The Right Spend

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Technology & the Community College

The Right Spend

2/1/2008

By Matt Villano

The Right Spend Trying to get the biggest bang for your IT bucks? Check with your peers: Herein, community college technologists share their top 6 secrets for getting the most out of what they buy.

When it comes to getting the most out IT, the majority of two-year schools face very real challenges. For starters, community college budgets are generally smaller than those of most four-year schools. Then, of course, there's the issue of refresh: Because students come and go every two years, there's the expectation that schools will continually invest in the latest and greatest technologies. This one-two punch creates a true conundrum for many of the nation's feeder schools. No wonder both community college tech administrators and their users feel frustrated at times.

But the challenge needn't be insurmountable. A number of community colleges, including Santa Rosa Junior College (CA) and Macomb Community College (MI), have managed solid, highly cost-effective technology deployments simply by putting an eye to getting the most out of every dollar they spend. We asked tech officials at these schools and IT leaders at other community colleges just how they get the biggest bang out of their IT bucks. Here are their six top tips.

At Santa Rosa Junior College, Media Services Manager Russ Bowden says vendor "shootouts" help the school compare and contrast tech offerings. An added benefit: "Even if vendors do poorly, they might sharpen their pencils nexttime and really blow us away."

1) Run a ‘Bake-Off'

"Shop Around" may be old advice, but it's sage. Administrators at community colleges and other two-year schools need to avoid the temptation to rush into "competitive edge" tech purchases. The savviest community college tech execs advise: Thoroughly evaluate a good number of technologies before you elect to spend precious cash. Many technologists call these trials "bake-offs," since they invite vendors to come in and present their wares for sampling.

At Santa Rosa Junior College, technologists are so focused on the opportunity to compare and contrast market offerings, they prefer to call their tech trials "shootouts," and they hold a few of them each year. Russ Bowden, manager of media services, says the specifics of each shootout are different, but the format is the same: After a formal request for proposals process and grilling a handful of vendors on certain aspects of functionality, an evaluation committee comprised of technologists and faculty members gives each product a formal grade.

Bowden says his department tabulates these grades and invites the three highest scorers to bid for 30 or 40 machines at a time. Invariably, the committee then selects the cheapest of the best, and sticks with that particular model until a manufacturer discontinues it. (If a model becomes outdated technologically, the committee decides whether to replace it on a case-by-case basis.) After each shootout, Bowden posts committee evaluations on the Santa Rosa website for other schools to use in their decision-making processes. Vendors also can assess this information to see where they went wrong.