Standardize, Stock Up and Save: How UWM Uses OneVision Benefits Around Campus
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, November 22, 2016 – At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Hitachi’s Collegiate line of projectors has been the cost-effective, reliable system of choice for general assignment classrooms. There are close to 170 general assignment classrooms on campus, and any department can utilize the space and equipment in each room. With the help of AVI Systems, UWM was introduced to Hitachi’s OneVision program for higher education. Since becoming a member, the university has been able to register over 70 of its Collegiate Line projectors and use the rewards points to stock up on extra lamps for every projector.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the second largest school in the University of Wisconsin System with about 30,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. degrees and is also a Research One classified university. While the school offers a large variety of majors, it is one of only two schools in the country with a School of Freshwater Sciences, and has recently began an initiative to become a green campus with LEED Gold Certifications in some buildings, additionally the school currently has a Storm Water Master Plan and has built rain gardens on campus. Manager of Classroom Services, Kevin Jahnke, works to offer the school significant ROI on campus technology so the university can stay focused, save money, and achieve its green mission.
“We go through lamps significantly faster than we do projectors, so we’re benefitting from a free lamp for every three projectors we purchase” says Jahnke. “We registered around 70 projectors and stocked up on lamps for the future. It’s a great perk. You may pay a lot for a projector, but it’s a significant savings to receive free lamps. And when you factor in the extended one-year lamp warranty that also comes with the program, it’s unbeatable.”
Hitachi’s OneVision program for higher education offers rewards like “buy three projectors, get a free lamp” or “buy 10 projectors and get a free projector” and has an extended five-year warranty on projectors and one-year warranty on lamps. Members also get specialized access to sales representatives and advanced replacement on projectors.
“The warranty helps us to standardize our replacement cycles. Our projectors typically had two or three year warranties and our computers have four-year warranties, so with the Hitachi five-year warranty we are able to more closely standardize to the same replacement cycles. And, though we haven’t had to take advantage of it, knowing that we have the advanced replacement perk really helps to ease my mind about a projector going out. We often use the projectors for 10-12 hours a day and our students would miss out on a lot if a projector was out for repair for a significant amount of time. Now, I don’t even have to think about that possibility.”
Even the installation staff at UWM is excited about the OneVision program because it has standardized the replacement and installation process. It’s easiest to replace a projector with another from the same brand, and with so many Hitachi projectors and spare lamps at the school it makes upgrading each classroom much easier. Now it’s only a matter of putting up the new projector and getting it on the network instead of having to move the mounts and reprogram the entire room.
“Having that relationship with Hitachi is pretty valuable to us,” says Jahnke. “Everything from ordering new lamps and projectors to the upgrading process has gotten so much easier and has saved us a significant amount of money. One of the best parts for me is that I know I can work directly with Hitachi or still go through AVI Systems. The program hasn’t limited us in any way, it feels just as easy as it always has, but now we get much more.”
For more information on University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, please visit https://uwm.edu/
For more information on AVI Systems, please visit https://www.avisystems.com/
For more information on Hitachi projectors, please visit http://www.hitachi-america.us/projectors