We recently discussed the HP for Education programme with Alex Ley, Senior Procurement Officer at Cardiff and Vale College – an institution that’s seen some huge benefits from HPfE’s features, including trade-in.
What initially drew your attention to HP for Education?
Our account manager raised it as a discussion point on a catch-up call as a potential option for us if we had any upcoming requirements. At that point, the programme wasn’t something we were familiar with and we had always previously treated disposal and purchase as separate pieces of work.
How did Academia (your account manager) assist you in terms of understanding the process?
Academia did a very good job at holding our hand through the whole process from the initial discussion on scope, parameters and benefits, all the way through to entering claims, arranging collection and following payment. The support removed what had the potential to be a time-consuming process, researching what was involved at an extremely busy time of the year into a quick pain free process.
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Regarding HP Trade-In, what value has HPfE helped Cardiff and Vale College realise for old kit?
The scheme really has been a game changer. We have previously had fair to good quotes from suppliers, but this really is market leading. Due to the age of some devices we’ve had in the past, our only option was to pay for them to be taken away, so HP’s trade-in really is at the other end of the spectrum, returning great value.
How have you used the trade-in value, i.e. what services, hardware, etc has it helped you to access (or will it help you access)?
The trade in value has helped us offset the cost of our upgrade programme, enabling us to increase the number of devices purchased.
Following Cardiff and Vale’s HPfE journey, they put their trade-in value towards a fleet of HP ProDesk 400 desktop devices. As these are powered by Intel® Core™ Processors, the students at C & V were allocated education standard devices at an affordable price.
What has the impact been and what does it mean for your IT and teaching staff?
It means better resources for teaching delivery and a better morale for staff knowing they are using capable resources.
The Intel® i5 Core™ Processor chip is widely desired across education. HP for Education allows for this desirable component to be readily available in a tier one device, at a price that is achievable for education customers.
What has the impact been and what does it mean for your students?
The impact has been very positive as we’ve been able to refresh an additional two classrooms as a result of the increase in device affordability. More students have been able to benefit from better resources.
With HPfE trade-in, the ability to make your budget go further means that you don’t have to compromise on specification, quality or quantity.
In your opinion, what are the three key points an institution should consider when weighing up the benefits of the HPfE programme?
From a procurement perspective, it’s crucial to include trade in returns (if applicable) in tender documentation so that you can work the value into your evaluation piece. By including this as part of the evaluation you are making sure that you know at the earliest point value of money is being achieved and that you’re getting the best outcome.
No device is too old, and as long as it works, however slow it may be, it still has value. Don’t bin anything, just keep it aside for the next time you have a chance to trade it in.
Due to the success Cardiff and Vale have had with HPfE, and the value provided back to the college by HP and Intel®, the college are currently embarking on a second project to refresh a large number of their mobile devices with the Intel® Celeron™ Processors – HP ProBook 11 through the HP for Education Programme.
Find out more about HP for Education:
email: [email protected]
PH: 01992 703 900
