When Pigs Fly!

Contrary to everything you've ever been taught, the central computing organization and the campus bookstore can indeed be partners. Not only that, the partnership can include a third-party service vendor, the purchasing department, the office of residence life, deans of the various schools and colleges, and students. We know, because we've done it at Syracuse University!

What prompted us to get together
Until the early '90s Syracuse University did not sell computers directly to students. We went through several variations of outsourcing computer sales to third-party vendors. In 1993, it came time (past time, really) for us to do it ourselves. Remember that this was before computers were generally, readily available to everyone. It was when you had to talk to a "tekkie" or know the computer jargon before you could even order one. So, it was a hassle for our students to buy computers. We were getting more and more calls from students and their parents asking us for our recommendations. The next question they would ask was "how do we buy it from you?" Note that the question was "how?," not "can we?" The assumption was that Syracuse University sold computers just like many other colleges and universities.

We had to do this-but who is "we?"
For three years, we (in this case, "we" was Computing Services) tried outsourcing this program to local retailers, giving them a presence on campus (that presence being a desk in our computing Help Center). That strategy was a dismal failure. They were not as committed to supporting the students as we were. They were committed to supporting their company's bottom line. For example, we had two vendors, one who sold Macintoshes and one who sold IBM's. If a student wandered in looking for some help buying a computer, the vendors paid no attention to what the student's course of study was; they would compete with each other for the order based on nothing other than getting the sale for their company. Neither cared what platform the student's school or college recommended. Another handicap was that student orders took 6-8 weeks to be delivered because the local retailers didn't carry inventory and had to special order each purchase. By the time the student received the computer, it was past mid-terms. Clearly, because of our academic mission, we had to do something to provide a better service to the students.

It seemed crazy (at least to us) to expect the central computing organization to open a store. No one on our staff had retail experience. Add to this the fact that Syracuse University had begun a restructuring process and was downsizing staff. We weren't about to go out and hire someone to run a store. And, why should we? We had people right on campus who knew all about retail! Computing Services approached the Bookstore and "suggested" they might want to get into the computer business. At the time, the Bookstore's computing presence consisted of some word processors and one 6' display case of software in the basement of a multi-million dollar, three-story operation.

The Bookstore was intrigued by the idea because it would address two issues: improving student support and generating additional revenue.

Like us, Bookstore staff had also seen the poor service to students and had heard complaints from parents (many directed at the Bookstore because people assumed the computer vendors were part of the Bookstore). The only obvious way to fix this problem was to take on the responsibility for the sales.

Recognizing that computer profit was negligible (this was after the days of 40% discounts), there was the expectation that the computer presence would increase traffic into the store, thereby generating more sales in areas with larger margins (collegiate clothing, for example). The Bookstore staff knew they had the retail knowledge but didn't have the technical expertise. Computing Services had the technical expertise but knew nothing about retail. It seemed sensible (to all of us) to form a partnership.

You should note here that the Manager of Student Computing was new in her job, as was the Director of the Bookstore. We didn't know about all those rules about academic units and auxiliary services not working together.

What research did we do?
Naively, we thought we would start by talking with our colleagues at other schools. We (June Quackenbush from Computing Services and Betsy English from the Bookstore) visited with colleagues at three comparable universities in New York State. Our first problem was that we expected to talk with our colleagues as a team. Well, that came as a surprise to them. At the schools we visited, their bookstore staff didn't feel comfortable talking freely in front of June, nor did their computing staff want to talk freely in front of Betsy. When we finally did get them to talk to us as a unit, they all said we were crazy. The central computing organization and the Bookstore work together? When pigs fly!

• The computing staff said:
  • "The bookstore is only out for money and will sell unsupportable products because they will sell what makes them the most money."
  • "The bookstore staff isn't technical. They can't talk intelligently to the customers about what they really need."

• The bookstore staff said:
  • "Those computing people are all nerds and will only recommend expensive stuff we can't sell."
  • "Those computing people don't understand our customers, they only talk in jargon."
  • "Those people just don't understand! We have to have products we make money on because we have to pay the University a huge amount of money which goes to support their operating budgets."

