From the bell to the smartboard to the locks on the doors, a modern (or modernizing) K-12 school system is reliant on an interconnected, data-driven network. With all its benefits comes the increased possibility for things to go wrong. And for already-stretched IT departments, that adds more work to an already-overwhelmed schedule. With the right tools, though, IT departments can keep up with the demand and ensure school districts stay connected on every level.
6 issues that make IT management more difficult at K-12 schools
1. IT teams at K-12 schools rely on a reactive maintenance model. IT staff is called once something breaks. This kickstarts a potentially lengthy process of troubleshooting issues, developing a solution, and implementing the fix. Those wait times are a detriment inside and outside the classroom.
2. All the buildings in a school district are geographically dispersed. Elementary, middle, and
high schools are typically not in the same building but are still served by the same IT team assigned to the district. This means IT staff often shuttles back and forth between sites, spending precious time arriving on-site that could be spent solving problems. This effect is even more profound for regional districts, where facilities can be many miles away from each other.
3. Bottlenecks form quite often. Support tickets quickly back up in a school district due to
the facilities’ dispersed nature. It’s not uncommon for IT staff to take calls on one issue while
texting or emailing about another. This impacts the staff’s ability to focus on one task at a time.
It also affects directors who can’t work on higher-level managerial tasks, as they’re needed
to help clear the backlog.
4. School districts typically have small IT teams. Whether they serve a few hundred or a few
thousand students, most K-12 districts have only a few IT specialists on hand. And in many cases, those professionals have less experience than their seasoned peers. This contributes to the
bottleneck created by dozens of open support tickets.
5. The smallest interruptions have a big impact. Whether they serve a few hundred or a few
thousand students, most K-12 districts have only a few IT specialists on hand. And in many cases, those professionals have less experience than their seasoned peers. This contributes to the bottleneck created by dozens of open support tickets.
6. IT staff struggles to pursue other beneficial technologies. Whether they serve a few hundred or a few thousand students, most K-12 districts have only a few IT specialists on hand. And in many cases, those professionals have less experience than their seasoned peers. This contributes to the bottleneck created by dozens of open support tickets.
Why K-12 schools should move toward a proactive maintenance model
To help avoid disruptive wait times, school districts can explore a proactive maintenance model. With a proactive maintenance model in place, the IT staff’s goal shifts to prevent problems before they start, instead of leaping into action when something goes wrong. This model is proven to improve equipment reliability while reducing the downtime that hurts students.
Between the rise of IoT, bring your own device (BYOD) programs, and the pervasiveness of technology like smartboards in the classroom, a reactive maintenance model with a skeleton IT staff simply can’t keep up. All these touchpoints increase the number of issues, and the types of issues, that can occur. However, there’s no alternative – school districts want and need to embrace the most modern standards, and IT support is an integral part of its success.
When there are only so many hours in the day – and an ever-growing list of to-dos from all departments and facilities in the district – this transition can seem daunting and challenging. The right AI-driven tools, like Cluster Networks’ FRIDAY AI, can help.
How FRIDAY AI works FRIDAY AI utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor IT infrastructure, but it goes a step beyond simply notifying IT support when something is about to go awry. FRIDAY AI gets to the bottom of the problem and puts a resolution in place, saving time, money, and frustration.
Utilizing FRIDAY AI’s four pillars – discovering, monitoring, triage, and resolution – the technology tracks, diagnoses, and solves issues throughout a school district’s IT setup, no matter how far away the devices and systems may be located. Through an intuitive dashboard, IT staff gets a wide view into device status, the status of network clients, and the number of critical support cases at each site. The dashboard provides direct insight into what’s happening on the ground, as opposed to issuing a report that’s read and acted upon later. If an issue is detected, FRIDAY AI kicks in right away, running diagnostics to identify the root cause of the problem and taking the next steps to solve it.
Three ways FRIDAY AI supports IT staff in K-12 school districts
FRIDAY AI solves problems faster. Here’s how it helps.
FRIDAY AI saves time FRIDAY AI identifies and solves issues in hours or minutes – instead of days – without dedicating a staff member to diagnosing problems. When something goes wrong, FRIDAY AI kicks in automatically. This helps stretched teams achieve more with the same number of hours in the day. When lost time means lost dollars and lost learning time, those hours add up.
FRIDAY AI also cuts the mean time to resolution (MTTR), which can be quite long without assistive AI technology. That’s because a good chunk of an IT staff’s time can be spent on diagnostics alone. When FRIDAY AI handles the time-intensive first level diagnostics and automates some of the most common fixes, the MTTR shrinks by hours and days.
Friday AI is scalable IT staff is all too familiar with a never-ending backlog of support tickets and jam-packed schedules. FRIDAY AI doesn’t face the same limitations as a person. The system can diagnose and resolve hundreds of issues at the same time, so FRIDAY AI can grow as your district adapts new tech. This takes the workload off busy IT staff so they can focus on higher priority items.
FRIDAY AI’s proactive approach helps teachers Teachers shouldn’t have to double as tech support experts. With a proactive maintenance model, FRIDAY AI catches and resolves issues before they reach the classroom and disrupt learning time. Teachers can focus on their students since they’ll be confident the IT component of their classrooms is in good hands.
School’s always in session with FRIDAY AI Minimize downtime and keep facilities running smoothly. With FRIDAY’s AI-driven assistance, the entire K-12 district benefits from more consistent uptime inside and outside the classroom. Proactive maintenance helps identify issues across thousands of touchpoints before issues arise, without relying on overworked staff that needs to spend time on the larger picture. No matter the size or sprawl of the district, FRIDAY gets it done.