When opportunity knocks, open the door.
For Greg Burchell and Ben Miner, managing partners at Southeastern Computer Associates (SCA), that knock came last year.
“In the spring of 2019, we heard from an old customer, Angela Lassetter, whom we hadn’t talked to in years,” Burchell recalls. “She was now the head of a very large organization, the Georgia Cyber Academy, and she needed helpdesk support. Ben and I had been looking for ways to expand the business, and this was the perfect opportunity to step up.”
The two partners quickly decided to bid not only on the support services, but on the computers, printers and other hardware the school would supply to their teachers and students.
To do it, they would need to dig deep into their own resources and reach out for help as well. They found it from Epson and its unique BusinessFirstSM programs for print solutions dealers, part of the Epson Advantage Partner Program.
Learning from home
Southeastern Computer Associates is an IT integration and managed services firm, serving clients in the greater Atlanta area. In addition to helpdesk support, they provide hardware and software sales, network design and installation, and IT consulting. “We can be an outsourced Chief Technical Officer for those who might not otherwise be able to afford one,” Burchell explains.
The Georgia Cyber Academy (GCA) is one of the nation’s largest and most successful virtual public schools, serving students throughout the state from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Unlike in other public schools, students have always been based in their homes, interacting with their teachers and each other via their computers and an Internet connection.
Under Lassetter’s leadership, GCA has taken a much more rigorous approach than other cyber schools and has achieved greater academic success. In many ways, it has been a model for traditional schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. When Lassetter reached out to SCA last year, she was looking to replace a key supplier.
At that time, SCA had just 11 employees and roughly 350 clients, the largest of which had 125 users to support. The GCA would add roughly 8,500 individual students and their parents plus 750 teachers and staff. “Winning the GCA contract would be our first opportunity with a client of this size,” Miner says.
Supplying the hardware was an early challenge. The school would supply a Chromebook, mouse and headset for every student, a printer for every family, and a Windows laptop, large screen display, mouse, headset and printer for every teacher. Certain teachers would have specialized peripherals as well, for example document cameras or graphics tablets. “We know we are totally dependent on our technology, and so we buy models with every bell and whistle,” Lassetter says.
SCA already had a relationship with most of the needed suppliers, but Lassetter was very specific about the printer she wanted, a unique product from Epson.
The Supertank printer
Lassetter says she was always unhappy with the cartridge-based inkjet printers GCA had been purchasing. “In my experience, you’re constantly running out of ink, yet the replacement cartridges are super-expensive. And, since about 70 percent of our parents fall into the low-income category, they just couldn’t afford to buy them.”
When Epson introduced its first EcoTank printer, which uses large ink tanks and Epson’s fast and reliable PrecisionCore print head, she and her husband bought one for their home. “It never failed on me, never even jammed, and I kept wondering when I’d have to replace the ink, as the ink levels never seemed to go down.”
Then when Epson introduced its professional Supertank version, she asked her team to consider them for the GCA administrative office. “I asked them to look at a number of different printers, but they too concluded that Epson would be our best choice.”
Based on these experiences, the Epson WorkForce ST-2000 Color MFP Supertank Printer became a requirement of the Request for Proposals that Burchell and Miner would answer.
Winning the project
“When Angela approached us, we had no relationship with Epson, so I started by calling the 800 number,” Burchell recalls. “We left a voicemail, and in an extremely short time, Joe Gandia, one of Epson’s business development managers for commercial inkjet printers, called us back and really got the ball rolling.”
Epson has long offered its dealers a suite of sales, marketing, training, and tech support programs under its Advantage Partner Program, and soon Gandia had SCA enrolled. The program includes special pricing for those dealers who first bring Epson a large opportunity like the one at GCA.
“Essentially, Joe locked in our partner pricing plus special warranty terms, and that was a tremendous help in our winning the entire bid,” Burchell recalls. “I can’t say enough about Joe and what he was able to do for us.”
A massive challenge
One of the challenges of the project was a requirement that the dealer assemble and configure all of the components that the students and teachers would use, then ship them to their homes throughout Georgia. To configure the systems, SCA technicians would have to start up each laptop and Chromebook, then make sure it had the software, drivers and setup needed to be 100 percent ready for use.
Miner says the partners originally looked at a “white glove” service that would do all of this work for them, but it was expensive, and they realized they could do it themselves for a lower cost. “We’re a small business wanting to grow, so we made the decision that we were going to create jobs and hire people locally. We added 18 temporary workers for the summer months that year, plus 10 permanent members to our support staff.
“Hey, we’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves and do some hard work,” he adds.
The project was intense. “We created a setup macro for each kind of setup, so we could configure each computing device in minutes,” Burchell explains. Still, the sheer volume of devices was daunting.
“I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a thousand printers, but they take up an entire tractor-trailer,” he says. That summer, the team received, configured and shipped roughly 8,500 Chromebooks, 750 laptops, and almost 8,000 Supertank printers, together with various accessories and peripherals.
SCA is located in two condo-style units in an office complex, but there were some empty spaces in the building which they were able to rent for the summer. “When our new space started overflowing with product, we rented an additional storage space and turned it into another assembly line. It was crazy,” Miner says.
Still, the project went well. “All-in-all, we have a happy client and we’re happy the way we did it,” he adds. “The people we worked with, the temps we hired, the staff that we brought on made for a positive experience and outcome. This is a three-year contract with this client, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep them on beyond that.”
Ongoing work
Burchell says this summer’s fulfillment has gone very smoothly. With the COVID-19 epidemic, GCA has signed on its full capacity of 10,500 students, but the students and teachers returning from last year will continue to use the systems they already have. “We’ve brought on just six temporary workers this summer, and we have about 1,700 new systems to prepare and ship.”
As part of its package, Epson offered a special promotion1 on the Supertank printers. “They guaranteed that, if any family ran out of ink within the first two years, they would send refills for free,” he adds. After one year of use, no one has run out of ink, nor has any printer needed a warranty repair.
Lassetter has been extremely pleased with the experience. “SCA is phenomenal. When our parents and teachers call them for support, they handle everything wonderfully. Their white-glove service is astounding; everything is ready, everything is inventoried, they even put stickers on the front of the computers and printers. It all works, right out of the box.
“Our parents love the Supertank printers,” she adds. “Having a printer that’s so reliable is a big deal, and the fact that the ink lasts so long is huge. Epson has made my job easier, eliminating complaints that I would need to address.”
“Epson was fantastic through this whole process,” Burchell adds. “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and building a relationship with Joe. I feel like Epson is part of my team. Even though normally, as an IT consultant, we try to be vendor agnostic, I’ve been recommending their products whenever I get the chance.”
1 Promo valid for ST-3000, ST-4000 printers and WF-C5790 (C11CG02201-LB) & WF-M5799 (C11CG02201-LB) printer bundles through authorized Epson resellers only from 4/1/20 to 12/31/20. Product must be registered before 1/31/21. Purchase qualifying ink bottles within 2 years of printer purchase. Ink receipts must be dated no later than two years after printer purchase, or April 30, 2023, whichever comes first.
