if required, customers have access to the right types of support.  Help desk facilities are offered to customers who have technically competent staff to manage any first line maintenance but would like direct access to the Siemens engineering staff, in the case of an emergency.  The technical support team is able to walk customers through possible issues and fixes, helping speed the recovery of any problems with a system.

Our improved level of service offers customers the use of a single telephone number to contact the support team, thus allowing support call metrics to be more easily captured and reported.  The number is manned during UK office hours and has an out of hours answering machine.  Once a call is answered and a reference number has been allocated, the support team will respond within the timescales defined in individual support contracts.

System enhancements

As new technologies are introduced and new system applications developed, Siemens are able to take existing systems into the field and apply these enhancements to them.  This enables customers to take advantage of any new developments, increasing both performance and efficiency of existing plant.  Also as infrastructure networks develop, Siemens are able to provide expansions to existing equipment, removing the need for replacement equipment, providing a cost effective solution.

Repair services

The technical support team is also able to manage the return, repair and dispatch of equipment.  Throughout the process the progress is monitored and reported on.  A description of the work carried out is made available at the time of dispatch.  This service can be combined with the spares management service to reduce turnaround times.

Spares management

In utilising the spares management service offered by the technical support team, access to an extensive resource of equipment spares is made available, for a fraction of the original cost.  By using a membership service, Siemens is able to spread the cost of a large spares holding over several members, thereby, reducing the capital outlay for customers.  Spares logistics is also considered, with spares being held either locally to the customer or at one of our Siemens sites, ready for customers to call off as and when required.  By obtaining a spare, the repair can be made in a timely manner, instead of taking up to 30 days.

Training

As part of the ongoing commitment to providing quality products and services, Siemens offers a wide range of first class engineering training courses.  These are designed to cover the complete range of training needs, from basic introductory to first line maintenance, either conducted at a Siemens site or at customer premises.  All training options offer flexibility in the way they are delivered, whilst encompassing competence based assessment, within a practical learning environment.Text