Value-Driven Relationships That Strengthen Operations and the Student Experience
The Challenge: Disconnected Vendors, Disjointed Operations
Campus leaders are stretched thin managing a web of vendors across recreation, wellness, technology, and facility operations. Each contract comes with its own service expectations, renewal cycle, and pricing structure. Systems often don’t integrate. Staff spend valuable time troubleshooting platform issues or coordinating between providers, rather than focusing on what matters most: delivering high-quality programs and meaningful student experiences.
Yet systems are not just operational tools. They are the infrastructure behind every check-in, student employee shift, and event. Without a fully vetted and integrated ecosystem of systems and services, even the most mission-driven teams struggle to create seamless, scalable experiences for students.
That’s why CENTERS takes a systems-level approach to vendor relationships. We build strategic partnerships that reduce complexity, improve performance, and support the student experience at every touchpoint.
A Systems-Level Strategy for Stronger Vendor Partnerships
Vendor relationships aren’t just transactions, but they’re strategic partnerships that directly contribute to client success. From system implementation to equipment procurement, our reputation and scale enable us to cultivate best-in-class partnerships that deliver preferred pricing, customized service, and future solutions all while keeping our clients’ best interests at the center.
What sets us apart? We pass the full benefits of these partnerships directly to our clients. CENTERS does not profit from the price difference or apply additional markups. Instead, we use our purchasing power and relationships to secure lower costs and better service, and our clients receive those advantages transparently.
What Clients Gain: Savings, Simplicity, and Smarter Systems
One of the most immediate benefits CENTERS provides is access to preferred pricing on systems, equipment, and operational assets. Because of our national footprint and long-standing vendor partnerships, we’re able to negotiate competitive rates that individual institutions often cannot access on their own.
CENTERS takes the complexity out of:
- Software platforms for facility operations, program registration, membership management, ticketing, risk management, point-of-sale and scheduling
- Lifecycle management, maintenance agreements, and extended warranties
- Systems Implementation, training, and user support
These benefits are built into our model, not added as upsells or cost recoveries, but as part of our commitment to delivering long-term value to the institutions we serve.
Client Value Highlight
When CENTERS secures cost savings through national pricing or negotiated terms, our clients receive the full benefit. CENTERS does not retain the price difference as we believe that value belongs with our partners.
One client saved more than $50,000 annually on licensing and technology through our negotiated vendor agreements. In 2024, CENTERS delivered over $400,000 in total technology savings across our sites to our clients. These savings allow institutions to reinvest in student programs, facility and equipment enhancements, member services, staff training, and other high-impact priorities.
Examples below showcase the price one of our clients pays for systems versus the standard MSRP prices:
Selecting Vendors Who Advance Campus Missions
We don’t work with just any vendor. We work with partners who are committed to long-term collaboration, understand the mission of campus centers, and are as invested in quality and innovation as we are.
We prioritize vendors who:
- Provide scalable, campus-ready solutions
- Align with our mission to support student development and the student experience
- Offer outstanding support and rapid responsiveness
- Are open to evolving alongside our operational model
- Demonstrate a commitment to CENTERS’ mission and continually improve their systems to strengthen the partnership
Rather than chase trends or price alone, we carefully select vendors based on mutual growth potential and their ability to partner to deliver sustained impact.
Streamlining Operations with Integrated Solutions
Our vendor partnerships are designed to integrate seamlessly into our operations. That means less red tape, faster implementation, and more consistent outcomes. Because vendor agreements are centrally managed by CENTERS, our clients avoid the burden of managing contracts, bids and implementation themselves.
Through these relationships, we’re able to:
- Speed up procurement and deployment
- Standardize training and onboarding across sites
- Drive system-wide improvements through shared data and analytics
- Minimize downtime and enhance service response times
Real-World Results: Innovation and Impact in Action
Our work with vendors doesn’t end when a contract is signed. That’s where the real partnership begins.
We bring vendors into the CENTERS world to experience everything from daily operations to big-picture strategy. We share our workflows, frontline challenges, and ideas for how tools and systems can better serve staff and students alike. This level of collaboration allows our vendors to deepen their understanding of our operating model and tailor their solutions accordingly.
Just as we improve how we use their systems, we also often help improve the systems themselves.
Example:
After working closely with one of our software partners, CENTERS provided feedback that led to redesigns of user reports, system workflows, more efficient batch processing tools, and better mobile integration. These innovations not only benefited our campuses but are now core features used by campus centers nationwide.
This two-way dialogue is part of what makes our vendor relationships so valuable. We don’t just use tools. We help refine them.
Holding Ourselves and Our Partners to Higher Standards
Just like our approach to clients, our vendor relationships are grounded in accountability and clear expectations.
We Monitor Performance with:
- Ongoing support and performance reviews
- Feedback loops from staff, leadership, and students
- Agile improvement processes based on real-time input
A Model for the Future: Evolving Together with Nationwide Solutions
As CENTERS grows across the country, our vendor partners grow with us. We intentionally choose vendors who can scale their operations, expand service regions, and evolve their offerings to meet the demands of our increasingly diverse portfolio.
This growth means:
- Our clients enjoy consistency and quality across locations
- Vendors improve their products with real-time, real-use feedback
- Relationships deepen and performance improves site after site
- Clients stay ahead of industry shifts and evolving campus needs
We believe our growth should never come at the expense of quality. Instead, it should create more value for everyone involved, especially our clients.
Positioning Campus Systems for Long-Term Success
As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, CENTERS is preparing for the future. Our vendor partnerships are focused on:
- Technology and integration that simplifies operations and improves user experience
- Sustainable and efficient products that reduce environmental impact
- Security and compliance that protect student data and ensure operational integrity
- Design and innovation that support student health, engagement, and success
We work with vendors who don’t just solve today’s problems, but build tools and infrastructure for tomorrow’s opportunities.
The Impact of a Unified Vendor Strategy
Many institutions struggle with fragmented vendor ecosystems, hidden costs, and inconsistent service. CENTERS offers a different model — one where:
- Vendor partnerships are carefully curated and aligned with client needs
- Savings are passed directly to clients with full transparency
- Systems improve through shared feedback and collaboration
- Clients gain access to a national network of tested, proven, and evolving solutions
A Smarter Model for Managing Campus Systems
We strive to build partnerships that create lasting value. Through transparent pricing, mutual growth, and a commitment to continuous improvement, we deliver performance, innovation, and trust, in addition to cost savings. Our clients gain better tools because they partner with us, and when those tools evolve and improve, it’s often because we helped make them better.
Ready to improve your vendor strategy? Contact us to learn how CENTERS can strengthen your campus operations and student experience.
About the Author: Julie Ray is the Manager of Systems and Operations at CENTERS, where she leads enterprise-wide efforts to streamline operations, optimize software platforms, and support data-informed decision-making. Since joining CENTERS in 2013, she has held both on-site and corporate leadership roles, including guiding the national rollout of a new management software system across all locations. Julie brings a deep understanding of campus center operations, vendor integration, and user experience design. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University and a master’s from Ball State University.