Muhlenberg College – IT Services Case Study

Muhlenberg College Differentiates Itself by Providing Superior IT Support through ISS Solutions

Company: Muhlenberg College
Headquarters: Allentown, PA
Business: Highly selective, private, liberal arts college

Overview

Challenge: Provide superior computer support to improve student and staff productivity and performance.

Solution: Contract with a service-oriented and technically-competent firm to assist in same-day hardware repair and to reduce data loss to approaching zero.

Benefits: 

• Reduced IT emergencies to events through quick, expert response
• Obtained immediate parts replacement and repair for over 60 file servers, multiple models of student laptops, and printers
• Tapped into a pool of technicians with strong communications and technical skills

Muhlenberg College attracts over 4400 applications for a freshman class of 580.— The college admits fewer than half of its applicants, putting it in the “highly selective” category for admissions. Muhlenberg College is well known for a strong sense of community and connection among students and faculty. The college has emphasized service, including service in the information technology area. This may be one of the competitive differentiators that enables Muhlenberg College to recruit many high-quality students.

Muhlenberg College Director of the Office of Information Technology Harry Miller says, “The level of service we provide is atypical from what other similar institutions provide.” For example, Muhlenberg College offers students on-site support for their personal computers. When a student can’t locate the files for his or her term paper, or when a student’s screen suddenly goes blank, trained technicians are available on-campus to remedy these problems. A full-time ISS Solutions technician is part of Muhlenberg College’s hardware repair team.

ISS Solutions also provides Muhlenberg College with server repair within four hours, assistance in hardware purchasing, new operating system implementation, personal computer implementation, and IT staffing to fill in for employees on leave.