Australian universities continue to evolve the digital student and staff experience while managing increasingly diverse device fleets, hybrid teaching models and the expectations of a tech-literate community. At Compnow, our higher education practice focuses on three key areas that support this shift: an agnostic device strategy, a visible and efficient on-campus support model through Techbar, and scalable deployment capabilities that ensure devices and AV spaces are ready when needed.
Choice Without Complexity
Universities are unique environments. Academic workloads vary, professional staff requirements differ, and research and teaching contexts can demand specific hardware functionality. Compnow’s agnostic device approach is designed to support this diversity while simplifying lifecycle operations.
At RMIT, this flexibility is embedded in an end-to-end user experience:
“What has reduced so much noise is that pre-imaged devices are ready and waiting for user collection at secure PC Locs smart lockers. They have immediate access and log ins for onboarding launches.”
Ben Doubleday, Senior Manager, End User Technology, RMIT
Similarly, the QUT Techbar approach enables informed device discussions:
“We can now talk through what staff are trying to achieve, and match them to a device and other technologies that truly meet their needs.”
Tim Morris, Service Manager, Client Technology Services and Support, QUT
Providing choice while maintaining standardisation frameworks is central to institutional digital maturity. Our role is to reduce operational friction while enabling professional autonomy.
Techbar: Human-Centred Support on Campus
While self-service portals and remote support remain valuable, many university stakeholders still prefer face-to-face assistance. The Techbar model is designed to meet that need through consistent, visible and highly accessible on-campus support.
“Interconnected on a personal level and from a technology perspective. It is frictionless. We are providing consistency of information and experience. We have joined the dots for our user base.”
Ben Doubleday, RMIT
At RMIT, this approach contributed to a measurable uplift in satisfaction, a reduction in ticket volumes and simplified onboarding for new staff.
In a competitive environment where universities are differentiating on service experience, the Techbar has proven to be a meaningful contributor to staff productivity and student success.
Deployment at Scale
Higher education environments are complex and decentralised, with cyclical demand spikes driven by teaching periods, refurbishment projects and research requirements. The ability to deploy large volumes of devices rapidly, and repeatably, is increasingly critical.
At QUT:
“The new system functionality allows us to report accurately to the university in terms of responsible use of our resources and accountability regarding the changed model.”
Tim Morris, QUT
Through workflow automation and tightly integrated logistics, QUT now moves up to 100 devices and 150 displays per week. Once two-month delivery cycles have been reduced to just two days.
At RMIT, the Techbar program supported the transition of approximately 6,000 devices in its first 12 months across staff and teaching environments.
These outcomes demonstrate that when processes are optimised, large-scale change can be delivered with minimal disruption.
Integrating AV into Teaching and Collaboration Spaces
As hybrid learning becomes normalised, universities are reimagining teaching spaces. Compnow’s AV practice complements our device and support models, providing a single partner across procurement, deployment, room enablement and lifecycle planning.
This ensures that teaching spaces, collaboration hubs and meeting rooms remain consistent, supported and aligned to educational requirement.
Sustainability and Lifecycle Stewardship
Universities are increasingly focused on measurable sustainability outcomes. Through Compnow’s Sustain IT program, institutions can access take-back, re-marketing and certified recycling options, enabling transparent reporting and reduced waste.
“In working with Compnow we have proudly unlocked tremendous value through our sustainability shift.”
Nathan Clark, Associate Director, QUT
This aligns with sector-wide commitments to responsible procurement and sustainable operations.
Universities partner with Compnow because we support multi-platform environments without added complexity, deliver a human-centred Techbar model that enhances the end-user experience, offer proven large-scale deployment capability across multi-campus environments, provide integrated AV lifecycle support for teaching and learning spaces, and embed sustainability programs and circular-economy initiatives that align with institutional objectives.
In Summary
University IT teams continue to balance operational efficiency with the expectation of a seamless user experience. Delivering this requires device choice, accessible on-campus support, deployment maturity and integration across digital, physical and pedagogical environments.
Compnow is proud to partner with higher education institutions nationally to support this journey.
For further discussion or to explore how the Techbar model, scale deployment, AV lifecycle or sustainability programs could support your institution, we would welcome the conversation.
