The increased reliance on and constant changes within Information Communications and Technology (ICT) have required Business Managers within schools to stay abreast with the latest ICT practices or risk operating within an outdated and ineffective ICT environment. The key benefits of operating an efficient and up to date ICT system include keeping ICT costs down, improved alignment with student and staff numbers and requirements, improved performance (availability and reliability of systems), enabling faster and better ICT project implementation, and improving both staff and student satisfaction with the school's ICT systems.
In the traditional buy, build and run ICT model, Business Managers would obtain the ICT requirements from the key stakeholders (staff, students, parents, regulatory bodies) and then purchase the ICT systems to meet these stated needs into the future. The key concern with the model is that it locks the school into a model for at least 3-4 years where the school is unable to meet new stakeholder needs or provide flexibility towards increases or decreases in student or staff numbers. The other major disadvantage is the lack of disaster recovery within an onsite ICT hardware environment.
The modern technology procurement model relies on cloud services for the core services and a service model for the end user. Specifically, Business Managers no longer have to procure ICT hardware such as servers, rather they should rent space on remote servers hosted by companies dedicated to providing high quality ICT hosting services. The key benefits to a cloud implementation are:
ICT Costs - In terms of the business case the evidence is overwhelming. As an example a Cloud Service model would cost less than $2,000 per month, buying 32 CPUs, 128GB RAM, and 2TB of storage. The cost of buying the same computing resources is at least $70,000 (based upon 2 servers plus configuration, warranty, electricity, etc). In other words, you can rent superior IT performance for 36 months, for effectively the same value (cost plus interest) as you can purchase the asset today. The reality is that procuring IT services via a pay per month model is financially less volatile and more predictable, and significantly better in terms of cash flow. In additional the school will be able to reduce its onsite IT staffing requirements resulting in a further saving.
Flexibility - IT Cloud service models are elastic and can grow and shrink based upon demand on a month to month frequency depending on contract requirements.
Storage and Accessibility – The cloud allows storage of all types of data and due to cost savings will allow for increased storage facility for video content as required by school stakeholders. In addition data can be accessed from anywhere by any type of device with improved capability of online collaboration.
Back up – Most well reputed Cloud service providers will have well developed back up facilities that automatically back up and save data.
Disaster recovery – Should a disaster occur at the school IT services could continue at any alternate site with immediate recovery possible.
The latest trends in education have also been a move away from onsite office solutions to cloud hosted solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps. Again, these services afford schools a low cost-per-staff model. No longer does a school need to host and manage the underlying IT associated with a key productively applications, such as email, calendar, contacts, and office applications. Perform a business case on your total exchange server costs to see if you can attain a cost of less than $4 per staff member per month for 50GB of mailbox storage and the ability to send messages up to 25 MB in size.
Transforming your school's ICT environment into a service model simplifies and minimises your ICT infrastructure whilst providing improved flexibility and connectivity. The cloud and service procurement represents a modern transformation with its own concomitant advantages for the shrewd Business Manager.
This publication is issued by Moore Stephens Australia Pty Limited ACN 062 181 846 (Moore Stephens Australia) exclusively for the general information of clients and staff of Moore Stephens Australia and the clients and staff of all affiliated independent accounting firms (and their related service entities) licensed to operate under the name Moore Stephens within Australia (Australian Member). The material contained in this publication is in the nature of general comment and information only and is not advice. The material should not be relied upon. Moore Stephens Australia, any Australian Member, any related entity of those persons, or any of their officers employees or representatives, will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with the material contained in this publication. Copyright © 2014 Moore Stephens Australia Pty Limited. All rights reserved.
