CHANNELSOLUTIONS
Redemtech helped K12 find vices,” he said. “Redemtech ning and think about what reliability of the equip-
a new source of computer provides a human touch equipment they wanted ment and their own sat-
equipment, peripheralsand for the reclamations they to send into the field,” isfaction higher than ever
parts to reduce costs and complete so it works out Houghton said. “They are before, Rigoni said.
improve delivery times. The well all around.” leveraging Redemtech data In addition, Redemtech
system now offers custom The company also uses to get incrementally better helped K12 figure out a
Web tools and automated information culled from information each year.” numberofothercost-cutting
communications to reduce the Retrac system for bet- The detailed reporting measures. For example, the
customer service calls, and ter technology planning. also allowed K12 more solution provider helped the
custom reporting for asset For example, Redemtech operational flexibility. For company realize $125,000
accounting. The system also provided data to K12 about example, when the com- in savings through a rebate
automates the destruction, the nine computer models pany realized it needed to program for new inkjet
verification and logging for the company was sending upgrade the memory in printers, which was spon-
FERPA compliance. the PCs of all its sored by Redemtech’s sister
Advanced track K12 estimates it students in the company Micro Center. is saving more than field, Redemtech By mailing shipping by all accounts, the helped distrib- labels directly to the users,
methodology Redemtech $1.9 million each year ute the RAM rather than having the
employshasproducedhuge in new equipment costs. with step-by-step shipping company provide improvements. In 2006, instructions on them, the company saved
K12 deployed 18,600 com- how to install it to another $60,000. “We used
puters in all. “We shipped students, and Rigoni was every family willing to do to use a FedEx call process
out 11,000 brand-new ones quickly able to see that five the upgrade, which saved that cost more than $7.50
as part of a refresh project,” of those models were per- time and money. each for shipping to pick
Rigoni said. forming well below aver- “Parents could call the up,” Rigoni said. “Now, we
In addition, Redemtech age reliability. He decided K12 tech support and use labels that cost 50 cents
substantially increased the to standardize with the have the technicians walk each. Redemtech helped us
rate of successful reclama- four most reliable models. them through it,” Rigoni pay for their value-added
tions from the lower 60 per- This change, along with said. “We also had educa- services.”
cent range to 99 percent, the other improvements tion expos, and when we In addition, by moving
Houghton said. “When Redemtech made in the brought the kids together, users to CRTs with lighter-
we did this internally, we refurbishment and ship- we took the opportunity to weight LCD panels, freight
had five or six people in the ping processes, reduced have a technician put the cost s on the moni tors
mailroom workingonthis,” quality problems even as new RAM in. Redemtech were cut in half. “Since
Rigoni said. “For the recla- equipment shipments rose supported us in all that.” Redemtech has facilities
mations letters, we would 20 percent, Rigoni said. in Ohio, Nevada and Vir- bring in temps each year, R e d e m t e c h’ s s y s - Flying colors ginia, we were also able to
and this year we avoided tem also collected qual- k12 estimates it is saving reduce the cost and time
that cost.” ity metrics that helped more than $1.9 million of shipping computers to
Now, K12 has only two it and K12 understand each year in new equip- students,” Rigoni said.
people in the reclamations and resolve issues more ment costs by improving With all that in mind,
department who, rather quickly. Redemtech pro- recovery rates and increas- K12 is confident it learned
than sending letters, get vides detailed reports on ingtheefficacyofitsdeploy- its lesson to focus on
on the phone and person- all quality issues, which ment of hardware. “They what it does best, while
ally close the loop with the in turn let the company help us avoid purchasing Redemtech passed the test
small number of people trackdowntheroot causes new equipment if some- with flying colors. ´
who aren’t reached in the of problems and tweak its thing can be repaired, and
automated reclamation processes or technology to ensure that we don’t repair Hailey Lynne McKeefry is
process, Rigoni said. “We address them. equipment that isn’t worth a freelance writer based in
have less people who are “K12 used our data over repairing,” Rigoni said. Belmont, Calif. She can
more efficient and doing the first couple of seasons Meanwhile, the stu- be reached at hailey@
more value-added ser- to hone their life-cycle plan- dents rate the quality and cyberdeacon.com.
