Is Your School Getting The Right I.T. Support?

Selecting the right IT support for your school is often seen as a daunting and lengthy process. But as advances in technology drive digital transformation in homes and schools around the world, it is essential that digital infrastructures and data lines are protected and supported by managed IT professionals. Teachers, tutors, and staff should all be granted the tools they need to work in a growing digital environment and students should always feel safe online. This can be guaranteed with a skilled IT support team and hardware supplier.

But as the demand for technology within the education sector increases and the risks to e-safety become harder to control, how can you be sure that the IT support and services you have are enough?

At Clarion, we have been working with schools to enhance and support their IT infrastructures for over 20 years – we know a thing or two about protecting staff and students online. Let us help you determine whether your school is currently getting the right IT support.

How Important Is I.T. In Schools?

No school, college or organisation can run effectively without technology today. Since the COVID-19 pandemic had swiftly and ruthlessly demonstrated why online education should be a vital part of modern-day teaching and learning.

The effective use of digital learning tools – such as laptops, smart boards, and tablets – in classrooms can increase student engagement, filter harmful content before it reaches students and even help teachers improve their lesson plans. Not to mention preparing students for 21st-century skill requirements.

By integrating IT into existing curricula as well as administrative tasks, teachers are now able to harness online learning as a powerful educational and professional tool. In response to this, managed IT support experts and technology suppliers now offer a range of services and products to keep your IT infrastructure secure and students safe online.

From the digitalisation of course material to provide students with the right laptops and PCs, it is recommended that every school should get professional IT and telecoms support.

What should you expect from an I.T. supplier?

As your school’s needs develop and evolve – along with the heftier digital standards being enforced by the government – it ultimately brings new challenges. To ensure that your hardware, firewalls, and infrastructure all meet IT service and digital equipment standards, you should begin with the right supplier.

There are many factors to consider when selecting the right technology supplier and IT support for your school. When you have the right IT support, you will feel that they not only respect your budget but fully understand the specific needs of your school. The main boxes that your managed IT supplier should be ticking are:

Understanding your expectations

All good relationships are based on good communication and understanding. For an IT supplier and telecoms support to meet your expectations, they need to know your team and school’s needs and requirements. With an understanding account manager, a knowledgeable technical team and a host of digital services, your IT supplier should be able to design a support agreement which suits your school.

The best thing about managed IT services from groups such as Clarion, is that you can always rely on a warm and understanding team of experts. The service level agreement that will be built for you will be based on your needs and should even be easily scaled up or down in response to your budgets and environment.

Offering value for money

A school’s IT department — be it a team or a single person — supports the core function of most daily functions and security of a school. Ensuring that budgets and needs are respected by your external support is essential.

Managed service providers (MSPs) and external IT support can offer a variety of skills, security, and savings but choosing the wrong one can put enormous stress on your budget and department. Ultimately, the correct supplier will ensure that you are maximising long-term value and working towards improving cost with the optimisation of technology. Updated hardware, real-time content filtering, service updates and a knowledgeable support team all go towards preventing cost overruns and alleviating the pressures involved with IT projects.

Meeting technology and support standards

It goes without saying, a managed IT supplier should have knowledge of best practices within the tech industry and should always work towards leveraging those best practices to provide your school with breakthrough strategies. If this is not the case, then it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. But skills and knowledge need to be accompanied by complying with the ever-evolving technology standards.

IT service and digital equipment standards are guidelines put in place by the UK Government to ensure that your school or college uses the right digital infrastructure and technology for learning and safety. The standards are to be used by external support and internal IT staff and teams so that make more informed decisions about technology.

How Can Clarion Improve Your I.T. Infrastructure

Virtual classrooms, video tools, ICT lessons, and other technology tools can not only make classes more engaging but also create more inclusive learning environments. So, when things go wrong, you need to feel confident that your managed services tech support can be there for you. Directly connecting with an in-house member of Clarion’s team will result in the best experiences and ease the tension of a technical fault.

From fully refurbished laptops and phones to managed IT and telecoms support, Clarion Communications Management can meet your school’s IT requirements. Speak with one of our educational experts today for more information today.