highsky Posted May 6, 2020 Posted May 6, 2020 Anyone care to share positive feedback from using them available ones for Google. I can also use the negative feedback too if not here, a message will do. Thanks
Sylv3r Posted May 6, 2020 Posted May 6, 2020 They're all accredited Google for Education Partners and will likely be using one of RM Unify, Wonde or Salamander for MIS Integration. Just because you haven't heard of some of them, doesn't mean they can't do it. Some of the bigger names in the Education space I wouldn't touch due to past experiences. Absolutely, I wasn't having a prod at any of them. It was more about the sheer man power and the size of the business then the quality of the service provided. To be honest - the smaller companies might do a better personalised job then the big boys. 1
GreyWhirly Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 Absolutely, I wasn't having a prod at any of them. It was more about the sheer man power and the size of the business then the quality of the service provided. To be honest - the smaller companies might do a better personalised job then the big boys. That's a good point ... although working through the list trying to suss them out from purely looking at their websites is madness. I feel as though I'd like to ring them all up ... but that's not possible either! It would be helpful if they had been split into regions for the smaller companies - at least they could be narrowed down that way!
paulkerton Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 That's a good point ... although working through the list trying to suss them out from purely looking at their websites is madness. I feel as though I'd like to ring them all up ... but that's not possible either! It would be helpful if they had been split into regions for the smaller companies - at least they could be narrowed down that way! The thing is, most of them operate UK wide. There isn't a great deal of money to be made from selling what is essentially a free product, selling devices with a £2 per device profit margin and management licenses where rivals are willing to sell at cost or a loss in order to get your business. Keeping that regional basically makes it impossible to operate.
GreyWhirly Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 The thing is, most of them operate UK wide. There isn't a great deal of money to be made from selling what is essentially a free product, selling devices with a £2 per device profit margin and management licenses where rivals are willing to sell at cost or a loss in order to get your business. Keeping that regional basically makes it impossible to operate. I do see what you mean. It's just normally when choosing suppliers, we tend to go by recommendations or locally-based (depending on type of service). This feels a bit like picking a name out of a hat ... or there is also the option of not choosing one and having one allocated ... not sure what criteria would be applied for that though!
paulkerton Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 I do see what you mean. It's just normally when choosing suppliers, we tend to go by recommendations or locally-based (depending on type of service). This feels a bit like picking a name out of a hat ... or there is also the option of not choosing one and having one allocated ... not sure what criteria would be applied for that though! Give some of them a call, or look for their testimonials on their websites for schools that are close, and see if you can get in touch with them. If they don't answer, or don't publish a number then there is your answer for that particular company! You'll definitely get a feel for the company from a phone call, based on how "hard sell" they are. I was never comfortable speaking to a company and asking them about a particular task only to hear them pontificate about other products. Enquire about my plans, sure, but upselling at the beginning never felt good to me. Some of them are definitely regional, but most aren't. If they have a regional name identifier, they're probably not for you. I used to work for one of the listed companies, and I would recommend them day after day, but I don't want to do that in this instance, cause that wouldn't be fair on any of the other companies.
GreyWhirly Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 Give some of them a call, or look for their testimonials on their websites for schools that are close, and see if you can get in touch with them. If they don't answer, or don't publish a number then there is your answer for that particular company! You'll definitely get a feel for the company from a phone call, based on how "hard sell" they are. I was never comfortable speaking to a company and asking them about a particular task only to hear them pontificate about other products. Enquire about my plans, sure, but upselling at the beginning never felt good to me. Some of them are definitely regional, but most aren't. If they have a regional name identifier, they're probably not for you. I used to work for one of the listed companies, and I would recommend them day after day, but I don't want to do that in this instance, cause that wouldn't be fair on any of the other companies. I've called a couple already! It's just a bit of a long list ... and I have someone who is keen to make the application sooner rather than later! :-)
paulkerton Posted May 7, 2020 Posted May 7, 2020 I've private messaged you GreyWhirly. What I wanted to say didn't feel appropriate for the forum 1
techy32 Posted May 8, 2020 Author Posted May 8, 2020 How did you apply for the devices? Are you MAT Secondary school? Cannot find any guidance on how to apply for the devices.Headteacher received the email and our finance manager applied for the devices. These will be distributed through LA... There is no time frame on the distribution of these devices so waiting... 1
techy32 Posted May 8, 2020 Author Posted May 8, 2020 for office 365 do you need to go through your finance team / BM ? As far as I know you work with a partner for setup teams/google classroom and they get direct funding from dfe for this. School don’t need to raise PO etc.You apply for the program and choose your partner. They will do an initial meeting where they discuss scope of work and also out of scope work.... You will raise a PO, Yes they need a PO which will be submitted by the partner to DfE and the money will be released to us and we will pay the money to the partner when the project is completed... We are at a stage of providing PO so the rest is also not confirmed yet... 1
titch Posted May 8, 2020 Posted May 8, 2020 I have used Agile ICT before in varouis local primaries around Hampshire. In terms of customer service they are the best company I have ever used.
StevieM Posted January 21, 2021 Posted January 21, 2021 @StoneGroup_JackW - Is this DfE funded scheme still running? I've just completed the form, following a link in another thread, on the off-chance. 1
StoneGroup_JackW Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Hi @StevieM, yes the DFE grant has been confirmed its running until the end of March Jack
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