EVERYTHING you should know about “TMA”

Any organization that is undertaking the leap of digitalization, as it is the right time for such projects, or that has already kicked-off a digital transformation initiative, will face several challenges and turbulence. Indeed, its digital ecosystem will become more and more complex since it brings together several software packages from multiple editors that are constantly evolving. 

Maintaining a certain harmony and complementarity is therefore a matter that is not the least and requires the assistance and support of a service provider who masters this aspect.  

This technical partner will help you develop by freeing up time, simplifying your processes and allowing you to focus on your management professions. 

Let’s discover together the specificities of a personalized support contract.  

The TMA, pillar of any digital transformation project

Third-party Application Maintenance or TAM/TPM/TPAM for the most experienced experts, is a contract that offers additional extended services that are not limited to traditional support. 

It is an intervention carried out remotely or on-site by a team of consultants aimed at solving problems or anomalies that have occurred suddenly.  Without having a specialized team that masters the application and business processes, your digital projects may be interrupted and thus impact the course of the activity. 

Should your technical partner be able to plan everything in order to succeed in your projects? Absolute yes, and this is of crucial importance and obviously determines the choice of your provider. 

Why is it important to grant a TMA service? 

Availability and responsiveness remain among the most crucial benefits that CIOs seek when it comes to contracting with a third party – technical partner. 

Being available and covering different time zones, the teams of the TMA provider guarantee the continuity of your activity. Any interruption whether it is sudden or even anticipated (Because unforeseen events still occur😊) makes you waste a lot of time and naturally reduce your profitability. 

Among the benefits offered by TMA we list : 

• The constant improvement of the system / IT environment acquired by the client  
• Personalized support for your teams to solve their specific problems and help them focus on their core business  
• Be on the lookout for unforeseen events and thus be able to react in an early manner and make decisions at the right time. 

Therefore, the client benefits from complete solutions, integrating all the stages of the lifecycle of the digital transformation project  : a  digital one-stop Shop, an increasingly prominent concept. 

Check out  our blog post on the importance of the one-stop shop for digital transformation  

Timsoft Group provides its clients and partners with +60 consultants with a great mastership of application and business processes. Experts with both a powerful technicality and an ease of understanding of your business (In different sectors including retail, fashion or industry allowing them to quickly detect and resolve anomalies. 

Get in touch with one of our expert consultants 

Let’s define what is the exact intervention of the TMA. Are we talking about limited assistance or on the contrary, an extended one? 

TMA scope

By entrusting your assistance to a specialized service provider such as Timsoft Group, you will have access to the following privileges: 

1. Intervention on the back or front office of your applications without having to endure additional costs or additional quotes to the contracts concluded before. In addition, the treatment will be immediate, no delayed planning to be expected according to the availability of experts. As mentioned above, these interventions cover a wide time slot. 
2. Strategic business support and consulting  
3. Development: addition of new features, modifications, changes of APIs, development of new requirements. These requirements maybe be an answer to competition, regulatory or internal depending on the activity and its environment which is in a perpetual change (technological, legal, etc. … ). 

The TMA occasionally covers certain missions of “unavailable” employees (absence, “temporarily” filling a vacant position, training a new replacement hire etc.) and this generally during a period of major transition in the company. In addition, the TMA contract provides you with an “Account Manager” who is a dedicated resource supported by level 1 & level 2 support managers and consultants. An “integrated” and multidisciplinary team that is flexible and “adaptive”. 

However, the TMA contract does not cover Services on new projects or actions outside the scope stipulated in the contract, such as the opening of a new point of sale for a retailer. This new project requires the purchase and deployment of new licenses of the ERP in question. The integration and implementation services of the new licenses are considered as a new project and will therefore be the subject of a classic purchasing procedure (costing, quotes, purchase orders, etc.).

Get in touch with one of our expert consultants 

We help you make your choice according to your needs and requirements, so let’s try to point out the differences between the classic and the TMA.  

TMA VS Classic support

The classic support or maintenance contract differs from the TMA contract since the latter offers more privileges and flexibility especially during the pics periods of the activity: 

TMA Contract:

1. Version upgrades  
2. Engineering services  
3. Functional services 
4. SaaS migrations 
5. Personalized follow-up 
6. Treatment of interface topics (API, Web Services, Flat Files…etc.) 

The main advantage of a TMA offer ? It is a more comprehensive and personalized support. End-to-end support for the project, thus ensuring its smooth implementation. 

1. Interventions are possible outside working hours (evenings & weekends) 
2. Access to experts who master in-production solutions  
3. Account manager supervising all services 
4. Development of an operating file for a better follow-up of your project 
5. Calculation baseline: number of annual hours  

Classic maintenance contract: 

1. Support on the software package 
2. Support for specific services  
3. Follow-up on requests and anomalies  
4. Improvement with the editor  
5. Calculation baseline: number of users or entities   

You have certainly understood that the answer is obvious, the support is like the backbone of the digital project, it maintains its progress , and anticipates its eventual alterations. 

Maintenance & continuity of the activity, two pillars that go hand in hand

Successful digital transformation or any other project of any size depends on the involvement of all stakeholders. Indeed, deploying a digital strategy must imperatively be enhanced by a support process as sharp as the digital project itself. This will ensure operational efficiency, the sustainability of the activity and above all be able to act in time and in a proactive way. 

Our business experts are here to support you