Schools opt to outsource IT headache to reseller

Two independent schools in Surrey - King Edward’s and Manor House - have outsourced their IT management to VAR Ramsac.

“The budgeting, specifying, installing and ongoing maintenance of the myriad of IT items on a school’s agenda pose a big challenge for the most seasoned IT co-ordinator,” said Robert May, managing director of Ramsac.

“For those without in-house assistance, the ability to administer local area networks (LANS) with PCs, laptops, scanners and printers; manage internet and broadband service provision; roll-out new and upgraded software applications and operating systems; maintain databases, intranets, extranets and web sites; install interactive whiteboards (IWBs) and operate wireless services, is daunting to say the least."

King Edward’s director of IT, Brian Turner explained why the school decided to outsource to Ramsac. “The company was able to offer the school certain experience and knowledge that we lacked. Ramsac provided us with solutions to many of our IT issues, from technological development, business continuity planning, server failure and technology up-grades to recruiting the right member of staff to manage the day-to-day duties in our IT department.”

Although Manor House school had a full-time IT technician, with more and more equipment entering the classroom, such as PCs and IWBs, as well as the infrastructure needed to support these tools, it was becoming a real challenge for one person alone.
Val Allcott, Manor House school’s administration manager, said:

"A technology failure, such as a curriculum server malfunction, can immediately impact on the usually smooth day-to-day running of our school. However, we are not able to afford a dedicated IT department to meet our needs and even if we could, there wouldn’t be the office space available to home them.”

By working together, Ramsac has already been able to help both schools to implement a realistic timeline for future projects taking into account urgency and budget. Applying business philosophies to the schools IT infrastructures has enabled them to feel more confident in the resilience of their networks, as well as developing a clearer view for future IT strategies.

May added: “A specialist IT consultancy is able to take the stress out of IT and provide the services and skills required to match each individual case."