Technology & Learning - September 2007 - (Page 32)

School CIO Consider being part of a larger group of buyers by joining a Elk Grove originally purchased invendistrict consortium. This increases the tory control software on a per-comvendor’s potential customers puter basis. and can result in lower prices. Although it took Elk Grove is a member of the a few years, the Sacramento Educational district persuad“Consider Cable Consortium, a group of ed their vendor being part of K–20 educational institutions. to change to The district parlayed its memADA-based a larger group bership in the group into subpricing, stantial price reductions for enabling it to of buyers by video streaming software. save money and plan more effijoining a district ciently. The cost GET INFORMATION dropped from consortium.” FROM PEERS. $10 per-computTalk to other er a year to 30 districts. Lindner turns to the cents-per-ADA. California Educational Technology Professionals Association e-mail list to compare SIGN A MULTI-YEAR CONnotes on products and vendors. www.schoolcio.com 7 GET VENDORS TO BASE PRICING ON AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE (ADA). 9 REMEMBER THERE’S STRENGTH IN NUMBERS. adopts a new technology, other districts will follow. “We’re seen as a tech leader in our area and statewide, so we play that up,” he says. When districts do this, they get leverage and can suggest the vendor offer a better price in order to expand the product to all district schools. That can backfire, though, if a particular school doesn’t like the product and lets the vendor know, Lindner cautions. 12 PILOT A COUPLE OF SCHOOLS. 10 8 Vendors should be bound by a confidentiality agreement. At contract termination, a vendor is required to give all district data back in a usable format. 13 14 BE CLEAR ABOUT THE RIGHTS TO YOUR DATA. TRACT IN CERTAIN CASES. FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM. For emerging technologies, it may be better to go year-by-year, but for some software, a multi-year contract makes sense. The Elk Grove district did just that to get a better price for its anti-virus and video streaming software. 11 BE CREATIVE AND PERSISTENT IN EFFORTS TO LOWER PRICES. “Keep hammering away,” Lindner advises. “We say, ‘This is education, you’ve got to do better’.” If the account executive can’t or won’t lower prices, ask who has the authority to do it and go to him or her. Also, use the influence factor. Lindner reminds vendors that if Elk Grove “Keep in mind it’s not always the vendor’s fault,” Midgley says. “The vendor can’t be responsible for everything.” Sheila Riley is a San Francisco–based freelancer who also writes for EE Times and Investor’s Business Daily. 32 | A Technology & Learning Publication School CIO September 2007 http://www.schoolcio.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - September 2007

Technology & Learning - September 2007 Contents Editor’s Desk News & Trends Product Guide Reviews Getting It Wrong Cover Story: SchoolBiz School CIO Higher Ed Integration How To What’s New Bottom Line

Technology & Learning - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.