Why did we do it anyway, in light of what we learned from others
Motivation was compelling. We agreed that the single most important thing was to meet the needs of our students. So we turned the negative results of our research into issues we would be aware of as we went forward. We thought pigs could fly.

Things that work
We came up with some basic caveats:

We agreed that the Bookstore would only sell hardware that Computing Services had evaluated and approved. The Bookstore agreed to that because it made their life easier. If they had problems, they could turn to Computing Services for help.

We agreed, in turn, that Computing Services would support the hardware the Bookstore sold. Computing Services agreed to that because we felt it was our responsibility to support what we recommended. That support was (and continues to be) an important factor in the decision-making process of new students and their parents.

We agreed that the Bookstore would feature "standard" software, but would also sell other software for which there was a demonstrated market. Because of the diverse nature of Syracuse University, many of the schools and colleges have specific software needs beyond the "general" packages. The Bookstore, therefore, could not limit themselves to only the software Computing Services was comfortable supporting. To help Computing Services and the individual students, the Bookstore posted signs in their software area noting what software was supported centrally by Computing Services. The Bookstore additionally agreed that non-supported software would not be located in a prominent spot. This meant that the day an enterprising Bookstore staff member created a lovely , large display for WordPerfect (Computing Services recommends and supports Microsoft Office), the staff member from Computing Services who saw it felt comfortable going to the Director of the Bookstore and asking to have it dismantled. (It was, within the hour.)

We agreed there would be no secrets. For example, Computing Services staff who are directly involved in the student computer sales know what the "cost" vs "retail" numbers are. (Note that this was very difficult for many of the Bookstore staff. Those numbers are typically confidential.)

We agreed that key meetings with vendors are joint affairs. This is often a difficult venture for the vendors! They have some difficulty with sharing cost information with the computing organization and revealing technical non-disclosures to the Bookstore staff.

We agreed to share the bad news along with the good- we would practice "unafraid, plain talk." This means that when parents call about a problem, we work on solving it together. Even when we know that one or the other of our organizations drops the ball, we can fix things without wasting time pointing fingers. On more than one occasion, the Director of the Bookstore has called the Manager of Student Computing Services (or vice-versa) to relay a story that a student told her about a problem they had with the "other" organization. Whether it be the time a computer consultant told a student the computer they bought was "trash" and the "Bookstore had no clue" as to what they had sold him, or the time the Bookstore salesperson told a student that someone from Computing Services would come to their room that same evening to set up the computer for him (without ever arranging it with anyone from Computing Services), we worked it out. Mutual whining is allowed because the problem gets solved (and it makes us feel better).

We agreed to collaborate on a mailing to incoming students. We do a mailing to incoming students every summer that is very focused on computing at Syracuse University. That mailer contains a letter from the Vice President of Computing & Research and the Vice President of Undergraduate Studies. It has information on the student's computer account and how to use it, the computing resources available on campus, and it encourages students to purchase a computer. Purchase information includes recommendations on what computer is appropriate for each student's course of study. We develop these recommendations in consultation with computing support staff and the deans of each of the 12 schools and colleges within Syracuse University. Also included is a list of specific computer configurations (including printers and software) available for purchase from the Bookstore, and an order form. Staff from both Computing Services and the Bookstore are then available to consult with students and parents on the recommendations and the purchases.

We agreed to communicate. While on the surface this might seem trivial, it turned out to be a major challenge. We met that challenge, and the communication that was real work at the beginning has become second nature. But we don't want to underemphasize the importance of the communication aspect of our partnership. Being from different organizations in a large university, we never even appear on the same organization chart. There are never any "natural" occasions that bring us together. We have no regular meetings for any other purpose that might bring us together anecdotally. We had to forge and maintain this new relationship ourselves and find reasons to talk with each other.

