Support companies for your school's IT - Quick poll

[HBPS]

during the new build im being split to look after this place and another 2fe with a potential partnership with another school it would be me looking after 3 schools with a bit of luck previous post i was an IT manager of the largest primary in the authority and in a past life i did your job.. while managing 18 staff. im trying to reduce stress levels while my kids are young

 

None taken, it's not something we do to be honest... I'm not the one who sets prices etc, but as far as I can tell we're extremely competitive (generally V low priced) - however I do get that... A few companies in the area are very bad for this, and it does give support providers a bad name.

 

Sounds like a busy time for you, however once the new build is complete and you've moved do you not see your workload dropping a lot? Or is it a matter of moving onto the next project?

 

 

 

 

 

I guess this is a fair point - we do get involved in this stuff a bit, but I'd imagine not to the extent as if you was onsite all the time.

[googlemad]

I've worked in a place that went through both having managed support and then not (There was a massive argument at one point and that was that!)

 

To be honest I didn't really miss it that much once they had gone, it can be a good thing for your team (assuming you have one!) to learn about how to resolve things when they bugger up, as then they can put it on their CV too - we had apprentices / work experience working on switches and SANs projects for example

 

The money saved you can then put towards maybe a spare couple of switches / server parts in case of failure, and when you're after buying new stuff you can consider a wider range of options, you can always buy in a couple of consultancy days with the suppliers too for them to do the initial install and guide you through the basics

[TechMonkey]

I work for a support company, however I'm curious as to how large these primaries are that require a full-time tech (or multiple)?

 

I'm in no way saying you've got it easy or aren't needed, I'm just curious, as most of my schools get half day a week, barring one that I'd classify as a large primary that has a full day and this works fine (they get the odd callout when it's needed, but usually that's few and far between). If I had a full week at any of these I'd literally be twiddling my thumbs.

 

650 pupils with 130 staff. 2 of us plus looking at getting an apprentice. We do everything that plugs into or runs on the network as well as anything that involves or needs IT, so servers, VMs, storage, PCs, wireless, MIS, Training, Procurement, Installations, Intranet, Website, Helpdesk, helpdesk for the helpdesk, planning, phone system and just about anything else that gets lobbed at us as well as Project Managing anything to do with all of those. Some time to twiddle my thumbs would lovely.

 

I would ask, for those schools with only half a day who is driving the school IT and data use forward, looking after change management and supporting the teachers?

Edited October 18, 2016 by TechMonkey

[GC75]

I worked for the LA for 13 years, then got headhunted in 2014 by one of the primary schools I supported for about 10 of those years, so we dropped the curriculum support with the LA saving about 12K straight away. We still buy into SIMS support through them as it's cheaper as includes our SIMS licence, pushing out updates/patches and of course SIMS support (though I can solve most myself). We kept with them though as SIMS licences direct from Capita would have cost us around 9K and we pay less than half that for full SIMS support.

 

Everything else I do myself in a large primary school, tech support, server work, rebuilding workstations, getting in quotes, project management, admin support with SIMS/SIMS reporting/Target Tracker etc. etc. We have a new headteacher starting soon and apparently she is all for replacing most of our ICT hardware so that should keep me very busy instead of keeping old kit up and running/cannibalising etc.

[Sylv3r]

All our support is down in house plus our 5 primaries.

 

The only outsourcing we do, but is very rarely used is CAPITA direct for SIMS and Canon for our MFD's.

[markwilfan]

All in house here apart from the fact I'd be all at sea many a time if it weren't for Edugeek

 

Additionally I do have call on a superb Apple expert based in Weston Super Mare for that added extra support on our small fleet of Macs and also a Windows expert who used to be a school's IT Tech but set himself up as a consultant now based in Swindon. Both highly recommended by myself.

That would be John then

 

Le edit

 

John roberts

Edited October 19, 2016 by markwilfan

[sparkeh]

I work for a support company, however I'm curious as to how large these primaries are that require a full-time tech (or multiple)?

