Choosing an IT provider

The choice of your IT provider is crucial. Changing IT provider is an upheaval and there will inevitably be problems resulting from the transition, so it is helpful not to change too often. Ultimately, you need to focus on what you need as a school and what a potential IT provider can guarantee, regardless of the current infrastructure put in place by a previous IT provider.

This means that before you meet with a potential IT provider, you need to have thoroughly assessed your current provision so that you know exactly what you are going to require of them and they can be up front with you about whether or not they can provide it. And if they admit they can’t, well, that might actually be better than simply making promises that may or may not be kept. An honest, open dialogue is extremely valuable in this relationship.

And if you are not planning to change provider any time soon, now is actually the perfect time answer the questions below so that you are better prepared for when the time to renew or change does come.

The 8-point checklist below will help you in your preparation. You might not need to answer all of the questions but I strongly recommend considering section 6 very carefully in particular.

1)    How do you currently use your IT systems?

For example:

• Do you have a local server or cloud server?
• Where is your SIMs/other Student Management Information System hosted?
• How is this data secured?
• How is your server/network organised?
• Do you keep track of all staff and student users, including those that have left your school and guest access?
• Do children have logins? Do they need logins (GDPR)?
• Can children print? Do your printers need passwords to allow printing? Can you set temporary passwords so that children are temporarily granted access to print?
• Can you print from tablets?
• How is student data currently protected?
• Does your current IT provider liaise with your Data Protection Officer (DPO) regarding safe storage of sensitive data?
• Is sensitive data satisfactorily separated from non-sensitive data?
• How often is your server (including staff areas) backed up?
• Do you have off-site and on-site backups? How are those backups encrypted?

2)    How is hardware managed?

For example:

• How often is computer equipment audited and replaced?
• Does your server have UPS?
• How often is maintenance performed on your server?
• Is your server upgradable and how often are upgrades recommended?
• How are minor problems addressed on individual devices?
• How do you identify individual devices?
• How do you minimise wear and tear on mobile devices such as laptops and tablets?
• How are peripherals such as printers, monitors, headsets, keyboards, mice etc. audited?
• What do you do with obsolete hardware?

3)    How is the network managed?

For example:

• Do you mainly use WiFi or wired ethernet?
• What is the WiFi provision like throughout school?
• What happens when access to the server/internet goes down – do you have any contingency plans for accessing vital documents or other crucial resources?
• How much can be resolved remotely (i.e. the most quickly) by your IT provider?

4)    How are your communication systems managed?

For example:

• How secure is your email provision?
• Do you have an effective system for staff to contact parents without using their individual email address?
• Do relevant staff all have the same level of IT provision e.g. does everyone’s work computer sync with the server so that they are not reliant on other means such as USB drives?
• Are your phones the responsibility of your IT provider or someone else?

5)    List all the problems you currently have with your IT infrastructure in school. Include recurring problems even if they are not currently present.

For example:

• How often do you lose connection to the internet?
• How often is your server inaccessible?
• Are there any existing WiFi black-spots?
• What is the wired networking provision like?
• What (hardware) problems do teachers experience when trying to deliver computing lessons? Ensure you liaise with teachers responsible for computing.

6)    What would a failed IT provision look like? List specifically explicit conditions that you would consider indicate that the partnership between you and your IT provider is failing. Make specific reference to areas you consider to be failing in your current provision.

For example:

• How long between reporting a problem and action being started on the problem would you consider unacceptable?
• How many times do you consider reporting the same problem to be unacceptable?
• What reporting/ticketing systems give you the control over what has been recorded, addressed and solved?
• How can IT problems be quickly but robustly logged by busy staff?
• What network uptime percentage would you consider unacceptable?
• How much will you accept as the responsibility or fault of the previous IT provider?
• How thoroughly do you expect your new provider to assess your current IT infrastructure before they commit to you?
• Will they make their initial assessment of your IT infrastructure available to you?
• How many ”undiscovered” issues (issues they encounter that they did not detect in their initial assessment) will you consider acceptable?

This is a key area to discuss with your potential IT provider. You are not trying to catch the IT provider out, nor to put them on the back foot. The reason you discuss this at the preliminary stage is so that you are both completely clear of what you can expect from this partnership – that they don’t over-promise and you don’t over-expect. It holds them accountable in the event that they do not meet the specific conditions that you have agreed and also allows them to explain clearly what extra costs or challenges these conditions will demand.

7)    What evidence will be logged that the partnership is succeeding?

For example:

• Does each party have a record of what problems have been logged and the response time was to each one?
• Are repeat problems grouped or linked?
• Is server/network downtime logged?
• What is the uptime percentage of your network?

8)    What works with your current IT provider and what would you like to see improved?

For example:

• What are the contact hours like?
• How often do you literally have someone from your IT provider in school and is that enough/too much?
• Do you feel you pay too much for what you get?
• Do you speak over the phone or through support tickets or a combination of the two? Do you prefer having the written record of support tickets or the instant back and forth of a phone call?
• Do you feel that you can trust your current provider in their recommendations for expenditure?
• Do you ever feel that they are not sufficiently skilled or diligent enough and if so, how could your new IT provider more effectively demonstrate this to you?

Why am I suggesting all this?

There are many different IT providers. They have to sell themselves to you in the initial meeting(s). Some IT providers will simply say, “Yes, we can do that. Yes, we can do that too,” without specifically committing to anything.

If you are specific enough in the initial meeting(s), you can hold them accountable when those specific conditions are not met and similarly, if they do a good job, you will actually know why they’re doing a good job because the specific demands you initially made have been met.

Preparation for the initial meeting will take time but this is time you will earn back throughout your partnership with the IT provider.

James