Manufacturer warranties are essential across all product-driven industries, especially those relying heavily on technology. For edtech, however — no matter how robust the school IT strategy — the warranty on products can often get forgotten; that’s a huge number of edtech investments that are sitting unprotected for no reason whatsoever.

Unfortunately, the only time you’ll need your warranty in place is when something goes wrong. This, however, could be the critical point at which you find out that you failed to register your manufacturer warranty in the first place.

How many of your edtech investments are sitting unprotected?

With the summer holidays now upon us, many schools will take the opportunity to upgrade or replace their edtech. So, now is the best time to check if any of your IT hardware warranties still need to be registered.

What is your edtech hardware warranty?

A warranty is your written guarantee from your technology seller or manufacturer that promises to repair or replace the product if necessary, within a specified time frame.

Often, your product warranty will only apply once your product is registered; it is not applied automatically. Sometimes, product warranties are subject to certain conditions being fulfilled by the user, such as only using the product in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. It’s important to bear these conditions in mind, if they are applicable to your IT purchases. Your product warranty may only apply once your product is registered, so make sure this is done to avoid problems in the future.

Most high-value tech hardware will come with an automatic, free-of-charge warranty when you register your product, with an option to extend or upgrade your warranty to a longer term or more extensive support or cover. The Promethean ActivPanel comes with a 5 year warranty as standard, but it only qualifies upon registration of your product.

Be aware that often edtech product registrations should take place within 90 days of the date of installation to be valid.

Are you unsure if your warranties are up-to-date?

The best way to determine where you stand with your edtech warranties is to first map out your high-value or mission critical edtech hardware and software.

Once you have a complete list, speak to your various vendors. Most will provide tools that allow you to check your warranty and maintenance status. Next, quantify how much it would cost your school to lose access to these services or devices for any period of time.

What happens if you’re not registered?

A product warranty will not only ensure you receive product replacements for little to no cost, it also gets you the parts much quicker.

Often, a huge amount of time and cost is wasted when you need an unregistered device (or part) replaced. Your vendor may even require you to purchase an extension before even ordering the part.

Teachers often work outside of standard business hours. If your unprotected tech fails out of normal support hours, like before or after school, it may not get processed immediately.

Most edtech providers, like Promethean, provide different types of warranty services; a popular feature at the point of purchase. These include: return for repair, advanced replacement, and onsite support. These services may depend on which warranty you have active, and that you registered your product in the first place.

With such controversy today around school budget allocation, it’s important to make sure any valuable edtech investments aren’t at risk. If you have any outstanding Promethean devices to register, log in to Promethean’s Registration Portal. The product warranty costs you nothing, but if anything unforeseen goes wrong with your tech, it will save you valuable time and money. All you need to do it enter your product serial number, installation date and activation code. It is definitely worth the short time investment to ensure your tech, and your reputation as IT expert in the school, is protected.