Isn't it ironic.....don't you think?

When you work in higher education, a certain amount of outsourcing is required. There's not a college out there that has the resources (whether it be time or money) to implement all of their efforts in-house, start-to-finish. This is particularly true with the web. Proportionally speaking, a TINY percentage of funding is dedicated to the web when compared to print media, phone calling and the like. It's just a fact of life in this industry (and I maintain the position of my haiku that we are all masochists).

So to a certain extent, we have to rely on vendors. But do vendors have our best interest at heart? No. They are a business. All businesses are interested in is the bottom line. Not that there's anything wrong with that - we are a capitalist society. The problem comes when colleges don't take the time to consider if an option being sold to them by a vendor (i.e. SALESMAN) is really worth it. Consider the following:

-Is it REALLY going to integrate with our internal processes?
-Is there a cheap or :::gasp::: FREE product out there that will get us exactly the same results?
-Is this something our USERS really want or is this just using technology just because we can?

The last is really the key question: How many colleges shelled out big bucks to build a Second Life campus? How many colleges send out huge email newsletters every month when we know from statistics that students don't read them? How many have implemented text messaging when it's not what prospects want? Don't get me wrong - I think there are a limited number of circumstances where stuff like this can work and garner a small ROI. But couldn't that money be put to better use? If so, you've made the wrong decision. The utter irony of it - using a business mentality to explain why you shouldn't patronize businesses. Then again you're also reading an MBA that will never work for an evil corporation (because if there's anything my MBA taught me its that they're all evil) and enjoys few things more than life's ironic twists ;-)

It's a give and take relationship. We need them as much as they need us. And I don't think it needs to be adversarial. I've had great relationships with a lot of vendors I've used in the past, which makes it a pleasure for me to give them my money. On the flip side, I've worked with some that make me want to pull my hair out. For example, I was on the phone with one email provider today and the man insisted on giving me a half hour lecture about all the steps I should take in my search for an e-mail provider and, no, he wouldn't give me references because we hadn't agreed to pick his company yet. His job is to take away my headache, not give me a new one! Do you think he's going to get my money? Not bloody likely (though I digress...)

For the most part, I think that if you've got a solid Email Service Provider, a solid Content Management System and an outsourced interactive feature or two, you can get away with doing things like blogs and boards and chat and and galleries, social networking for chump change. Get accounts on Typepad, Flickr, MySpace and Facebook and you're all set. Want to do surveys? Don't pay per submission through a vendor - get a SurveyMonkey account. Want a spiffy flash gallery on your page? Spend $45 and get SimpleViewer Pro (really, the greatest tool ever). A quick Google search will likely provide you with a more than adequate solution. You'll put the same amount of time in on your end but you'll get more of a return because you've spent significantly less money than outsourcing this stuff to a vendor. Plus you've probably had much less of a headache and you don't need any more web experience than your average 16-year-old kid to work most of it.

I suppose the overarching point is that vendors are great for some things but they'll also try to sell you a lot of stuff YOU DON'T NEED. I've watched so many schools fall into it and I just have to shake my head. You've heard of this company that will actually build your school's MySpace page for you? WTF??? How about places that will charge you up to $3,000 for an email template??? Are you kidding me?

This about sums it up for me (the first 30 seconds of it anyway....it was the best I could do!):