The ITS Computer Repair Center (CRC) repairs 250 Lenovo and Apple laptops per month collectively for two local school districts in an arrangement that began in 2013.
By partnering with the highly-rated ITS Computer Repair Center, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools, the school districts enjoy a faster turnaround on repairs, access to experienced, certified hardware repair technicians and a convenient process for computer repairs. The schools either drop them off or CRC picks them up.
Community outreach is a key benefit
CRC, meanwhile, benefits from the community outreach. The unit learns what K-12 students expect from technology as well as from students’ experiences with technology. That knowledge better informs and prepares ITS Carolina Computing Initiative for serving students when they get to college. CCI, a sister unit to CRC, selects laptops to offer to UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty and staff.
Additional work makes financial sense
Providing computer repair services to the school districts also makes financial sense for the self-supporting CRC. The computer manufacturers reimburse CRC for its repair work on the school districts’ computers. The vast majority of the school districts’ computer repairs are performed under the manufacturers’ warranty coverage. The additional volume of work from students and staff of the two school districts helps support additional CRC staff and allows us to provide better service to our University customers, said Peter Bolish, CRC Manager.
“It just doesn’t make sense not to do this,” said David Eckert, Managed IT Services Manager. The CRC unit falls within his group.