Addressing Legal and Logistics Challenges of IT Maintenance in LATAM

Summary

One of the world’s largest snack and beverage companies faced challenges with maintaining its IT equipment in Mexico and Latin American countries. The region is notorious for challenges in importing hardware, making it hard to realize short service level agreements (SLAs). The company lacked resilience in maintenance due to the scarcity of critical spares in those countries. On top of that, as a non-tech company, it lacked on-site IT engineering expertise to fix technical issues.

PivIT realized short SLAs (4 hours) for maintenance, including spare parts, with its Sparing Integrity Program. Through this program, required spares are shipped to and stocked in the country where they’re needed, circumventing the logistics challenges. It also tackled technical support issues with its SmartHands talent on-demand service, bringing engineers on-site to handle projects.

Customer's Needs

As a multinational company, the client also caters to Mexico and Latin American countries, manufacturing and producing regional products. Unlike Europe and Asia, South America poses logistical challenges due to geographical and sociopolitical reasons. Although traditionally an easy import destination, Mexico now has more layers to moving equipment because of changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The client didn’t have the equipment and technical expertise available in these countries and
required a maintenance provider who could guarantee short SLAs. In other words, they
required critical spares and engineering talent to avoid delays when importing from outside.

PivIT's Solution

By design, PivIT’s third-party maintenance (TPM) service, OneCall, addressed the client's issue. The Sparing Integrity Program, part of the maintenance offering, is the only sparing solution in the industry that guarantees in-country replacement with dedicated spare equipment. As a result, any critical equipment can reach the premises quickly, avoiding any legal or logistical delays.

Thanks to PivIT’s global presence of existing depots, including in Mexico and the LATAM region, the client could place equipment in the region. Here’s how PivIT solved the client’s maintenance dilemma in a region inherently challenging for importing hardware:

• Dedicated equipment with serial numbers and locations present in the country of operations.
• Navigating the changes in NAFTA to facilitate the import of critical hardware into Mexico while also
  reducing costs.
• On-site engineering resources through SmartHands to fill the gaps in technical expertise in the client's regional facilities.
• Pre-badging for engineering resources to familiarize them with the client’s facility protocols and environments, reducing the time it takes for technical support to be on site.
• Building on the services offered in the LATAM region, PivIT also resolved logistical and technical maintenance challenges in other regions the client serves, including the Philippines and Hong Kong.