Evolution of the Partnership
When we started, the computer the student bought was, in most instances, the first computer for the family. This is no longer the case. It's gotten a lot easier for people to buy computers (over the web, mail order, etc). Because of that, we've had to figure out how to encourage students to buy the computers we recommend rather than that "Great Buy!" they see in the newspaper. Remember, we still have the support burden of helping students with whatever computer they own, so we would like them to own as few varieties as possible. Therefore, it still behooves Computing Services to encourage good sales in the Bookstore. The Bookstore wants to continue selling computers because it creates traffic in the store. Additionally, many parents would see the lack of a computing department as a serious shortcoming. One of our initiatives has centered around creating a purchase program that focuses on the "value-added" features as much as on the computer itself. We include items like "triage coupons" where student computer consultants make housecalls and provide computing assistance to students who buy their computer through the Bookstore. We continually enhance the summer mailing that goes home to incoming students and, more recently, have done targeted mailings to students in particular courses of study.

We started out sharing student staff but no longer routinely do so. The problem we wanted to solve was that Bookstore student staff would recommend their favorite software, not always the "supported" product. By also working in the computer clusters, they gained a better understanding of support issues and became less likely to resist the idea of "supported software." Cluster students working in the Bookstore gained insight into the general computing needs of students and frequently suggested software and peripherals the Bookstore should carry. As the program evolved, the culture of the students and staff in both organizations was such that we didn't need this extra reinforcement. While it still happens in crunch times, we no longer require student staff to work in both locations.

Initially, we developed a distribution model that had us delivering computers to the residential centers in the evenings the opening week of school. This was a terrific service to students as they had to go no further than the lobby of their residence hall to pick up their computers. Parents loved it because it was one less thing they had to do Opening Weekend. With the only reward being a free t-shirt, tired backs, warm soda, and cold pizza, volunteers staffed the distribution sites. Our volunteers came from Computing Services and the Bookstore, and ranged from student consultants to some of the directors (Director of Networks Systems, for example). It was a great experience-for about three years. Fortunately, about the time we decided we were just too tired to do anymore of these distributions, the vendors changed their tunes and enabled us to ship most computers home over the summer. This works for the students because they have some time to learn about their new computer before they hit campus. It works for us because other events have begun demanding our volunteers' time during the opening of the school.

New partnerships have formed. Along with increased computer ownership among students has come a growing number of calls for help with those computers (for non-warranty issues). Students, like all of us, delete files they shouldn't; install ink cartridges incorrectly; and have trouble cabling computers, printers, fax lines, and network connections all together. Computing Services felt they needed to create a new service to help these students but could not afford to do so without recovering the cost of providing the service. We put together a team consisting of representatives from the Office of Residential Life, the Bookstore, Computing Services, and the general student population to create a new service called "ResCOM." The goal of this team was to come up with a program that would provide a good service, yet was self-supporting. We developed a plan whereby students could purchase coupons at the Bookstore that could be redeemed for one helpful "housecall" from a student computer consultant. Residential Life provides space in the residence halls for "roaming help desks", the Bookstore sells the coupons and processes payment to Computing Services, and Computing Services trains and employs the student consultants. Interestingly enough, it was the students on the team who were the most vocal and who strongly lobbied for a higher priced coupon than anyone else on the team. They felt very strongly that we needed to provide the service and the students should pay for it.

It is work. We would be dishonest to say otherwise, but it is not unending and the results have always proven worth the effort. We've discovered along the way that, as long as the changes don't take place within all of the partner organizations at the same time, the "grounded" partners have been able to bring along the "new guys" with much less effort than we had to expend when we formed the original collaboration.

Unexpected challenges..OK, so they were problems
Again, being na�ve, we thought that we'd always have the same people in the same positions. Well, that doesn't happen.

1. Internal Staffing Changes
   The Bookstore has had three computer manager changes in five years. In Computing Services, there have been two significant changes. A new position, Coordinator for Residential Computing was created and, more recently, a new Manager of Student Computing Services was appointed.

   Interestingly, of the five changes, three of them involve movement between our two operations. The new Manager of Student Computing Services had been one of the Computing Support staff in the Bookstore. Two of the computer managers from the Bookstore assumed positions as computing support staff in academic departments. In their new roles, they take to their units an understanding of the benefit to the University of collaborating with unlikely partners.

2. Turnover in service vendors
   One of the other non-traditional opportunities we opted for was not to be our own service provider but, rather, to outsource to a third party. Since this program started, the University has contracted with three different service vendors. Each time, we have had to explain to them our philosophy (that the students come first) and the importance of (non-crisis driven) communication among ourselves. We have learned that regular meetings are critical to our success. Even when we initially think there is no reason to meet, because we "have no agenda this month," we always manage to have a productive dialog.

