Staffordshire University is an award-winning institution that places students at the heart of its activities. 

Its Stoke-on-Trent campus is a vibrant and friendly community and has four academic schools: the School of Digital Technologies, the School of Justice, Security and Sustainability, the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing and the Institute of Education.

Students and staff can also take advantage of Stafford’s Centre for Health Innovation, a nationally-recognised clinical simulation suite that brings scenarios to life through leading-edge technology.

The University is proud of its digital innovation and enjoys strong industry links that support its mission of providing students with the next generation of educational opportunities. The University also boasts a London campus that specialises in digital careers of the future.

In addition, the Institute of Education brings together a wide range of expertise, including early years, teacher training and professional development departments - and the Institute also offers bespoke support for schools as part of its mission to champion education from pre-school to professor.

There are around 15,000 students enrolled with Staffordshire University supported by 2,000 employees and Nick Turton is the Digital Campus Support Team Leader. He coordinates the IT support and procurement for both staff and students, and he works as part of a wider Digital Services department.

A partner in seven-figure IT investments

“We have worked with Stone for five years,” said Nick. Over that time, the University and Stone have collaborated on extensive programmes of machine refreshes across different areas of the University.

Recently, Stone has worked with the University on a “seven-figure” programme of PC replacements. “We had a considerable programme [together] over the summer,” explained Nick. “It was around eight to nine-hundred computers that were replaced across the campus. Probably the biggest investment we’ve done in at least ten years as part of our wider scheme of investments.”

Given the levels of investment involved, Nick needed an IT partner he could trust - so he relied on Stone.

“I think we had around 400 workstations with high-level graphics cards. We also had other network-focused devices with multiple network cards and some engineering PCs that went into various areas. All of those were installed by Stone because we had such a large programme - we heavily relied on Stone support.”

Stone’s position on the NDNA enabled the University to work to deploy HP devices. “We’ve used HP products for years and they’re very reliable,” explained Nick, “so we knew we were after HP products. We worked closely with our account manager to refine the specs to meet our requirements and stop us from going off-piste, and those discussions are certainly informed by both our internal stakeholders and Stone’s advisers.”

With Stone, Staffordshire University has purchased HP ProBook, Envy and x360 laptops with Core i7 processors and configured specifications - alongside asset tagging to ensure security. Omen gaming notebooks, ZBook workstation laptops and EliteBook devices have also formed part of the University’s IT estate, and Nick has also overseen the deployment of Z2 desktops with Core i9 processors and high-end graphics cards.

Nick has been consistently impressed with the quality of IT he has received from Stone. “We’ve always been a leader in digital technologies - we were the first university to offer a computing degree in the 1960s, and more recently we were the first university to offer esports at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. So we have a high demand for quality IT equipment.”

He’s found that Stone can consistently meet those demands. “We need to have the latest technology and the feedback we’ve had has been nothing but positive. Everyone loves the new equipment, including our new gaming and esports PCs with new graphics cards. The PCs are really fast, they look great, and everyone has been impressed.” 

Rapid, professional installation 

Stone doesn’t just provide IT - the circular service means that engineers install the kit, too. And Nick has nothing but praise for Stone’s deployment abilities.

“We often have a very small window to get items rolled out across the campus, and Stone come in with their technicians and install to desk when necessary. The professionalism of the installers, the speed at which they work - it’s impressive. It’s a big time sink for us when we have to do it, but Stone’s engineers help us enjoy a much smoother rollout.”

“Take some installs we did recently for gaming workstations - we have events happening over the summer and our gaming and computing courses are huge, so we have very tight windows. We’ve had to provide very specific timeslots to come and install, and Stone’s engineers have done it without much disruption. We did have one area where there was no other option but to come in over the weekend - and they did.”

Clear communication despite unexpected challenges

Nick’s journey with Stone has been affected by significant challenges, but Stone has always been able to cope with difficulties.

“The obvious elephant in the room [over the last few years] has been delayed lead times for products,” explains Nick. “And when you order you sometimes expect a game of buzzword bingo when it comes to reasons. But when working with Stone’s account managers we always get transparency, we always know what our lead times look like, and because we always had constant feedback from HP, too we could prioritise certain areas.” 

“It’s so important - communication is vital to ensure my users are happy. If I know there will be delays while I’m still in the planning stages, then that’s fine, we can deal with that and plan. At one point we were informed of a delay on all-in-one PCs and we ended up with a two-day window for installation, but it was all fine in the end.”

Stone’s ability to cope with unexpected challenges extended to the biggest issue to hit the IT industry in recent years: COVID. 

Nick said he “had a conversation with our Risk and Compliance Director about what we’d need to work remotely, and I humoured him and said we’d need laptops so we could work remotely.”

“I assumed it would never happen,” said Nick, “but then it did. I was asked on a Monday to get 100 laptops in the period when the entire world was also trying to get laptops - and with Stone we were able to get 100 laptops delivered by Wednesday. We started imaging them immediately, and managed to get them rolled out on Thursday and Friday. So from Monday to Friday, within the last week of working on campus, we had 100 laptops delivered, provisioned and rolled out. We couldn’t have done it without the swift actions of Stone.” 

Stone provides secure recycling

The University typically refreshes around 400 student and staff devices a year – all needing safe recycling. And because the University’s recent deployments have been bigger, sometimes Nick will have over 1000 units that need recycling.

Recycling responsibly is a big concern for Staffordshire University. “We’re an active driver of sustainability,” he explained. “We have an organisational goal of being Carbon Neutral by 2030 and we’re actively trying to implement policies in line with the UN’s Sustainability Goals. It’s critical to us (and from speaking to students, it’s highly important to them too) that we embed sustainability deeply into everything we do. It’s therefore essential that all our partners have a similar ethos, so sustainability is built into our supplier tendering process.” 

Stone certainly ticks that box. Sustainability is embedded within the whole business - from its recycling and refurbishment efforts to the renewable electricity used at HQ. Stone’s Making a Digital Difference framework also aligns to the UN’s Sustainability Goals, and Stone is on track to be Net Zero by 2030. 

“Any redundant kit is collected and taken to Stone  where I have observed the process for data wiping and shredding of equipment,” said Nick. “The University is Cyber Essentials Plus-accredited and we’re moving towards ISO 27001, so the assurance of data management and protection is very important for us. We wouldn’t be using a service that didn’t give us that level of surety.” 

Stone holds the same Cyber Essentials Plus certification, its recycling facility is ADISA-accredited and its status as a Blancco gold partner means reliable, effective data erasure is guaranteed.

It makes sense when you consider the amount of data being handled - and the penalties for not doing things properly. “You can’t be too careful,” said Nick. “We have student data, so there are devices with names, addresses and dates of birth. It’s critical that it’s handled in the correct way. And you can’t be too careful because there are unlimited fines for GDPR breaches.” 

Stone and Staffordshire University: a rock-solid relationship

Nick is more than happy to recommend Stone. “Working with local partners is very important to us - the fact that Stone are our neighbours is important. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Stone is a leader in the Higher Education sector. Stone is ranked first on Lot 3 of the NDNA, which is indicative of the quality of services that Stone provides.”

Nick appreciates Stone’s circular approach, too. “We have excellent products from Stone, the background care is just as good, our account manager is great, and the recycling, rebates and installations are all superb. Stone covers the entire lifecycle of our IT. We have very little in the way issues - I recommend Stone without hesitation.”