In this paper, we first discuss the qualitative tradeoffs between the two monitoring approaches (self vs. 3rd party) as well as the qualitative tradeoffs between the two servicing approaches (self vs. 3rd party). Then we present a tool that helps quantify the annual operational expense (opex) of managing the fleet entirely yourself (blue quadrant) vs. outsourcing both the monitoring and servicing functions (green quadrant). Through scenarios, we demonstrate the key drivers impacting which approach is financially favorable for a particular UPS fleet. Note, the tool focuses on scenarios where the fleet is either entirely managed internally, or entirely managed with 3rd party resources. The tool does not consider the hybrid scenarios where one function is fulfilled in-house while the other is outsourced, although the framework for analyzing them would be similar.
Proactive monitoring of UPSs can reduce downtime, decrease the mean time to recover (MTTR) from failure events, and lower the cost of maintenance tasks. But not all monitoring is the same.