In IT, we strive to deliver the technical solutions you need to study and work. Most of the time, this means looking at what technology and services are out there, and how they can work for us. So, can we continue to do this whilst saving a bit of cash?
Learning Space Technology
If you’ve booked a room recently or had a wander through the Main Library, you’ll notice the new control panels and screens that have been installed. We shared these upgrades with you initially last year through our ‘Freshening up the facilities’ blog post. There’s been great feedback about this new tech – but in IT, there are more benefits behind the scenes that we want to share with you.
We’ve just reached our one-year anniversary of appointing Streamtec Ltd as our AV supplier and partner. This involved a time-intensive process of preparing documentation, going out to tender, reviewing submissions, and awarding the contract. This was a collaborative effort between Douglas McLeod, Mark Dunlop, and Charles Pearson from IT, and Stewart Kerr from the procurement office.
“We are pleased with the benefits that this has produced. These include being able to have more assistance with early planning of projects and securing excellent pricing, better service, design input and extended warranties with a number of manufacturers.”
Douglas McLeod, Learning and Spaces Product Engineer
Our mobile phone contracts
Over the last few months, we’ve been trying to improve the experience of staff members that use a University mobile phone, and save a bit of money while we’re at it.
We went through the current contracts and quickly identified some that haven’t been used in months, sometimes years! This list of contracts along with the usages were sent to each School and Professional Service for a final verdict.
Within the whole University, around 100 phone numbers were identified as low-usage and could be cancelled. This resulted in a huge saving straightaway, but then we looked at different mobile phone service providers. We found an O2 contract that offered the same usages at half price! Both actions together saved the University around £15,000.
Working in a customer service environment – we like to recognise good customer service when we see it. This is the other reason we decided to move to O2. Every dealing we’ve had with them has been easy and the standard of service has been great so far. If anyone is familiar with O2 Priority, this is an additional perk that we’ll benefit from with the new contract.
We’re currently engaging with the 88 staff members that use University phones to arrange a new SIM card to be sent to them on Tuesday 26 June. Whether this be through special delivery, liaising with School Managers, or collection from IT, we’ll confirm a method with each staff member depending on their needs. Sounds easy, right?
Last words
To answer the question: can IT provide tech whilst saving money? It’s a yes IF we can continue to put in this type of effort – coordinating actions like these can be tough. We want to thank everyone that’s supported both activities and helped the University to realise these massive savings.