MSP Education establishments are also investing in tech- focused services, Rachel Rothwell, regional director, UK&I, Zyxel Networks, adds. “The big challenge for a lot of schools is how they can meet government guidelines for technology purchases and make best use of their budget,” she says.
“Increasingly, we see multi-academy trusts (MATs) going their own way and adopting new and more advanced options. They are embracing managed services in particular. We have several MSP partners that use our Nebula cloud managed platform to monitor networks across multiple sites for MATs. “For partners, introducing the idea of managed services into schools is a good way of starting a wider conversation about how schools can reorganise and manage their IT in the future. Most schools already make use of the cloud for everyday apps and specialist learning platforms, and it’s a relatively small step from that to having your network devices managed by an expert provider. “A conversation around managed services will almost always lead to a further discussion about hardware choices and enable the partner to put forward different options that will enable make deployment and remote management easier and save the school money as well.”
UCaaS As the pandemic showed, there is increasing appetite for
communication technology, and this is informing buying decisions. “The increasing demand for better connections among educators, students and parents has put UCaaS solutions at the forefront,” says Dion Smith, head of EMEA channel at Zoom. “Having a digital- first mindset is vital in a modern context. Educational institutions need
Dion Smith head of EMEA channel Zoom
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