Deal or no deal: How to get the right IT buying advice for your school

Choosing the most suitable IT equipment and resources can be a headache for schools looking to upgrade their tech whilst minimising costs and disruption. With the sheer number of products, solutions and vendors available, it can be a challenge for schools to internally identify the most suitable options. By using external IT specialists, you can gain unbiased advice sourced from extensive industry experience, allowing you to strategically invest with minimal risk. 

Throughout our 20 years of operation, we at Novatia have worked with a multitude of UK schools providing them with our effective and affordable solutions in IT and EdTech. Using our vast amount of experience, we offer IT advice and consultancy services with the aim of helping schools and Trusts succeed in reaching their IT goals. More on us later though… for now, let’s explore why schools might need IT buying advice in the first place.

No Wiggle Room

BESA’s 2023 EdTech Leadership Briefing Paper recently stated that primary schools feel less confident in providing access to IT devices and the internet. Furthermore, motivation behind seeking external IT advice will often stem from financial factors such as budgetary constraints. It’s no secret that UK schools often feel the squeeze of education funding, as the budgets simply aren’t always there to facilitate significant IT upgrades. In fact, IFS analysis warns that the government's upcoming expenditure plans are not sufficient, leading to concerns being raised about possible deficits and subsequent cuts. 

Balancing quality and affordability is the name of the game, and in a world where money certainly doesn’t grow on trees, it's often the most challenging part of the buying process. Unsurprisingly the best tech often comes at the highest costs, and that can be for good reason. As with anything we purchase in life, buying cheap often means lower quality. The same applies for school IT.  Being cost-effective isn't short term, it’s focusing on longevity, quality and minimising the frequency of future re-investment or maintenance costs. In procurement circles, we may talk of economically advantageous not necessarily being the cheapest, but the one which offers the best quality product or service, relative to the needs of the institution, for the lowest total cost of ownership. 

Whilst not necessarily finance-related, it is also worth highlighting how interoperability and compatibility come into play when considering IT purchasing for schools. It's often the case that new devices or software being bought will have to seamlessly integrate with the existing infrastructure, avoiding compatibility issues and helping users be productive. This is another reason why schools end up requiring external IT advice to help see of any potential issues at the specification stage.

Choosing The Right People

When looking for advice, it's important to trust the organisation offering their services and to be able to confidently communicate with them about your requirements. With over 1.5 million people working in the UK public education sector, in a society that is more connected than ever before, independent IT specialists are very accessible. Education professionals have their networks at the tip of their fingers and it’s easier than ever before to reach out to others- a simple LinkedIn post can yield recommendations within a few hours. 

With that being said, there's still nothing wrong with a quick Google search to find out more about the options available to you. Those with a track record and case studies online will naturally be the most attractive, giving you the confidence that they can offer truly valuable advice for your school. Taking the time to read through case studies from previous clients will allow you to better gauge whether or not it'll be a good fit. 

More Than Just A Number

One other thing to look out for is how contracts, payments and disputes are handled, as clarity on this should be expected from the get-go. When this information isn’t made available, perhaps it can be signs of less favourable or unattractive terms being hidden that end up being expensive and difficult to get out of. 

Advice From Novatia

• Pay as you go – Perfect if you have irregular IT procurement needs.
• Pay in Advance – A set number of hours a month to engage with our IT procurement experts to get advice and suggested actions.
• Retainer service – Similar to Pay in Advance with the addition of us undertaking some of the recommended actions on your behalf.