Software Vendors

About Chest

For more than 30 years Chest has worked with suppliers of software to deliver pricing and licence terms and conditions that meet the specific needs of UK and Irish universities and colleges. 

In the late 1980s a group of universities backed by the Computer Board – the forerunner of Jisc - formed the Combined Higher Education Software Team, or CHEST. The team, based at the University of Bath, negotiated the first ever agreement to license software to the university sector. The team soon extended their activity to include Further Education and online resources. The licence contracts became known as ‘Chest Agreements’ once the acronym lost its original meaning. Eduserv was established as a charity in 1999 to provide Chest, OpenAthens and a variety of web services. In January 2019 Eduserv merged with Jisc and Chest became a Jisc Enterprise.

Simplify your route into the academic market

A Chest Agreement is a contract between a supplier and Chest. An agreement allows Chest to market and promote a supplier’s products to universities, colleges and other education providers under the established licence terms and conditions and prices.

A Chest Agreement offers a route into the academic market, saving you time and money and the advantage of Chest’s knowledge and expertise in this sector. If you supply software, we can help your business to grow by:

• raising your profile
• simplifying the sales process
• reducing your sales costs

Advantages of working with Chest

• Negotiate once, centrally, rather than annually by institution, allowing your sales teams to focus on customer relationships and business development rather than protracted negotiations.
• Simplified terms and conditions make for an easier to understand contract for all concerned, removing obstacles to sales and renewals - it's an easier purchase for institutions.
• Centralise invoicing, saving huge amounts of time and effort.
• Enjoy the added legitimacy and authority that a Chest Agreement brings - Agreements are well known for adding value and are trusted by the academic community.
• Extend your reach - Jisc Licensing work with over 500 universities, colleges, research institutions and other education providers, but also reaches further into the institutions, with multiple contacts at multiple levels.
• Promotion included - newsletters, events, announcements, the Chest website and communications become an extra shop window for your products.
• Chest represents the voice of the community, working with high-level community groups to enhance that understanding, and can therefore help vendors better understand the priorities of UK Higher and Further Education.
• Whilst we always strive to get the best deal for our members, we are recognised as being reasonable and realistic - we understand vendors' pain points.

Some views from Chest suppliers:

• “Easy to use, widely understood” Kirk Bellerby, Snow Software
• “Proactive, efficient” Dan Ahlskog, Content Online

What universities and colleges say:

• “Chest provides good value. Not just on pricing but on T&Cs. They are  also an accepted route to market, so they save on procurement effort.” Kevin Hopkins, Software Licensing Manager,  University of Nottingham
• “The Chest Team is knowledgeable about products and licensing so is always easy to deal with.” Brian Smillie, West Lothian College

Interested?  Please get in touch: help@chest.ac.uk