Educational institutions face unique challenges balancing innovation, security, and budget constraints. (UCISA Digital Capabilities Framework; Jisc Digital Experience Survey 2023)
Here’s how one university made a strategic technology pivot:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲: A UK university with 12,000 students was facing rising IT costs, fragmented systems, and growing security concerns with their traditional infrastructure approach.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Their review highlighted:
– Over £200,000 annually spent on maintaining aging on-premises systems
– 3 significant security incidents in the previous year
– Students frustrated with inconsistent access to learning resources
– Staff spending excessive time on technical issues rather than teaching
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Rather than a costly infrastructure refresh, they pivoted to:
– Migrating email and productivity tools to Microsoft 365 Education
– Implementing a cloud-first approach for new applications
– Developing a standardised virtual desktop for specialist software
– Creating a unified identity management system
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
– Reduced annual IT costs by £175,000
– Improved system uptime from 97.2% to 99.8%
– 86% reduction in security incidents
– Student satisfaction with IT services improved by 31%
𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗪𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗽: Evaluate Microsoft 365 A3/A5 licensing for education. Most institutions discover they’re paying for multiple solutions that could be consolidated under these licenses, often with enhanced security and functionality.
What educational technology challenges are you facing? Share in the comments for some practical advice.
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