An annual maintenance contract (AMC) is one of the best businesses a manufacturer or dealer can have: predictable revenue, a reason to visit the customer, and a natural path to the next sale. It is also easy to run badly. Visits slip, breakdown calls are answered late, the contract quietly expires — and the customer remembers only the last bad experience.
What makes AMCs hard
- Coverage lives in contract documents, not where the service desk can see it.
- Preventive visits are not scheduled, only promised.
- Breakdown calls are handled first-come, first-served, regardless of what each contract promises.
- Technicians' work is recorded on paper, so the next technician starts from scratch.
- Renewals are noticed after expiry, when the customer has already found someone else.
What an AMC setup should hold
- The installed base: each unit at each customer, with its serial number.
- Contracts covering specific units, with their period and terms.
- Scheduled visits for preventive maintenance.
- Cases for breakdowns, each with its response and resolution targets.
- Work orders for technicians, with history and parts.
- Renewals coming up, with time to act.
How service works in Zaqnet
Zaqnet's Service app in ControlRoom runs after-sales on the same records as sales:
- Installed base: units are registered to customers from their serial numbers at the sale, with warranty or contract coverage shown in words, not codes.
- Warranty and AMC contracts cover chosen units for a period.
- Cases carry service level targets, so the team sees what is at risk of breaching.
- Appointments schedule visits — preventive or breakdown — on a calendar, with the address when the service is on site.
- Work orders carry the job, the customer, the unit and its history, and the catalogue price of the service.
- Waivers on chargeable jobs go to approval by those who may grant them.
Technicians work their jobs in GroundLink, and the office sees each job's status as it changes.
An AMC is a promise you make every month for a year. The system should remind you of it before the customer does.
How to price an AMC
An AMC that is priced by habit — "10% of the machine price" — can lose money on busy machines and overcharge light users. Build it from the work instead:
| Part of the price | Example for one machine |
|---|---|
| Preventive visits (4 a year × ₹1,800 per visit) | ₹7,200 |
| Expected breakdown calls (1.2 a year × ₹2,500) | ₹3,000 |
| Parts included in the contract (expected) | ₹2,500 |
| Admin, travel and contingency (15%) | ₹1,900 |
| Cost to serve | ₹14,600 |
| Margin (25%) | ₹3,650 |
| AMC price | ₹18,250 a year |
The figures that matter most — visits that actually happen, breakdown calls per machine, parts used — are exactly what your service records should tell you after the first year. Price the second year from data, not habit.
Response and resolution times by contract
Not every customer needs the same promise. A simple tiering:
| Tier | Response | Resolution | Typical customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 hours | 24 hours | Production equipment, hospitals |
| Standard | Next working day | 3 working days | Offices, retail |
| Basic | 2 working days | Best effort | Low-use equipment |
Each case should carry its tier's targets, so the desk sees what is at risk — see service SLA tracking.
The renewal funnel
Renewals are where AMC revenue is kept or lost:
- 90 days before expiry — list contracts ending, with each unit's service history.
- 60 days — call or visit; share what was done in the year (visits, repairs, uptime).
- 30 days — send the renewal with any price change explained.
- At expiry — follow up the ones not renewed; record why.
A customer who received every preventive visit, on time, with records to show for it, is easy to renew. One who had to chase you is not.
A weekly AMC review
- Overdue preventive visits — schedule them this week.
- Cases near their SLA — escalate before they breach.
- Contracts expiring in the next 60 days — call before the customer starts shopping.
- Repeat breakdowns on the same unit — a candidate for replacement, or a product problem to report.
Use the calculator below to estimate what missed visits and lapsed contracts cost you.