 

I'm in no way saying you've got it easy or aren't needed, I'm just curious, as most of my schools get half day a week, barring one that I'd classify as a large primary that has a full day and this works fine (they get the odd callout when it's needed, but usually that's few and far between). If I had a full week at any of these I'd literally be twiddling my thumbs.

 

Full time in large primary (600 on roll) and I can assure you I am never twiddling my thumbs!

 

Everything is I'm house here except sims support, we use the LA for that.

 

I think that the difference with a support company is that, possibly, you are able to be adventurous and offer more services. Also you end up doing *everything* vaguely IT related. So for exampIe I administer sims, code and maintain the assessment trackers, manage our Tapestry accounts, booking system, remote access, visitor system, display screens, website etc etc and very much etc

Edited October 19, 2016 by sparkeh

[speckytecky]

Yep; sure is John. Top man. Ever helpful and darned great value as well.

 

That would be John then

 

Le edit

 

John roberts

[witch]

Part time in a medium sized junior school

I still have two networks and the LA support the admin side.

I have a support company that come in once a month for a couple of hours to help with the bigger stuff. But really I have them because they do phone support and can remote into the server if needed, either when I have a real problem or if there is an issue when I am not here.

[pete]

Hardware has 4hr or NBD warranty, depending on how critical it is. Certain hardware has additional support (phone system, storage backend, tills), simply because we don't deal with enough broken systems of that variety to be able to necessarily fix in a timely manner.

 

Software-wise the MIS and a few other bits and bobs have vendor support as part of the annual cost.

[GuyJD]

3 form entry Primary here with all support supplied in house by myself other than MIS which is still handled by the LA.

I also have the option of hourly rate support from my old company if I need more hands.

[pantscat]

This is on the cheeky side of requests, but those of you who have support contracts, would you be happy to PM me details of what you're currently paying?

 

I promise I won't spam you and try and sell my services! :-)

 

The reason I ask is that there seems to be a huge disparity in the costs between various support companies - ranging from costs of around £110 for half a day of technician time all the way up to something ridiculous like £325. It's just some market research for me, more than anything.

 

Also - do you guys pay a retainer/support contract? or is it just ad-hoc?

[Nausing]

We've had up to 7 FT technicians at our college. We currently have me (NW Manager FT) and 3 FT 1st Apprentices. We are soon going to be introducing a managed service provider so look after all 2nd and 3rd like network and server related calls.

 

We have approx 250 staff and 1250 students. Staff here are too used to technicians dealing with an issue straight away we couldn't possibly allow them to wait a day or two.

 

We need technicians to deal with simple IT things such as cabling, moving kit, turning a projector on and adjusting the volume. What is wrong with teachers!?

[pete]

We need technicians to deal with simple IT things such as cabling, moving kit, turning a projector on and adjusting the volume. What is wrong with teachers!?

 

You're not letting them fail often enough and so they don't need to learn basic skills.

[witch]

You're not letting them fail often enough and so they don't need to learn basic skills.

 

TBF in some cases it doesn't matter how often they fail - they never learn

[pete]

TBF in some cases it doesn't matter how often they fail - they never learn

 

This is when ticket analysis of the "% of our time was spent reminding Eric to check it was turned on" is handy, especially if you calculate actual wages cost (Eric not being able to do his job + technician time spent pandering to him).

 

Persistent offenders should soon be costing the school more than their dept has in the textbook budget, which does raise eyebrows.

[mowgli82]

I would ask, for those schools with only half a day who is driving the school IT and data use forward, looking after change management and supporting the teachers?

 

This, in my experience is the difference between having someone full time and someone coming in for a few hours a week.

Teachers are generally too busy with teaching to worry about driving IT forward and to be honest a lot of teachers don't know whats out there or how to implement something they have seen.

 

The other side of this is as techs sometimes you can see a great product or idea but be unsure as to how to get staff behind it and actually bring a value to teaching other than just another piece of technology that is under utilized

[sippo]

TBF in some cases it doesn't matter how often they fail - they never learn

 

Which is ironic, as they work in a place where learning is key...

[dpskinner]

Nursery, Primary, Secondary and 6th Form boarding School. Me (IT Manager) and one technician, all in house.