As of 2017, an EducationSuperHighway study found that “94% of school districts have reached federal high-speed internet access targets and 88% now say they have sufficient classroom access to WiFi” (Government Technology). These statistics are incredibly satisfying to see, as administrators and teachers are realizing the organizational and instructional opportunities that technology brings. However, the adoption of new tech has its own challenges, such as lack of IT expertise, security risks, and time and money spent to manage it.
Your school staffs’ primary focus is to provide the best education and inspiration for your students, not to worry about HOW that happens. Additionally, your IT department shouldn’t worry if the software applications are running correctly but instead should have the chance to explore innovations that enhance efficiency and functionality. Leveraging an “as a Service” (aaS) provider to manage your school’s IT networks delivers security for administrators, collaboration for teachers, and support for IT staff. The following points highlight these specific benefits.
Reduce Costs
“As a Service” network management eliminates the need to purchase, store, and maintain physical server equipment. Locating and outfitting a space to properly house large hardware is expensive, plus the additional cost for basic utilities and repairs. “As a Service” removes the capital expenditure and significantly reduces costs by employing a utility model.
Your school’s data is housed in a virtual Cloud environment and backed up in an off-site physical location where you’re only billed for space you actually use, not the entire server. “As a Service” providers, like Iserv, use the utility model to help schools reduces overhead costs by as much as 80% while increasing reliability and security. Skipping the onsite data center in favor of data migration to the Cloud also supports a greener environment and improves data availability for your school.
Increase Security
Technology availability in schools expands learning opportunities, but also creates security risks. Students need internet access to collect research, submit assignments, and check grades but must be restricted from inappropriate content. “As a Service” providers build an online environment where your administration can set controls to prevent access to certain sites both on school-owned computers and personal devices.
Additionally, school data should be protected from external threats, such as natural disaster, human error, and cyber-attack. For example: if your network is penetrated by a virus accidentally downloaded from an email, student and teacher personal files, enrollment records, and crucial software applications could be negatively affected. Employing Disaster Recovery as a Service safeguards your network infrastructure by replicating and backing up data to the Cloud, where it can be immediately restored should an event occur. Iserv’s “as a Service” solutions also offer 24/7 network monitoring to help detect and mitigate threats. Securing data with a disaster recovery and backup plan is the same as locking doors and setting up security cameras. Both are used to deliver a learning environment that keeps students safe and operations running smoothly.
Add Simplicity
Using a provider to manage your network does not mean giving up control. “As a Service” constitutes a partnership, where experts help your school’s IT staff design a solution that fits your specific needs. Knowledge sharing, along with round the clock monitoring and support, improves optimization and gives higher performance visibility. Many schools only employ one IT person to maintain all the networks and software applications, leaving them bogged down with trivial tasks. Offloading the risk of maintaining a happy, healthy system relieves the stress and strain on internal resources that could be allocated to better-suited projects.
The purpose of “As a Service” technology solutions are to lighten the financial and technical load in your school. Choosing a reliable partner to help build it boosts efficiency and fosters teaching and learning innovations.