Is Outsourcing IT Right For Your School?

School administrators in Colorado rely on Colorado Computer Support’s (CCS) proven record of success providing dependable IT Services and Support to public, private and charter schools throughout Colorado. 

Every summer CCS gets frantic calls from administrators whose internal IT professionals aren’t able to handle their needs.  Schools need the ability to scale up quickly if enrollments rise and sometimes administrators don’t receive enrollment information until the middle of summer.   This is when they call CCS to upgrade their servers, networks, firewalls, security, backup capabilities, and more.

With today’s technology complexities, security vulnerabilities, and the need to scale up or down schools can no longer depend on individual employees to handle their IT infrastructures. To ensure their computer devices, Internet access and IT networks are all operational and totally secure, schools today require the services of a reliable outsourced IT Provider.

Did You Know?

Outsourcing IT can save your school as much as 40% vs. using internal IT employees.  According to a recent Computer Economics study, small organizations lead others when it comes to outsourcing their information technology (IT). Why? — Cost savings. The average cost savings for organizations that outsource IT is 40%.  This is good news for schools that operate under constrained budgets.

The most commonly outsourced IT operations include data center and disaster recovery.  Additional services provided by IT outsourcing companies include virus protection, data backup, purchase consulting, technology infrastructure assessments, and email marketing management.

Other Benefits of Outsourcing Your School’s IT

Flexibility

An IT provider can offer the flexibility of scaling up if your enrollments suddenly spike, or scale down. You won’t be caught short if you need to quickly expand you’re your school’s IT infrastructure.

Outsourcing to an IT provider also allows you the ability to focus on your school administrative functions rather than IT worries. With tight budgets and limited resources, you have the flexibility of choosing basic support services, such as help-desk services, and add more advanced functions later as your budget allows.

Plus consider that an outsourced IT provider can also be an extension of your IT staff if you already have one, as opposed to acting as your entire offsite IT department.

Comprehensive, Up-to-Date IT Expertise

When outsourcing IT you have the expertise of a team of professionals rather than just one or two in-house IT employees.  IT professionals who work for an Outsourced provider are continually trained and certified on the latest technologies. If you outsource, you won’t have to spend time and money training an IT employee. IT companies pay for their employees to be trained and certified in many proficiencies. 

Better IT Management 

Many school administrators don’t even know what an IT employee does, so they can’t effectively supervise what they are or aren’t doing.  With an outsourced company you have a contract to back the service they provide.  Managing an IT staff isn’t easy if you don’t understand and keep up with the latest IT technologies. 

Reduced Costs

Outsourcing to a company that will continually monitor and maintain your IT system is less expensive than hiring even one IT employee. An in-house IT technician will cost your school or school district on average $70K a year, typically more than paying for outsourced IT services. This also removes the expense of recruiting, hiring, and costly benefits that you would have with an in-house employee. Plus an outsourced IT company can provide you with access to services and equipment at a much lower price than a school can on their own.  With an outsourced company you also have a contract to ensure your IT costs are always predictable and comply with your budget. 

Access

An outsourced IT company will provide 24/7/365 coverage, so unlike an in-house employee, illnesses, vacations, family issues and holidays won’t disrupt the management of your system. Plus, according to a report in IT Management, many organizations choose to outsource IT for access to resources that would otherwise be unavailable, such as hardware, infrastructure access, IT capabilities and other benefits.   

Efficiency

When an organization tries to handle IT services in-house, they typically have a much longer research, development, and implementation time. All of these not only increase costs but can also slow down your school’s operational processes.

Security

Your outsourced IT provider can continually and remotely monitor and backup your IT system. With the new hybrid and private clouds you can have a system that is protected and accessible from anywhere 24/7/365, and is totally encrypted and secure. This ensures your school’s IT system is up and running, even during a power outage or any disastrous situation, preventing work downtimes.  When you consider this, your outsourced IT company pays for itself if you’re dealing with IT downtimes or failures.  

With the use of Wi-Fi and computers there’s always a risk that children will tap into unsuitable Internet content and use devices to chat or communicate with friends. Your outsourced IT company will help you mitigate this risk ensuring filters and software are installed at a high level on your school’s Internet feed to block pernicious material and prevent students from participating in distracting behavior. They can even install software to give administrators and educators snapshots of students’ screens. 

Colorado Computer Support

CCS understands the limited resources administrators face, and works with them to come up with solutions that work now and for some years into the future. IT is important because it connects schools to the digital society and enables the next generation to not only function in, but to eventually transform society.

In an effort to comply with a school’s budgetary requirements CCS:

1.  Keeps a school’s technology and computer support costs under control,

2.  Allows for a school to have the best service and support from an IT team with an in-depth knowledge of the latest technologies, versus hiring expensive internal IT staff with limited knowledge,

3.  Offers school administrators a trusted IT professional who can guide and help them make strategic technology decisions,

4.  Keeps an eye on a school’s entire network making sure issues are addressed before they become big problems, and

5.  Will do whatever it takes to keep a school network secure and operational 24/7/365.

About Colorado Computer Support

Colorado Computer Support (CCS) has a proven track record of success with the education community in Colorado. CCS provides all of a school’s IT Support needs—from their servers to their employee workstations, including Wi-Fi and all IT devices that support the operations and learning environment in a school. Our experienced and certified technicians monitor IT networks 24/7/365 and provide regular maintenance for technology-related issues.  We ensure an IT infrastructure promotes a school’s educational goals, now and into the future.

For more information about Colorado Support Services, call Blake Schwank at 719.439.0599 or email: info@coloradosupport.com