Ten major design elements of UPS power supply in computer room

　　A technical manager at Eaton, a diversified industrial product manufacturer, will introduce you to the top ten UPS design factors. The following 10 factors summarize the key design factors to consider when analyzing customer needs and providing Eaton solutions. By evaluating the information provided by customers, you can help customers make important purchasing decisions during the purchase process.

　　1. Power supply environment: single phase and three phase

　　Understanding the customer's existing power infrastructure is critical during the evaluation and sales process. While most sales consultants typically focus on large three-phase power systems, most IT managers are often dealing with rack-level single-phase equipment. Many existing computer rooms and small to medium-sized data centers are equipped with rack-level single-phase loads. To improve efficiency, reduce costs, and create more sales opportunities for newly implemented three-phase solutions, new designs from the ground up shift the focus from three-phase power to utilization.

　　2. Installation Environment

　　Be sure to understand the USP's future deployment requirements. Because most environments can support multiple different solutions, you need to help the customer evaluate this. Be prepared to present value propositions, feature comparisons, and quotes for multiple solutions.

　　Research shows that customers generally choose solutions with higher value. If you cannot provide multiple solutions, you can provide another more cost-effective solution and introduce other products to compete fairly, thereby gaining the trust of customers. Never let customers find other solutions on their own.

　　3. Power load

　　The power rating of a customer's power load is the most important factor in determining the right UPS for their overall solution. Once you know the power environment (e.g., whether a single-phase or three-phase UPS is required), you can further narrow down the UPS selection range. Although many customers already have this information, you still need to assist customers in completing the power equipment selection for their equipment. Be sure to consider the potential growth needs of the customer's power load. Especially in single-phase equipment deployment scenarios, it is often necessary to select a UPS that exceeds the customer's current power requirements but can provide longer runtime to meet future growth needs.

　　4. Availability

　　Availability is about determining the true uptime requirements of your customers. While uptime may seem simple to quantify, understanding the true meaning behind these numbers can help you develop a comprehensive end-to-end solution. Often, the amount of uptime required directly impacts the cost of the solution. However, in reality, most Eaton solutions are more cost-effective in applications where uptime is extended. It is important to understand how much uptime your customers require and why. Thoroughly evaluate multiple solutions when providing professional advice to end users.

　　5. Scalability

　　When evaluating a solution, it is important to consider the customer's future expansion needs. Eaton's scalable UPS solutions are highly competitive and provide customers with a cost-effective capacity expansion solution. In fact, all Eaton UPS with a power rating of 6 kVA or higher can be expanded and upgraded through simple firmware upgrades, adding modular hardware components, or connecting multiple UPS in parallel.

　　For cost-conscious or budget-conscious customers, time often proves the best value for a UPS with built-in scalability, which allows customers to increase capacity without purchasing additional hardware. A simple power upgrade can maximize the capacity of a UPS with built-in scalability.

　　For customers who have IT or facility management staff and maintain the equipment themselves, as the power load increases, they prefer to increase capacity by purchasing additional modules that can be added in expandable cabinets or racks.

　　While it is often more economical to purchase modular solutions with multiple parallel systems initially, these solutions may actually be more expensive in the long run due to increased hardware and installation costs. Depending on the specific needs of the customer, a large centralized non-modular system with built-in scalability may ultimately be the most cost-effective solution.

　　6. Power distribution

　　Be sure to understand your customer's power distribution plan. Remember that Eaton has larger three-phase PDU and single-phase PDU products (including ePDUs and rack power modules) that can be used with any UPS product. Just as software, communications and instrumentation often sell hardware, a complete power distribution and instrumentation solution can directly meet customer needs and then ultimately sell the solution. In some instances, data center managers want to more effectively monitor how departmental resources are performing to help the company better allocate human resources. When deploying instrumentation at the rack level, Eaton product users can track the needs of each department and allocate various expenses based on meter readings. In addition, analyzing the peak hours used by computing processes and the most efficient available servers can help IT managers further improve overall efficiency.

