How Managed IT Can Improve the Quality of Life for Staff and Students Alike
Managed IT is a solution that allows schools, colleges, and universities to provide high-level IT services for their staff and students even when they don’t have the resources in-house. Worldwide, 48% of school students use computers in the classroom, while 63% of K-12 teachers use technology in the classroom on a daily basis.
As education becomes increasingly technology-based, managed IT is ever more useful to educational institutions. Here are six ways that managed IT can improve the quality of life for staff and students alike.
Access to the newest technology
Working with an expert third-party IT service gives staff and students access to the latest and best technology. Few educational institutions are able to afford state-of-the-art technology as part of their in-house IT infrastructure but managed IT offers just this.
Furthermore, these service providers regularly update both their software and their hardware in order to remain competitive in the market. This will improve staff and students’ quality of life by making processes more efficient, as well as making new learning tools available.
Enhanced communication
Managed IT can greatly improve communication between teachers and students. Because this service offers access to the latest technologies, teachers and students can use the latest tools to communicate with each other, from messaging services to video conferencing programs.
Additionally, managed IT services mean round-the-clock support and reduced downtime, as dedicated experts are on hand to resolve any issues and keep things running, often on a 24/7 basis. This, in turn, means that staff and student communication will not be impacted by outages.
Backup monitoring
Backup is extremely important. However, in the context of the busy workload of an educator, it is easy to fall behind with backup. This can be potentially disastrous and may set back lessons and learning outcomes if files are lost and can’t be recovered.
Outsourcing their IT management means that the staff doesn’t need to worry about backing up. Rather, the managed IT service will oversee backup monitoring, ensuring files are regularly and adequately backed up.
Email security
Cybersecurity, and email security, in particular, is a major concern for anyone using the internet, and staff and students are no exception. More than 90% of all malware is delivered by email. This malware can then disable or damage the computer, making it unusable for staff or students.
Managed IT services invest plenty of resources into security solutions. They also have specialists on staff with in-depth professional knowledge on the subject. This gives schools and colleges access to the highest level of cybersecurity, protecting them from malware and other email security threats.
Server monitoring
Another vital service offered by managed IT services is server monitoring. This is vital because it can identify and troubleshoot any issues with services, therefore ensuring top performance and minimizing downtime. Monitoring also helps educational institutions to make their servers more efficient by finding blocks that may be slowing things down.
Server monitoring as part of managed IT can, therefore, prevent outages and downtime, meaning staff and students will be able to continue using technology without interruption. At the same time, increased performance will make learning faster and more efficient.
Advanced learning
This greater use of technology will also enhance learning processes and outcomes. Working with IT experts through managed IT gives educational institutions access to tools like video conferencing, electronic blackboards, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
These tools allow educators to be more effective and creative in their teaching strategies and to make learning more accessible to students. Students each have their own individual learning style, and advanced technologies help to cater to everyone. Additionally, technologies make learning accessible from home or over long distances. Managed IT can greatly boost efficiency in an educational setting, while also offering access to the latest tools and technologies and improving the quality of life of staff and students.