Consortium News #1
Higher Education Cooperative Purchase Consortium
Sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC)
Volume 1, Number 1, April 17, 2000
[edited for archiving by David Stuart]
Contents
Welcome and Introduction to Consortium Members
Background to the Foundation and Consortium
Microsoft Campus Agreement
Vendor Overview
Membership in the Consortium
Trends
New Stuff/Specials
New Consortium Members
New Vendors
Agreements in Progress
Welcome and Introduction to Consortium Members
Welcome to the Consortium. In our premiere issue, I want to give you a brief background to the foundation and the consortium, our Microsoft Campus Agreement, an overview of our vendors and members. In future issues specific vendor groups will be featured, including hardware, software, staff development, and other areas. Each issue will feature new members of the consortium, new vendors, special vendor promotions and other current activities within 1-2 pages every two weeks. We will include hotlinks for more information on any topic. We will also archive all of this newsletters for easy reference. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email us at editor@foundationccc.org.
Larry Toy, President, FCCC
Background to the Foundation
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (www.foundationccc.org) was founded in 1998 as the auxiliary foundation for the California Community Colleges system (www.cccco.edu ) the largest system of higher education in the world, with 2 million students attending annually.
Microsoft Campus Agreement
In May, 1999 the FCCC entered into a consortium Campus Agreement with Microsoft, which is now the largest in the country, covering 93 of the California Community Colleges, with over 40,000 FTE faculty and staff. A major feature of the agreement allows the FCCC to distribute Microsoft media directly to faculty and staff of participating colleges. Please note: colleges are only eligible if the college is participating in the consortia that the FCCC is managing. See our FAQ for eligibility. We are now managing campus agreements for consortia for Tennessee, California, Oregon and other states. For further information email stuart@foundationccc.org
Vendor Overview
Our vendor list (www.foundationccc.org/vendors.asp) consists of companies that are offering products and services to our consortium members (a small number have geographical restrictions noted on our website). Our emphasis is on technology related vendors – including hardware, software and services. All of our vendors have agreed to provide discounted prices below those colleges can obtain going directly to the vendor. Normally the pricing is the lowest provided by the vendor to any customer. Download our coop purchase booklet listed above. We receive referrals from our member colleges and associations. We often do evaluations using committees drawn from our membership to determine the interest and value to our members. If you would like to participate or have a referral, please email stuart@foundationccc.org.
Membership in the Consortium
Membership in the consortium is open to all regionally accredited institutions of higher education in the United States. There is no cost to the membership. Normally, membership is through state and national associations (see list above.) Since September 1999, membership has grown from 106 to 1450 institutions. Currently memberships of 14 state independent college associations are in process. For further information including membership for individual colleges, contact toy@foundationccc.org.
New Ideas and Trends (by Larry Toy, FCCC President)
As an occasional feature of this newsletter, major new ideas will be examined. Today I want to share the ideas of Seth Godin, author of “Permission Marketing”. His thesis is that the current marketing on the internet (and generally most all marketing) today is ignored and basically doomed to failure. This is because it has three major traits: it is unanticipated, impersonal, and irrelevant. However, this changes completely when one has the permission of the customer. I hope this newsletter will fit this description. The best know example of this philosophy is Amazon.com. Seth’s website (www.permission.com) has a free four chapter excerpt of the book.
To see how the internet is changing the world in unexpected ways go to www.bigredmachine.com. Courtesy of my seatmate on a recent plane trip.
New Stuff/Specials
Additions or changes in current vendor agreements – special sales or promotions and other announcements.
Computerland (www.californiacolleges.com) offers 3 HP printers at below dealer cost – a special welcome to new members. Limit 5 printers each to each college while quantities last. No sales to individuals
New Consortium Members
As of April 15 we welcome the 24 colleges and universities of the Council of Independent Colleges of Virginia (www.cicv.org ) and the 10 campuses of the University of California (www.ucop.edu).
New Agreements
New vendor agreements in the past month are:
InPhonic.com (www.inphonic.com)–offering cell phones and services nationwide through major service providers such as ATT Wireless, etc. Service covers 95% of US population. Guaranteed lowest prices on phones, and equal to the lowest offering prices from contracted Service providers. The consortium’s customized website is currently under construction.
Technology Assistance Company (www.technologyassist.com)– provides 24x7 help desk service covering about 50 common end user software products.including MS Office and Windows. Both individual and institutional subscriptions. Individual orders at www.technologyassist.com/fccc
Agreements in Process
Currently agreements in progress:
Apple – Selection of computers below education pricing.
Dell.com – Expansion of current agreement to include institutional purchases
Edu.com – Discount student purchase programs with profit sharing with cooperating colleges.
(www.edu.com )
EdVerifY – Verification of Student and Degree Status for Employment verification. Payment to cooperating colleges for each verification. (www.EdVerifY.com)
Virtual Ink – makers of Mimio, a portable device that converts any white board to a smart board for less than $500. (www.mimio.com)
WebCT – Authoring software and services for on-line distance education courses.
Next Issue May 1, 2000 – Vendor Deadline April 27, 2000.
