Protecting your construction technology

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The UK population take out insurance to help cover their most expensive assets, cars, homes and lives. Despite operating machinery being far more costly than your average vehicle, the construction industry rarely takes out a service plan for its assets. Here Lisa Cheshire, Inside Sales Specialist from Trimble provider, SITECH UK & Ireland, explains the importance of investing in a comprehensive protection plan for construction equipment. Construction technology, such as sensors, antennas and GPS receivers are the workhorses of the construction site and come into constant contact with the elements. Keeping these vital parts working effectively can be a costly battle for construction businesses after a few years, especially after a part finishes its standard factory warranty. Construction businesses face the reality of components needing repairing, recalibrating or maintaining, sometimes without any warning. Often, an expert must carry out specific maintenance or replacements, leaving the business without a fully functioning machine until it is returned. In addition to hardware, if platforms are not regularly updated to the latest version, software and firmware can cause connectivity issue between components, leading to faults during the building process. Ensuring that construction technology is well maintained and updated reduces the risk of faults and unexpected down time. However, keeping track of all of this can seem like an overwhelming task, especially with a large fleet of technology that businesses might not understand how to maintain effectively. Businesses can avoid downtime by investing in a protection plan, such as Trimble Protection Plan, which covers all Trimble construction technology. Service plans give businesses the peace of mind that they have budgeted for future repairs and access to experts who can diagnose and resolve technology issues. Typically, repairs under warranty are completed faster than non-warranty repairs because there’s no need to generate an estimate and approval before the work commences. When an active service plan is in place, SITECH may also provide free equipment hire while the part is being repaired, so they don’t have to worry about unexpected downtime. Businesses can develop bespoke protection plans that cover any range of equipment, from one-off pieces of technology, to entire fleet cover, accommodating all customer’s requirements. For example, if their hardware is only covered by factory warranty for a year and the software is covered for five years, they can take out a four-year policy for the hardware, so the technology is fully under warranty for that period. Covering your construction technology is as important as insuring your car and will give you peace of mind that machine faults will not lead to extensive downtime.