Education Tose educators, office-staff and policy makers remembered the


level of service they received from local engineers, they went back to the office or classroom, and they’re asking what else their IT saviours can supply. Target supports the education sector - we distribute directly to trade


IT resellers who typically then sell to end users, businesses and we also have a number of customers, both large and small, who supply into education. In the last four years, we’ve been asked more and more for products going into schools, colleges, universities, adult education, SEN support programs, immigrant support programs and local clubs. If we were just starting out stocking products for the education


market, with no experience in the sector or those customers supplying into it, we’d get it wrong. We’d be selling a few different, super-cheap keyboards and mice, a 22” monitor, and a few, very budget desktop PCs ‘designed for the classroom’. But that would be missing a giant opportunity. Far beyond the standard keyboards-and-mice purchases, Target


has seen orders from resellers with education customers diversify as much as the students and staff using them. Tere are whole projects, particularly in independent schools and privately-owned education providers, being entrusted to the local IT expert over even national providers. So, those guys now need access to many more products suitable for their new customers - everything from high-capacity Ubiquiti installations to cover the grounds of whole schools, to extremely specialised, custom-made computers that will be tested and tested in laboratories. We’ve even built crypto-mining and, conversely, ultra-low-powered PCs for schools wanting to both make, and save, money. And then there’s the ‘everything in between’. Every conversation or


product request from a Target customer supplying a school is different, with comments such as: “the school has requested 24-inch piXL monitors but they need to feature an internal power supply as they keep losing external power bricks”; “the PC is for a graphic design course so needs at least four monitor outputs, preferably eight, with at least four RAIDed 8TB drives”; “the students have various educational needs and struggle to stay engaged, so the school’s asking for keyboards that feel nice to use and look exciting. We were thinking of some Marvo gaming keyboards but they need to be quiet too” and so on. Tese enquiries come in all the time and they are a great way of


finding out what products we, as a distributor, need to make accessible to our customers. For example, it turns out that piXL does indeed have a 24-inch monitor with an internal power supply, and a bit of research on Nvidia Quadro graphics cards solved the graphic design PC issue, which we then built on behalf of the reseller so he could offer a 3-year warranty with it. And Marvo has a range of RGB backlit and programmable membrane keyboards that engage students but don’t deafen the classroom. Had those enquiries not come in, we’d never have thought to offer some of our existing product range as solutions to those problems which, whilst not usual, certainly aren’t unique to that particular establishment. Trough many discussions with our customers over the past 26


years, we’ve determined several things about how local resellers can benefit from a relationship with their local school, college or university. Firstly, they are the path of least resistance for many institutions – they answer enquiries quickly, they respond, they’re keen to visit, and they want to make a good impression. Not only


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are they able to source the right products quickly, they’re also able to install them. And if they’ve installed them, they’ll be able to maintain them. Tey’re a one-stop shop – no more calling customer services to get a replacement device then arranging for someone else to install it aſter coordinating both parties. Secondly, value is more important than price. Despite media


coverage of truly terrible buying decisions at government level, our customers tell us that procurement departments in education, which is constantly in the spotlight, are a lot more savvy than simply focussing on short-term price advantages. Long warranties, advance replacements, support from the resellers themselves and well-made, reliable products and devices are, more oſten than not, bigger deciding factors for education providers than price alone. Education isn’t the only sector doing that, though, most businesses are much more aware of ‘buy cheap, buy twice’, they’re under the same financial constraints we all are, so being able to determine returns rates, having the reassurance of longer warranties, that all goes towards the idea of a ‘better buy’. Tat’s not to say all cheap products are bad products, that simply isn’t true, but too-cheap may raise suspicions. If you can demonstrate the quality AND a great price, that’s going to get you right at the front of the supplier queue. Tat value also goes some way, surprisingly, to addressing another


hot topic for educators – sustainability. Tere are now green targets and environmental policies published on education providers’ websites indicating that suppliers who can demonstrate the longevity of products and services will be treated favourably. For a majority of those providers, it is the people whom they address that are most impacted by these policies too, and they can’t be seen to be letting them down. Even the amount of fuel used by the supplier/ reseller in getting on site, or the green policies of the logistics partner in getting the products to site, can have a bearing on where some of these establishments spend their money. As I said earlier, Target’s understanding of how its customers can


address education is evolving constantly. We’re not the experts – our customers are – but we’ve learned a lot, just from talking to those resellers in education specifically, and helping them offer the products and services they need. And I’m certainly not saying that it’s only our independent reseller customers that can do all this stuff – it’s not the size of the reseller or establishment that dictates whether a school buys what it needs from one over the other. But what it might be worth considering is that, in your local area, there will be schools. Tere might be a college or two. Tere might even be a university with thousands of students. Go and speak to them, remind them you’re there, on their


doorstep and, whether you’re a small indie store with 20 years of technical experience, a large system builder, an established VAR, or a network installer, the chances are those establishments will benefit from your expertise. Target is in West Yorkshire, a county of no less than 24 further


or higher education establishments. Tere are 981 schools, 46 of which are independent. Tere are just under 400,000 school children and 100,000 college and university students. Tat’s a lot of computers, keyboards, Windows licences, monitors, access points and classrooms in just one area, there should be plenty of room for all resellers to do well out of it, not to mention those doing the educating or being educated.


May/June 2024 | 21


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