Understanding notice periods
OEM maintenance contracts usually run 12 or 36 months with automatic renewal. The notice period is often 30–90 days before contract end. The first step is always: look up the contract end and notice period in your current contract and mark it in the calendar.
Missing the deadline often means an unintended renewal for another period — the most common avoidable mistake.
Inventory before the switch
For a solid alternative quote the new partner needs an install-base list: model, serial/service tag, location and desired SLA per system. The format is secondary — service tags, an Excel export from the OEM portal, or model plus serial will do.
A clean install-base list is half the battle: it produces the fixed-price quote, usually within 48 hours.
Choosing the right timing
Ideally the new contract starts seamlessly the day after the OEM contract ends. Kick off the switch 2–3 months earlier so quote, approval and onboarding run without time pressure.
For hardware reaching EOSL anyway the decision is easier — the OEM then often only offers expensive custom support.
Handover without an SLA gap
The critical point is the transition: on no day may the fleet be without maintenance coverage. A good TPM partner aligns the contract start exactly with the OEM end and handles onboarding (install-base review, spare-parts stocking, escalation paths) before the cut-over date.
That leaves no gap — ideally operations notice nothing about the switch except the lower invoice.
Common pitfalls
Teams often overlook three things: coupled software subscriptions (continue separately and must be considered apart), multi-vendor fleets (can be bundled into one TPM contract instead of cancelled individually) and the warranty question (factory warranty on new hardware is unaffected).
Clarify these three points in advance and the switch is smooth.