　　7. Manageability

　　Eaton’s highly manageable software and accessories often help sell our hardware and can be the key to closing a sale. Eaton’s management software tools should be introduced as much as possible in every sales opportunity to help customers develop solutions and reduce total cost of ownership. If the customer claims that the device they remotely manage is about 10 minutes away, it needs 15 minutes of run time. Given the difference in the salesperson’s ability to identify the customer’s true needs, it is recommended to use a network interface card for the rack UPS and remote management software to ensure that the UPS can properly shut down these applications in the event of an extended outage. In addition, ePDUs can be used to achieve multi-level monitoring. In the event of a power outage, the customer can remotely monitor the UPS and restart the server without rushing to the site - the customer therefore purchases all the hardware equipment to achieve the above functions. After understanding the customer’s communication and control needs, Eaton is able to provide customers with a comprehensive solution.

　　8. Operation and Maintenance

　　Many customers place great value on the ability to maintain their equipment, and most IT staff and equipment management experts prefer on-site factory support services.

　　Understanding the customer's availability requirements, technical capabilities, and risk tolerance is an important part of the consultative sales process, which can further reduce the scope and number of product choices. In addition, it is also important to consider the upfront cost of the product and Eaton's service level agreement. Some IT experts are concerned about the ability to independently switch modules or replace the batteries used in their products, while others prefer a pass-through solution to power their data centers. In addition, the installation method (distributed or centralized large UPS) may also affect the customer's preference for service selection.

　　For some customers who want a high degree of service autonomy, a small single-phase or rack-mounted device with user-replaceable batteries and modules may be the ideal solution. Customers who prefer economy and higher power ratings may prefer a low-cost centralized EOR solution with factory-provided on-site support. In the process of implementing consultative sales, accurately predicting the customer's budget and technical support needs can help you achieve more with less effort.

　　9. Budget

　　Most customers say that redundancy, scalability, modularity, and maintainability are key decision factors in their UPS purchases. Therefore, most salespeople consider these factors as key elements of their sales proposals. However, if the customer's budget and important factors in the purchase decision are not fully considered in advance, the sales proposal may be at a competitive disadvantage.

　　Since customers focus on the richness of functions, sales personnel should use probing questions to comprehensively evaluate each factor and consider the relative impact of its importance on the budget. Using a consultative sales approach, you can propose multiple options, list the importance of each function, and help customers determine the best solution from a value perspective, thereby winning the trust of customers.

　　Another important factor about budget that is often overlooked is the need to identify the key decision makers at the client company. Although the facility expert or data center manager has great influence, the key decision maker can often make or break a sale in an instant. By identifying the person in the client who has the final approval or funding for the project, the salesperson has the opportunity to ask more questions. Once the salesperson has the ability to negotiate directly with the decision maker, they have the opportunity to identify their true needs and understand the customer's main concerns and customize a comprehensive proposal to address them one by one. Often, if this is not done, the sale will not be made. It is important to consider the customer's budget as an important factor to consider and avoid competitors' alternatives with more cost advantages.

　　10. Expand sales opportunities

　　Eaton's product and capability portfolio is extensive, covering single-phase and three-phase UPS, power distribution products, connectivity and management tools, and world-class technical support services to meet all customers' power quality needs. When seizing sales opportunities, it is important to communicate with all decision makers, including equipment purchasing managers and IT purchasing managers. Maintaining close contact with these two people can help you discover potential sales opportunities for Eaton solutions.

　　As a world-renowned provider of power quality infrastructure products and services, Eaton combines industry-leading advantages such as reliability, energy efficiency and value, and is the only first-class brand in the world dedicated to helping customers efficiently manage power system equipment. Focusing only on a single product or business area will miss a great opportunity to help customers improve solutions and increase Eaton's market share.