Do You Need On-Site Tech Support?
5 Areas To Consider
The number of charter schools is growing in the United States, with more than 7,000 open in the 2017-2018 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
And this number is expected to continue growing. The number of students in public charter schools rose by more than 150,000 from the 2016-2017 school year to the 2017-2018 school year, according to the national alliance.
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With this kind of growth, it’s critical that charter schools have the right technology infrastructure and support. They need to have a solid system in place that ensures they can handle all the student, teacher and staff demands.
In order to do this, many charter schools use on-site tech support. By having a knowledgeable IT technician at school, they’re able to handle issues and look at any site-related problems. As an added bonus, many charter school staff, teachers and students develop positive relationships with the technician.
So how can you decide if on-site IT support is right for your charter school? Here are five areas to consider:
1. You have a high volume of support tickets
If your school has a high volume of support tickets, especially for more entry-level issues, you may benefit from having an on-site IT resource.
Having a knowledgeable IT expert on-site can help identify any larger issues that may be contributing to these problems. They are also able to work face-to-face with students, staff and teachers to get all issues resolved.
They’ll be able to see if the whole school would benefit from more technology training, so they can get more value and decrease the number of issues with the current systems.
2. Your staff isn’t very tech-savvy
As more schools start using technology in the classroom, the number and complexity of these applications increase. To ensure that your school community is getting the most from this investment, an on-site technician can help troubleshoot issues and explain how to use the variety of technology applications your school is using.
An on-site technician is available to answer questions and help alleviate any issues before they can become major obstacles to use. Having a more informal and low-key face-to-face interaction can be less intimidating for those who are struggling to use the school’s technology. Speaking to a person your staff sees every week may be much more comfortable than trying to explain an issue in a support ticket form.
3. Your infrastructure is complex
For many schools, their infrastructure is becoming more and more complex as they add new systems and applications.
It may be due to rapid growth that lead to a network that is cobbled together over time in order to handle the greater demand. It may also be due to the opening of new school locations, which required the network to connect with a number of other schools.
Whatever the reason, having a complex infrastructure introduces more potential issues. It can be easier for an on-site technician to see how the network is set up and identify any issues. They’ll also be on-site to explain these higher-level issues and how they’re impacting the school’s technology performance.
4. Most of your IT resources are on-premises
Although more and more schools are going to cloud-based applications, some schools are still using on-premises servers to store data. This can lead to issues, and it’s easier for an on-site technician to deal with these issues if they’re on-site every week.
This also saves a technician a trip to address routine issues like maintenance and upgrades. They can also do more proactive monitoring of the servers as part of their weekly on-site visit.
5. You and the school community really value in-person relationships
One of the key benefits of having weekly or biweekly on-site tech support is the relationship you develop with your IT technician. Technology issues are frustrating and it can create another added layer of stress trying to resolve them via email or phone.
Many schools find it to be a great added benefit for their overall user satisfaction when they bring in a weekly IT technician to answer questions, resolve issues and keep the systems well-maintained. For many schools, this in-person service is a key part of their IT support services.
Share Your Experiences:
Does your charter school have on-site tech support? Do you find it helps improve the overall user satisfaction for your students, staff and teachers? What are some things that your technician does during their on-site hours every week? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
30-Second Summary:
- Many charter schools have weekly or biweekly on-site tech support as part of their IT support services.
- Bringing in these on-site IT technicians can help address smaller issues, identify areas that need additional training and help develop relationships with the school’s students, teachers and staff.
- For schools that are considering adding on-site tech support, here are five areas to consider:
- You have a high volume of support tickets
- Your staff isn’t very tech-savvy
- Your infrastructure is complex
- Most of your IT resources are on-premises
- You and the school community really value in-person relationships
- Bringing in an on-site technician can improve both the overall performance of your technology as well as the user satisfaction of your students, staff and teachers.
