End User Services recently teamed up with colleagues in Procurement to find a new desktop PC supplier, in an effort to save the University time and money. After a rigorous selection process – which involved a tender, equipment testing and a highly competitive reverse auction – the team awarded the contract to Stone Group – a company with over 25 years of experience supporting IT requirements within the UK education and public sectors.
What benefits will the contract with Stone provide?
The new contract with Stone will save the University close to £1 million over the next 3-5 years! There will also be additional services included, such as Stone completing imaging from the factory, via System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM). SCCM is a Windows product that enables administrators to manage the deployment and security of devices and applications across an organisation.
Currently, the PCs are shipped to us blank, with our technicians installing an image on arrival; with SCCM, an image can be built that is specific to each machine. Stone will have one of our servers in their factory, enabling them to take responsibility for this process going forward – saving our technicians’ valuable time.
Not only that, we will also have access to a new online portal for custom quotes, optional upgrades and specialist training.
Thanks to all those involved
Over thirty staff members from across ITS helped with the equipment testing. By participating they played a major role in ensuring the right desktop PC supplier was chosen.
The new contract with Stone will not only benefit everyone within IT Services, it will ensure we continue to deliver an excellent desktop PC service to our customers across the University – so thanks to all those involved!
More to come
The finer points of the contract are still being finalised; we will provide an update to all those on the Unified Desktop Hardware mailing list.
Questions?
To find out more, or join the mailing list, please contact Mark Connop, College IT Manager for Medical and Dental Sciences.