Regardless of your students’ ages, you need technology to educate them, and that technology needs support.
Many schools across the country depend on managed services providers to fulfill their IT needs. You may also want to consider this for your school. Not only will the partnership free up some of your time for more pressing matters, but it also allows your school to have technology professionals handle one of the most critical aspects of its infrastructure.
MSPs have experience working with schools
This means we also have experience with some of the specific IT concerns of your organization. For example, regardless of your students’ age, you have to administer standardized testing, which means you also need the IT hardware and support to make it work. MSPs have back-tested knowledge of the overarching needs for testing as well the software required to administer these tests.
You Will Gain The Following Benefits If You Work With A Managed Service Provider:
Flexibility
School systems must keep up with the rapidly changing technology world. Technology never stays the same. Three of the main factors of these changes are data, security, and automation. The amount of data that we have continues to grow, security protocols are constantly changing to prevent security breaches, and more people are relying on automation. Outsourcing helps your school’s technology infrastructure adapt to the constant changes of IT. To maintain their certifications, IT professionals continuously attend training courses; therefore, they know what the latest IT trends are. An experienced IT provider will also be able to strategize and lay out a plan for your school to better align your network for optimal efficiency.
Cost
Partnering with a reputable managed service provider is more economical because you pay a predetermined monthly cost, and it comes with a team of qualified professionals on board. In addition, you can scale the level of support to match your needs.
User Support
Teachers are not IT specialists; they are there to help students learn. Your teachers need to have the proper resources to educate their students efficiently. By having a team of technology professionals overseeing your classroom technology, your teachers will have access to the technical support they need whenever they need it.
Security
Schools are one of the top targets of cybercriminals. These hackers can do a lot of damage if they get into your school’s network. Just recently, Judson Independent School District, a public school district based in Live Oak, Texas, paid over half a million dollars to hackers as a result of a ransomware attack. As a managed service provider, part of our duty is to ensure proactive security measures are in place to avoid such attacks. Our company can help you defend against these attacks by conducting network assessments, monitoring, training employees, as well as using the most advanced security tools on the market.
MSPs Have Reliable, Redundant Staff
IT managers can be difficult to recruit because the person who fills the role will have a large workload. Additionally, they’ll need to know about the unique software your school uses, different policies for students, and general knowledge of any compliance measures you must meet.
If you do manage to find the perfect candidate, you’re completely reliant on them. However, inevitably, the IT manager will need some time off, which leaves you left without support.
MSPs are structured differently, and we have multiple engineers on staff to avoid any gaps in support. Additionally, we’ve already found the engineers who know how to address all of your problems, so you don’t have to worry about recruiting them.
How can an MSP help your school?
While experience, redundancy, and refresh planning are all important to your school, we know it’s only the start of what you need from an IT support plan.
You ultimately need every component of your IT environment functioning to empower your staff and students. It’s a position that requires knowledge, experience, and attention to detail. Thankfully, these are all things MSPs have provided for schools of all sizes.