Texecom Cloud Remote Maintenace? Health Check

[secureiam]

So many of you have Premier Elite systems (installed or maintained by yourselves), Texecom have introduced a new system which cost the installer x per year + per panel per year, whilst not compulsory for installers some new features appear to be only available on this new platform.

Just wondered how much you guys with Premier Elite panels will be willing to pay annually for remote maintenance and regular health checks and remote panel upgrades, subject to having the right equipment?

I am yet to be convinced due to the expense involved and whilst it may have some benefits I am still waiting clarification before looking at a trial.

 

[sparkymarka]

Can only see it being beneficial on the monitored systems at the moment if it cuts down the two visits a year ....

 

[secureiam]

That can be done in theory with maintenance and generate a report.

You had a trial yet?

I ain’t convinced there is value unless I can pass on cost, looking at the reports it generates need silver level so it’s not cheap.

In the monitored arena it will add a cost as previous solution was free and is currently still available.

If I can flash a panel from the system, I can see some advantages but even then if it’s not broke it doesn’t need flashing unless to add new features?

It’s a dangerous road to tread, I don’t see the so called health check being an advantage except, that it’s permanently/ regularly monitored rather than logging in to winter to have a look.

Not convinced that it will highlight an issue developing, but it would show a fault possibly before the customer was aware, you then maybe able to temporary fix remotely and advise the customer an engineer is required to fix fault x that appeared on date x and what action has been taken so far.

I can see that being of value but how much would an end user be willing to pay, given that you need to recoup as it stands the annual fee, plus the additional panel costs every year.

Pyronix for example charge x per year for app access £36 if end user goes direct after first year.

Maybe Texecom may change and start charging for app access.

 

[sparkymarka]

Been told that when the smart hub comes out there may be a charge for certain things , e.g. Video storage as it is data heavy!

 

[secureiam]

Not sure what the others charge for that id anything, to be fair you aint going to upload vast amounts of data due to upload speeds being relatively low.

 

[sparkymarka]

Well she's been in pushing the free trial, but busy at moment and as you know you need time to play around with these things !

 

[Nintendofan]

So many of you have Premier Elite systems (installed or maintained by yourselves), Texecom have introduced a new system which cost the installer x per year + per panel per year, whilst not compulsory for installers some new features appear to be only available on this new platform.

Just wondered how much you guys with Premier Elite panels will be willing to pay annually for remote maintenance and regular health checks and remote panel upgrades, subject to having the right equipment?

I am yet to be convinced due to the expense involved and whilst it may have some benefits I am still waiting clarification before looking at a trial.

I'm not sure any self installed systems would benefit at all from this. I though the system could be programmed/checked etc. remotely now anyway using the Smartcom and a copy of Wintex, the only change to this I can see is access through a web browser rather than Wintex.

As an end user I'm not sure what they would benefit from this?

 

[secureiam]

Hi Paul, well I suspect there wont be an end user option.

Based on the pricing it wouldn't be viable for most end users to have there own account, and whilst there currently isn't any plans to charge for the cloud directly to end users, I am expecting this may come in due course but can't be certain.

Wintex for now is going to be continued (Texecom are saying that Wintex is to continue, but they could change their mind) and to be fair if the panel isn't upgraded then the version of Wintex you have will always be adequate something to keep an eye on possibly.

Trying to find out more about this remote upgrade of the panel as that could be useful but not sure on what the limitations are as yet.

For example it be cheaper to do a remote upgrade than a local one by an installer, but if the process is isn't robust then a site visit maybe needed anyway, I have asked for training prior to considering a trial as I want to get the best benefit of the trial and see how much is sales talk and how much is actually working without extra equipment.

 

[Nintendofan]

I sort of work in computer networks/systems and from experience remote updates of firmware is not a good idea!

I wouldn’t mind paying as a customer a small amount for the push messages as long as that money is invested in their servers and updating the app, and maybe the addiction of some sort of service guarantee. Although since having the Smartcom fitted it’s been 99.99% working anyway so I have been impressed so far.

 

[secureiam]

Have to admit I am doing the trial as of today and not sure of its full benefits as yet.

Now I have my head around some of its basic features and assigning engineers to panels, I can see some advantages to the cloud but for the annual cost, not so sure.

 

[secureiam]

Having looked at this again this last week.

I can see the following advantages:-
1. Reduced to one physical service a year
2. Flagging up a fault on commercial sites before they are aware.
3. Large customers being able to login and view all there sites
4. Remote upgrades to Elite panels version 5 and above, however I do some issues potentially with remote upgrades.
Mainly if anything goes wrong, although been assured that's unlikely, even been told major revision updates are possible going from 5 to 6, although I have my doubts on that one.

Even then based on the pricing not sure its viable, having tried the remote upgrade service once, it did mean I didn't have to go back out to site to update the firmware for a firmware issue, that gets close on the bottom tier to being worth it alone.

Would end users be interested in a service to have the panel remotely upgraded once or twice a year, but how much would that be worth???

 

[bernardgreen]

How secure is the cloud,

Can the cloud be used to obtain access with malicious intent to an end users system ?

Could the cloud turn to rain and no longer be there ?

 

[secureiam]

well its certified, and regularly renewed ssl

its password protected

upgrades can only be performed when master user excepts them at the panel

I suspect as its a 12 months at a time thing, if its cancelled at any point it by the manufacturer then it will be a partial 12 month thing lost.

I am guessing as its being funded regularly its unlikely to be cancelled, but you can never say never can you?

 

[DIWhat]

Would end users be interested in a service to have the panel remotely upgraded once or twice a year, but how much would that be worth???

I'm probably not your typical end user as I installed mine myself. If I had paid someone to install it then i'd only be interested in the remote upgrade if it added enhanced functionality that I might want to make use of. If the upgrade was to fix a defect then not sure i'd be happy to pay for it unless it was something I caused. If I were paying the installer an ongoing fee then I wouldn't expect to pay extra for an upgrade.

However as somewhat of an enthusiast and a smartcom owner, it would be great if I could update the panel without having to open it up and plug some leads into my laptop. I'd be prepared to pay a modest amount for it as I understand Texecom isn't a charity and has overheads etc, however I don't think i'd be willing to pay too much for it as well - whilst I like tinkering with it, a typical end user shouldn't need to keep updating the firmware.

Btw while i'm at it, I just want to thank you. You go out of your way to help people on here and on the Texecom forums. Considering it's your business you don't have to do that, it's a nice thing.

 

[GalaxyGuy]

As a company, it doesn't make sense maintaining two platforms that bring no direct revenue. Expect Texecom and others to disinvest in the stand alone programs, forcing the use of the cloud based programming, where they can collect recurring revenue for their focused development efforts.