5 Ways Schools and Education Can Benefit from Managed IT Services

5 Ways Schools and Education Can Benefit from Managed IT Services

While we often hear about small and medium sized businesses benefitting from outsourcing their needs to managed IT service providers, the reality is that schools and educational institutions can also leverage these services effectively as the industry embraces digitisation.

#1 – Simplified, Streamlined IT Infrastructure Deployment

 As schools and educational institutions increasingly turn to digital learning solutions, it’s important that rolling these solutions out is a streamlined process, ensuring minimal disruption to the academic schedule. In addition, it is essential to have 24/7 tech support available whenever it’s needed, because as wonderful and exciting as digital solutions are, lessons can be disrupted instantly by anything from slow Wi-Fi connections to malware, forgotten passwords or access issues.

#2 – Creating the Digital Classroom

 While many educational institutions were already seeing the benefits of incorporating digital solutions into the classroom, the COVID-19 pandemic has really highlighted the need for comprehensive, inclusive digital learning solutions. Whether your institution wants to reap the rewards of SMARTBoards and tablets in the classroom or fully-online remote learning, going digital not only makes learning more exciting, it makes it easier to collaborate, track key metrics, analyse learning outcomes, assign homework, communicate with students and parents and much more.

Managed IT solutions providers have the expertise to source the best solutions for your digital strategy, have the relationships with vendors needed to ensure you get your solution within budget, and the skill to not only roll out your solution but manage all your IT needs and issues expertly, as they arise.

#3 – Keeping Operational Costs Under Control

To create an effective digital classroom, it is essential for educational institutions to have access to a team of experienced IT specialists. Rather than running your own resource-heavy team on-site, schools, colleges and universities can save on operating costs and gain valuable expertise by outsourcing this role to an established professional team.

By using a managed IT partner, a large administrative and technical burden is lifted effectively, allowing institutions to access scalable solutions and support for a set monthly cost rather than having to hire and manage employees, invest in and manage assets like server infrastructure and software and divert essential resources away from core operational goals and projects.

#4 – Keeping Critical Data Secure

 Along with the advantages of running digital classrooms and learning solutions come certain risks. Student and staff academic and financial data must be kept secure, not only to ensure the smooth running of the academic year but to prevent misuse of this data through malicious and criminal activity. Educational institutions, like businesses, are vulnerable to cyberattacks both from within and from external hackers. Malware, ransomware and viruses can wreak havoc on systems and databases, removing resources, stealing private information, or blocking your access to the network.

These systems are also vulnerable to user error, where users on the network can mistakenly delete, corrupt or lose critical information causing disruption, downtime and irretrievable data loss.

Managed IT services providers not only provide support through developing a secure network, ensuring security updates are pushed through as needed, and developing secure access levels for staff and students, but also in educating users on the network how to use it correctly and safely, and how to avoid giving malicious users access. We can also set up data backup and recovery systems that ensure losses are minimal in the event that the worst-case scenario occurs.

#5 – Safeguards for Students

With educational institutions adopting digital learning solutions from primary school age all the way through to university level, it is critical that users are properly protected while online. Managed IT services can assist through solutions that not only keep student data safe, but also monitor online activity, educate students on safe online activity and limiting access to ensure only approved recourses and websites can be accessed on the network. This way, students get the best from this innovative, engaging and invaluable learning resource while staying protected during school activities.

Managed IT Services Specialists for Educational Institutions in Australia

At Otto IT, we offer a wide range of IT security and IT systems specifically designed to meet the needs of primary schools, high schools and universities. These include cloud-based solutions for centralised learning, resource access and educational tools, access to superior learning resources and of course, exceptional security for staff and student intellectual property, financial and personal data, as well as secure back-up and recovery solutions. Contact us today to find out more.