Commercialisation in education

Nieve Cavanagh says alternative technologies can lower cost overall, so why not deploy them?

The commercialisation of education has divided opinion, but there is one aspect of the business world that could provide a valuable lesson for the education sector – by taking more of a look at the overall total cost of ownership (TCO), resellers to any schools would be able to track the lifetime cost of any item.

The reseller, and then the customer, could then benefit from seeing exactly how much it costs to maintain kit over time. For example, it might be that the cheapest purchase doesn't make financial sense over three years of constant and expensive upkeep.

TCO assessments can affect, for example, classroom projectors. Almost all projectors use lamp light sources with finite life expectancies of no more than a few thousand hours' use, so the lamps need to be regularly replaced and are often rather expensive.

But there are alternatives on the market. Newer technologies are allowing a significant extension of the life of the light source in projectors without reducing image quality.

Schools and universities can therefore lower their TCO by introducing projectors that do not need as much maintenance or such expensive lamp replacements. New alternative light sources represent a new way forward in projector technology.

There are bound to be numerous other examples of new technologies that change the game for education TCO.

Nieve Cavanagh is senior product marketing manager for projectors at Casio