Buying new technology is never easy. It’s hard enough on a personal level, with new phones and laptops promising endless improvements to tempt you to part with your cash.
Scale this up to school IT teams having to make purchasing decisions that affect hundreds of pupils and members of staff, with budgets that have flatlined or been slashed in recent years, and the process is even more fraught.
David James, deputy head at Bryanston School in Dorset, sums up this tension: “It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of the latest gadgets, but when the wrong choices are made in this area, it can mean some seriously expensive mistakes.”
As such, it’s crucial that those involved in IT procurement decisions adopt a sensible, well-rounded approach that ensures that what is purchased is fit for purpose and provides genuinely useful improvements to those who use it day-in, day-out.
Write a specification for your IT product
Key to the buying process is understanding what you want to achieve with any new IT investment. Writing a detailed technical specification is a useful first step in the process, with the government providing advice to schools on Gov.uk on this very matter.
It states: “No matter what procurement process you use, always write a specification describing what you want to buy. It helps to make decisions later and tells suppliers exactly what you need.”
It goes on to suggest getting input from the people who will use the products you plan to buy, having discussions with suppliers you are looking at, and considering whether you need any outside expertise to help with the buying process. If you think that’s you, check out this list of the major players.
Get staff buy-in
Understanding what users actually need is crucial to ensuring that budgets are spent wisely. David Nanton, director of information systems at Francis Holland Schools Trust, in London, agrees, saying that such input doesn’t need to be especially detailed but provides an overview of what’s required as a guide.
“Getting a brief isn’t always easy as staff can’t always articulate their technological needs clearly,” he says. “But after discussion about what they’re trying to achieve, it may turn out that the best solution is something completely different.
“I try to encourage staff to focus simply on describing what they want to achieve - however blue-sky it may be - and then letting IT do the leg work for them.”
Cheap isn’t always cheerful
With budgets stagnating, it’s easy for IT buyers to get sucked into favouring the cheapest option. But this doesn’t always deliver true value; sometimes the argument has to be made for spending a bit more. When you do, though, it’s crucial to make the rationale clear and outline the benefits to those approving any purchase.
Rob Hember, network manager at Tor Bridge Academy in Devon, gives the example of securing approval for a higher-end purchase when selecting a new backup system.
By pointing to past failures and explaining how the new system would avoid these, he could demonstrate why the outlay was necessary. “The fact I was able to use a previous example to highlight how the cheapest option isn’t always best was very beneficial,” he explains.
Don’t just stick with what you know
It can be tempting to simply renew the same deal you’re on. “There can be a tendency to stick with a particular manufacturer, especially from the practical maintenance side of things,” Hember explains.
However, both he and Nanton say that IT teams need to remain aware of how technology is changing to ensure their schools are equipped with the best possible tech to serve their needs.
“IT professionals should always be keeping up with the latest developments in the field,” says Nanton. “It’s about asking questions like: ‘How have things changed in the school or in education - or indeed, in terms of technology - since we first invested in this system? Are there more efficient ways of doing this? Can we improve the user experience?’”
Dan Watson is a freelance journalist writing about technology and business
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