Five Benefits of Managed IT Services (MITS) for Schools and Universities

Benefit #1 – Simplifying the deployment of an IT infrastructure

The first of our five benefits of a Managed IT Service (MITS) provider in the education sector is simplifying the deployment of an IT infrastructure. 

Implementing any facet of an IT infrastructure can be a costly, time-consuming task for an internal IT department. Whether through the need for Remote IT Support, device deployment, laptop/pc imaging, or device tagging expanded across several hundred devices, it can place a small IT department under undue strain in the education sector. All of these issues arise before an IT department could even consider undertaking the remote monitoring and management of devices that have been deployed, exemplifying the vast array of challenges faced. For this reason, many schools and universities look to a Managed IT Services (MITS) provider to implement a solid foundation for their IT estate, simplifying the deployment of an IT infrastructure for their internal IT department.

As we have learned from Adrian Lawson, IT Manager at Craven College, this benefit of simplifying the deployment of an IT Infrastructure was a key reason for using Apogee as their Managed IT Service (MITS) provider. Adrian explained, "So we literally couldn't have done the project without Apogee, we've only got a small team. It's probably the same across all the education sector. We've got a small IT Department. So Apogee came and installed all the devices. They did a lot of the leg work, removing the packaging. This all takes a lot of time. So taking all that pressure away from my team, it's been excellent. I think managed services in education, it's difficult to have the bigger teams in education and the specialist skills. So manage services, it's only going to grow within education. It makes sense to outsource some of those skills to manage services."

Benefit #2 – Reduction of Internal Operating Costs

The second in our five benefits of Managed IT Services (MITS) for schools and colleges centres on the reduction of internal operating costs. A Managed IT Services (MITS) provider such as Apogee can not only perform the same tasks as an internal IT team, but they can do so remotely with a larger, more experienced team of IT experts versed in an array of solutions. This team of IT experts are supported and complemented by a dedicated team of 200+ engineers at a price that remains transparent and cost-effective for the duration of your contract.

There are several areas where a Managed IT Services (MITS) provider can save an education sector organisation money through the reduction in internal operating costs. Through the deployment of a Managed IT Services (MITS) provider, schools or universities do not require staff or resource-heavy IT departments to run their IT infrastructure and network, as they offer remote operation. Rather than hiring and managing a large IT department, schools and universities gain a reliable, trusted professional team of IT experts. With this remote deployment of a Managed IT Services (MITS) solution, IT services become easily scalable without substantial resource investments.

Avoiding these considerable resource investments becomes even more applicable to the education sector, which relies on a limited operational budget for technology and device investment. Gareth Dixon, VP of Finance at Craven College, succinctly explained this issue facing schools, colleges and universities when he explained to Apogee, "In my opinion, we don't get paid as much as we should do from central government, and that makes a large capital investment unaffordable. Technology can also cost money when you're least expecting it. With Apogee, we know exactly how much we'll be paying for the next four years."

Apogee's wide-ranging Managed IT Services (MITS) offering can reduce operating costs in the education sector across schools, colleges and universities throughout the spectrum. From Skipton to London, Apogee realise the vital role they play in enabling education establishments to offer the best learning environment they can to students at a cost they can afford. Paul Rylands, Director of Managed IT Services (MITS) put this best when he said, "Over the next five years, we'll see each area of education investing in technology. In that case, we play a major part in providing the hardware but also the services which ensure that when it's in situ, it continues working to the levels that they expect and the levels of service that they require to make sure they can do their core job, which is to educate."