3. Communication
   The one other challenge we didn't expect was how difficult it is to remember to communicate. No one wants "just one more meeting" and the easiest meetings to think you can cross off the list are the ones with your "partners". You already feel you talk to them all the time so you don't think formal meetings are needed. Not true. We discovered formal meetings are important as they keep us focused on the broader issues; most other contact is more likely to be a problem-solving session having a single focus. Without regular communication, our contact could quickly develop a bad taste of always dealing with problems and crises.

Why it works
We review together (Computing Services, Bookstore, and service provider) a monthly summary of all service calls focusing on outstanding issues (for example, repairs that seem to take an inordinate amount of time to complete). If the service vendor has trouble reaching (or communicating with) a student (or parent), we step in and help. The service vendor appreciates that the Bookstore keeps copies of all the student purchase receipts. That way, if a student takes a computer in for a warranty repair and has lost the receipt, a quick call to the Bookstore results in one being faxed over. This process also alerts us to problem trends that we can then take back to computer vendors.

We take on responsibility for each other's problems. As we had different motivations for starting this partnership, the Bookstore and Computing Services see different problems as being the biggest headache. For Computing Services, that headache has been changes in the service vendor. For the Bookstore, that headache has been the problem many parts of the University have in accepting the truth that the Bookstore does have to derive income from computer sales (as with the rest of their business). Everyone wants them to just "give away the store" and struggle with the fact that they cannot. The beauty of this partnership is that we adopt each others big headaches and address them together.

In the case of the service vendors, as with nearly everyone else involved in any form of retail, it is getting increasingly difficult to make money on a contract won by submitting the lowest bid. Without the Bookstore, the discussions with the service vendors would be more difficult because we don't speak the same "language" of retail. The Bookstore staff (who are much more accustomed to working with vendors, as they already have to deal with over 1,800 of them!) work with Computing Services staff to make the service vendor relationship a more positive one. Just as the bookstore speaks the same language as the service vendor, computing services speaks (sometimes!) the same language as the academic side of the campus and can help explain retailing concepts to them.

We make a commitment to students (and their parents), in writing, that if they buy their computer through the Bookstore, they don't have to worry. They will be supported in their purchase. Their computers will work, their network connections will work, their software will work, and their printers will work. This commitment requires the cooperation of everyone involved in the partnership: Computing Services (including many units within Computing Services), the Bookstore, the service vendor. If it works, we all benefit, if it doesn't, we all fail.

These partnerships work because we still follow the ground rules we laid down at the beginning. Above all, we are open and honest with each other. We take the "no secrets" portion of our agreement seriously. "Unafraid, plain talk" is a key component of our partnership. We don't have time to beat around the bush, and that serves no purpose anyway, so we get directly to the point. Surprisingly, knowing the ground rules of honesty, the conversations we have and continue to have among all the partners has never been confrontational, even when an issue on the table might push someone's hot button.

Moral of the story
What makes this story important is not that the Bookstore sells computers, or that Computing Services gets to pick the selection, or that a service vendor gets more business-it's that we've broken down traditional barriers. Doing so allows us to offer a better service to our students than we could possibly do without the partnership.

Not only have we figured out ways to improve services to students, but we've also learned new respect for each other, our roles, our missions, and what we have to do to get our own jobs done. We've dug deep enough into each other's operation that we have empathy for each other's pressures and respect for each other's decision-making.

Having done this once in such a visible manner has allowed us to do it more frequently with other "non-traditional" partners.

Because we have done it and other departments have seen us do it, they too are participating in cooperative efforts-with areas they might not have thought of before.

Pigs can fly!

Gair English Director Syracuse University Bookstore Syracuse University 304 University Place Syracuse, NY 13244 Phone: 315-443-1684 Email: [email protected]

June R. Quackenbush Manager, SyraCWIS & CMS Publications Computing & Media Services Syracuse University 222 Machinery Hall Syracuse, NY 13244 Phone: 315-443-3831 Fax: 315-443-2775 Email: [email protected]