[91] in Resnet-Forum
Re: convenience versus business (Re: Why?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pete Bronder)
Thu Dec 2 09:46:32 1993
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1993 09:25:38 -0500 (EST)
From: Pete Bronder <pb0q+@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU, haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes)
Cc:
In-Reply-To: <199312012304.PAA10651@hobbes.ucsc.edu>
>But even in an educational instution, not a business, don't you have competing
>demands on where the institution's money will be spent? No doubt things are
>different between state-supported schools and private ones, but even then...
>If the cost of residential networking is insignificant we can all have it;
>if it clearly pays for itself we can all have it; but if it's a significant
>expense that has to compete with other demands for funding then it becomes
>a political issue, if not a business one.
One of my suggestions was to survey your customers, (students [&
parents]), which will help determine what they rank as important. The
survey can also act in a political sense as a ballot since your
customers would more or less be voting. The results of such a survey
can obtain justification for networking residences, if your customers
feel that is more important than other aspects. The survey results can
help steer your institution in the direction where your customers want
to be. If you do not taylor to your customers needs they will look
somewhere else that has what they are looking for.
To have networking pay for itself needs consideration to the
investment of the infrustructure that needs to be initialy invested
before end users can connect. Money needs spent to start up the
service, and you can then recoop costs later if you have an indication
that this will be a popular service.
