RM offloads support to Kelway after PC exit

Kelway to take control of service desk and warranty operations for RM Education-branded hardware in seven-year deal

RM Education has washed its hands of its hardware services and warranty duties after signing up Kelway to take over the reins.

Last year RM announced plans to cut 300 staff and stop making PCs as it looked to boost profits in its Education arm, and has now handed the job of maintaining the remaining RM-branded systems already in the field to Kelway.

Kelway has worked with RM for the past two years providing field engineering support on its behalf to schools and organisations across the country. The new seven-year agreement will see Kelway take full responsibility for RM service desk and warranty operations on top of its existing duties.

Under the deal, Kelway will run the RM Education hardware-management service desk - taking customer calls, managing cases and allocating field resources - but RM will continue to hold full responsibility over the customers.

RM's director of classroom technologies Paul Lucas said although the firm is focusing on software, it is still committed to its existing hardware customers.

"Our business model is changing to focus on the provision of software... and the provision of services to educational institutions across the UK," he said. "This means we will stop producing new RM PCs, notebooks and servers but with many such devices already deployed, we are committed to continuing our excellent after-sales service.

"We already rely on Kelway to deliver the majority of our field engineering support for hardware customers, and now we are entrusting them with our frontline hardware warranty support. This allows us to concentrate on delivering software and services, while knowing our customers will be properly supported at all times."