What an information technology (IT) managed service provider is#

An IT managed service provider is a company, or sometimes a single person, who takes responsibility for managing your school’s technology.  

This includes managing:

• your devices to make sure they have the latest security updates
• your network to make sure all areas of your school can access Wi-Fi
• resolving technical issues that your teachers and staff may have with their devices
• any other technology your school might have such as smart TVs and smart whiteboards.

If your school does not have an in-house staff member who can look after your technology, we recommend using an IT managed service provider.

How to find an IT managed service provider#

There are several IT managed service providers that have experience working in the education sector, ranging from large organisations to 1-person providers. Along with doing your own research online, we recommend asking other schools in your area to understand who they use and what their experiences with their provider has been.

We also recommend that you consider at least 3 IT managed service providers so you can assess their suitability for your school’s requirements, to make sure you are getting the best value.

What to consider#

To better understand the services a potential provider can offer you, discuss the following.

What services will be provided#

The services that a provider will include or exclude is often described in a service level agreement (SLA). You should both be clear on who will be responsible for:

• support for school-issued laptops, mobiles, bring-your-own-device (BYOD), Wi-Fi router, and smart TVs or whiteboards
• making backups of your data and testing them
• management of your staff user accounts – including provisioning and deprovisioning in a timely manner
• managing the security configurations in your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
• domain name management
• monitoring software updates and alerts from your antivirus, Google Workspace, and Microsoft systems
• website services
• helpdesk services
• incident management support.

You could have 2 providers helping you. For example, 1 can help with your website and 1 with security configurations.

Who will support your school#

Ask the provider:

• about the suitability of their staff to be providing services to your school
• if they rely on any other vendors to help provide services to you
• if you will have a specific person (or people) working for your school, or if the service is performed by a range of people in the organisation
• if there is a person who can support on-site, and if so, how often
• how their staff stay up to date with technology changes and services in the education sector.

What support is available in an incident#

Ask the provider:

• what support they will provide in the event of a cyber incident
• what hours they can support you
• what their incident capabilities are
• if they would tell you if they had an incident.

What software experience they have#

Ask the provider:

• if they have experience managing Google Workspace for Education or Microsoft 365 education editions
• if your school has any servers on site, whether they have experience managing these
• if they are able to manage Windows and MacOS devices
• what software they will use to manage your devices and how they would request access to your device to help troubleshoot any issues.

What security practices do they follow#

Ask the provider:

• how they secure the passwords that they will use to manage your school’s technology
• whether they use 2-factor authentication on all accounts
• if they test their systems and backups
• if they keep good logs.