The University Self-Service Device Loan Revolution

Is manually loaning laptops or tablets to students a thing of the past? A recent survey carried out by LapSafe® Products has revealed that 44% of UK Universities have now automated their laptop/tablet loan service within or outside the university libraries.

Of the 44%, a whopping 87% have selected to deploy the Diplomat™LMS, a dynamic self service, multi-bay locker system designed to loan devices. The extremely popular Diplomat™LMS, stores, charges and deploys laptops, Chromebooks, Microsoft Surface or tablets such as iPads in self-service locker bays. The innovative lockers, allow users to borrow fully charged devices for set periods of time and makes device loans easy to manage. The automated service allows students to borrow devices whether staff are present or not.

The Diplomat™LMS also allows a ‘mix and match’ of devices or the opportunity to borrow a charging locker space (BYOD). IT Technicians have the option to update or re-image all the devices from a chosen location saving both time and money.

The survey reveals that 100% of customers that have already deployed the Diplomat™LMS would recommend to other universities that they do the same. So why is this service so popular? Feedback has revealed that the main reason is to allow students access to devices outside of normal library opening and that providing a 24 x 7 x 365 access to devices is important. The annual student satisfaction surveys has also revealed that students want more access to this type of service.

According to the survey, the average loans provided by each UK university site per month is approximately 3,000 loans, however, one site is currently transacting 16,000 loans per month! To date, LapSafe® Diplomat™ are providing approximately 100,000 loans per month across the UK universities and this figure is set to rise dramatically by the end of 2017.

Most of the Diplomat™LMS deployed are using LapSafe® ultra-safe SmartLine™ charging inside the lockers. This means that there is no need for the devices own AC adaptors as it has LapSafe® inbuilt charging system which saves the users time when accessing the devices. The Diplomat™LMS monitors the charge status of each device and ensures that it deploys the ‘best charged’ device. 97% of customers surveyed said that loaning the ‘best charged’ device was an important factor when choosing their self-service solution.

Although UK Universities are leading the way in automating their laptop/tablet manual service, we are also seeing this spread to universities outside the UK and currently LapSafe®’s furthest install is 10074 miles away in Australia. With 9 out of 10 universities looking to add to their existing deployment over the next 18 months, the Diplomat™LMS is fast becoming LapSafe®’s most popular product.

For full details of the survey and information on the Diplomat™LMS visit https://www.lapsafe.com/self-service/infographic or call +44 1787 226 166 to arrange a free product demonstration.

Sources: Survey conducted to LapSafe® Diplomat LMS Customers University List: https://www.gov.uk/check-a-university-is-officially-recognised/recognised-bodies