Customer Profile

The What If Challenge

The world of education is one of constant motion and upheaval. Evolving curriculum, standards, and teaching best-practices produce periodic shifts for school districts, triggering an inevitable process of adaptation and change. Administrators and staff aim to remain abreast of emerging trends and innovations, always searching for the best ways to meet their students’ needs.

With the emergence of new technology standards, a central push in recent years has been the One-to- One Initiative, which calls for widespread student acquisition of electronic devices. The goal is for every student to have access to a laptop, tablet, or some other variant of technology that will allow them to supplement their learning with the latest tools and resources available. At its finest, the initiative seeks to seamlessly integrate technology with the curriculum and with the instruction of educators.

A Unified School District in California, intrigued by the One-to-One Initiative, started asking themselves a series of inciting questions: “What if our district possessed the latest technology for our students? How might their learning be affected? Their career readiness? How might our teaching? Our curriculum? What if we could enhance our IT systems all at once, without hassle, before the school year began? What if there were no need for troublesome delays? What if we didn’t have to deploy the new systems on our own?”

With these inquires in mind, the Unified School District began exploring the logistics around an overhaul of this magnitude. A project of this size, they knew, inherently brought with it a number of demands and challenges, the chief of which was the large services component. Those services—the imaging, configuration, and deployment of nearly 16,000 devices—would prove not only time-consuming, but abundantly costly as well. Upon reflection, the Unified School District understood they were incapable of shouldering this extensive load on their own. They needed a partner, one with the experience and knowhow necessary to handle such a deployment and all it entailed. They needed a trusted partner, one who could turn their What Ifs into reality.

A Transformational Solution

The Unified School District, familiar with Sterling’s services offerings, reached out to the solution provider and requested a meeting. Because of our reputation in assisting other districts, they felt they could trust our capabilities. They sought practical guidance from our team members, searching for direction on the optimal product to choose as well as on how best to handle its eventual deployment.

Sterling happily fielded their questions. Assuming a truly consultative approach, one free of vendor-driven perspective or hidden allegiances, we helped guide the customer toward a feasible, high-quality solution. To assuage any lingering reservations, we arranged several demo units for testing and appraisal. This Proof-of-Capability showcased the effectiveness of our services and configurations— and the strength of the product itself. The Unified School District was impressed: each of the test units performed superbly, fitting into their system seamlessly.

Confident in the proposed solution, the Unified School District decided to move forward with the project. And our team wasn’t yet finished: in addition to the devices and accompanying services, we offered to cover the recycle of the customer’s old hardware. This complimentary offer, what would significantly reduce their waste product and impending workload, furthered the reality of a painless transition, ensuring their continued adherence to the tight project schedule.

What If…Resolved

No longer left to wonder, the Unified School District can now feel confident in the learning environment they’ve assembled. They can rest on the knowledge that they’ve secured devices of utmost quality and value, devices that will revitalize how their students learn and their teachers teach. With these units— procured on time and at a competitive price—the Unified School District is now positioned to accomplish their worthwhile aim: putting a high-quality tech device in every student’s hand, thus fostering a district-wide environment of innovation and growth, one truly conducive to learning.

Sterling is proud to have assisted the Unified School District on this project; we were thrilled to offer them practical, vendor-neutral perspective and an effortless deployment. We look forward to working alongside other educational institutions, helping to transform their IT environments and answer every “What if…?”