Surprised by Service

You know you're doing something right when computers stop breaking down on a regular basis. Mike Jacobs, technology manager for Lucas County, Ohio, can attest to that. After a year with the department, Jacobs shifted gears by standardizing the county's desktops on Gateway. A drop in computer breakdowns became very evident. His staff handled 3,300 work orders for the county's 46 agencies in 2005. Since the county standardized on Gateway desktops, far fewer of its work orders relate to hardware problems.

When Jacobs came aboard four years ago, Lucas County, the fifth largest in Ohio, had a mixed bag of installed systems -- some old, some new -- brand names and generic.

"In a word, it was unmanageable," Jacobs said.

A dearth of reliable desktops and dependable vendor service made application deployments difficult for IT staff and dragged out repair turnaround times, according to Jacobs.

Technical support staff were expected to know how to support applications on a variety of hardware and Windows operating systems, and Jacobs had to manage multiple vendors simultaneously. He searched for a vendor that offered hardware and service reliable enough for a countywide deployment. Three years ago, Jacobs added Gateway E-Series desktops to his inventory and was impressed by the company's devoted sales representatives, rapid part replacements and surprisingly affordable price.

Building a Program
Jacobs' previous private-sector experience assisted with the development of a PC program based on standards and specific services. With the support of the Lucas County Office of Management and Budget, 46 county departments started to switch their desktops to Gateway and began purchasing through an OMB central technology fund.

"My sales background was helpful because I was able to sit down and present a constructive business plan, discuss it and show the benefits," Jacobs said.

There was some initial minor resistance to the change of central purchasing. As the program matured and computer problems were reduced, it was noticed that employees were more productive. Bulk purchasing also allowed the benefit of lower pricing.

Jacobs was pleased with Gateway's prices, even though they weren't the least expensive on the market. He said technology purchasing decisions based solely on price usually prove costlier in the long term. The culprit, Jacobs said, is typically lost productivity from habitual breakdowns and inefficient vendor support.

"Our technology purchases are based on several factors so that we can take a look at a vendor from an aspect of price, quality, references and other critical points. That means we can make a 'best value' decision," he said, "as opposed to just a 'lowest cost' purchase."

To date, Lucas County has purchased primarily three different Gateway PC models. This year, the county is purchasing the Gateway E-4500 with Intel