One internal IT team + One external IT provider = Unlimited service & delivery

Here’s how one leading private school improved its operational, educational, and technological performance by bringing in an outsourced IT provider to partner with their internal IT team.

St Joseph’s College Echuca is a Kildare Education Ministries Catholic secondary school for students Year 7-12. The school community empowers students to reach their potential through engaging, personalised and relevant learning pathways. And, like many schools, they are increasingly relying on technology to help provide quality education opportunities.

St Joseph’s originally engaged Step Fwd IT for a one-off job to review their infrastructure. After realising their need for school support solutions was well above their capacity, the College invited Step Fwd IT to present a proposal for ongoing managed IT services for their school. In complete fairness, St Joseph’s didn’t want to replace their existing internal IT specialist. However, they knew a hybrid mix of internal and outsourced IT could give their IT the uplift that they needed, including:

• More expertise and support to resolve technical issues
• More time for their IT Manager to think “big picture”
• Better utilisation of IT budget, meeting KPIs and improved ROI
• More insight into the systems, processes and tools other schools are utilising and benefiting from

Impressed with Step Fwd IT’s all-inclusive price point, experience amongst other education clients, and ability and enthusiasm to work alongside the existing team, St Joseph’s decided to lock us in for their education IT solutions.

Part of the communITy

The relationship has been incredibly advantageous. It continues to prove that schools don’t need to completely commit to school outsourced services to gain additional support. Step Fwd IT has freed up time and reduced reliance on the College IT Manager and internal specialist by taking on:

1. Response to technical shortfalls or issues, ensuring quicker response times and less problems overall

2. Recruitment of engineers and responsibility of ensuring KPIs are met, improving accountability and increasing quality

3. Management of IT infrastructure, capability, maintenance and support, allowing the IT Manager the time to focus on strategy and long-term objectives

The Step Fwd IT team have fit seamlessly into St Joseph’s school community, with their onsite engineer offering more than just IT know-how. Step Fwd IT’s own engineer isn’t just there for when things go wrong.  He proactively works to ensure future-proofing, scalability of IT and reliance of St Joseph’s IT systems. He’s even a regular at school functions, a keen member of their quiz team, and was also front and centre in their school performance!

Offering a helping hand for tech upgrades

Beyond the everyday support and extra capabilities Step Fwd IT provide St Joseph’s, they’ve also been able to help them make some IT improvements across the school that they didn’t have the time or expertise to carry out themselves:

Upgrade Wireless Access Points

Too often, money is spent on the visible end of technology without considering the school’s networking infrastructure. Step Fwd IT’s upgrade included a full assessment of the school’s buildings and set up a robust wireless infrastructure design. The result? Increased internet coverage, speed and reliability without breaking the bank.

Implement offsite backups

Previously, all data backups were sitting onsite, putting them at risk of inability to recover data in event of a disaster. Step Fwd IT created a separate offsite backup stored in their secure server.

Upgrade infrastructure

An issue that is far too common, their 10-15 hardware desperately needed replacing. Step Fwd IT introduced newer hardware and expanded capabilities and more capacity.

Initiate monthly reporting

Monthly reporting now provides college staff with the transparency they need to make data driven decisions and take proactive steps. These reports have informed how teachers plan lessons.  Provided with various instruction and immediate visibility into information that is clear and actionable including budgets, spending and student academic performance.

A focus on school-specific IT

Step Fwd IT’s specialist experience in working with private K-12 schools has also allowed us to implement secure school solutions that are specifically aligned with educational needs, and that enhance St Joseph’s operations.

To date, Step Fwd IT has helped St Joseph’s set up:

• Help desk system – a tried and tested system that allows St Joseph’s staff to easily log issues. Also allows them to receive assistance when and where they need it without wait time.
• Documentation system – a cloud-based document system that stores all documentation in one secure location. It’s simple to use and incredibly accessible for students, teachers, and school community.
• Remote management and monitoring tool set – to monitor, identify and report any issues or discrepancies in IT infrastructure. Ideally, all before anything goes wrong or becomes critical.
• Disaster Recovery Plan – a document that outlines different scenarios of disaster and the steps to recover from each. It’s vitally important for schools to have disaster recovery in place, to reduce the impact and downtime if systems are breached or fail.

Specialised IT services for Victorian Catholic Schools

More than IT expertise, Step Fwd IT have a passion and enthusiasm for creating valuable, forward-thinking and effectively managed IT services for school communities. We believe the best outcomes are achieved in partnership – You, Us, Together.

Just like the schools we serve; we’re always looking to keep up with change and provide the best possible outcomes for those who use our services.

If you’re looking for an improved IT service that can understand your business, support your staff and deliver proactive IT management and support, lets talk.