Two Areas for K-12 Schools to Assess for When to Work with a Managed Services Provider
Today's K-12 schools are confronting a rapidly transforming IT landscape. The complexity of today's IT network infrastructure and increased cybersecurity risk are quickly moving beyond many school districts' ability to manage on their own.
But a new technology model, a partnership with a managed services provider (MSP), offers a way forward for schools to overcome these challenges. Managed services partnerships bring a team of expert talent, a track record of industry experience, and the most up-to-date technology to allow schools to succeed in a new world of IT complexity and cyberthreat. By partnering with MSPs, school districts can benefit from higher performance, security, and cost-efficiency, and, maybe most importantly, regain the ability to place their primary focus on core activities while ensuring that their IT infrastructure stays in good hands.
U.S. schools, however, are at a particular disadvantage when it comes to keeping up with the fast-moving changes of today's IT infrastructure. As one example, the U.S. puts just 12.7% of public funding toward education, a percentage well below the international standard of 15% for many other developed countries, according to the Education Data Initiative, and an amount that restricts schools' ability to leverage and manage IT effectively.
In areas like cybersecurity, this disadvantage is even more acute. Among other factors, because schools possess data on minors considered highly sensitive, schools have increasingly become enticing targets for cyber attacks. In 2021 and 2022, for instance, education and research institutions faced the highest cyber attack volumes each month of any sector, and suffered an average of 2,297 attacks per week, according to Check Point Research.
Yet, making the decision to join forces with an MSP can mark a seismic shift for many school districts and understandably pose some difficult first-time questions. For example, how can an MSP's services and expertise best complement the staff and day-to-day IT operations of a district? What's the right budget to allocate for an MSP? And, perhaps most importantly, what's the right time to come to a decision about when a district can no longer manage its IT and cybersecurity infrastructure competently without outside help?
To guide schools with these decisions, here's a breakdown of two important areas in which an MSP can be a game changer. Managing IT infrastructure and monitoring cybersecurity are two areas that an MSP can make a crucial difference in, and two areas that a district should particularly assess in determining when it begins to reach a tipping point where partnering with an MSP may be the best move.
1) Managing IT Infrastructure Complexity
One way in which an MSP can transform a district's IT operations is in managing the sheer size and sophistication of today's IT infrastructure.
Consider that when schools first built computer networks and connected to the internet, in the '90s, a small staff was able to monitor and maintain the IT infrastructure. Today, however, the internet has become foundational for teacher and student success, and the demands for a high-performing, highly secure, and highly reliable IT infrastructure are paramount. Maintaining these systems requires expert IT staffing and investments in network and security monitoring tools to ensure optimal reliability and security.
The crucial challenge, though, that has emerged on this front is the hiring, training, and retaining of competent IT staff. This is primarily because of the wage gap between what public institutions are able to pay IT professionals versus what the private sector can offer them.
Today, managing a school district's IT infrastructure involves strategic, long-term decisions about technical performance, cost-efficiency, and industry compliance. Questions on the minds of many district IT leaders include: How should student devices be managed and secured? How should campus networks be modernized with the latest WiFi systems to support the increase in connected devices? What's the right mix of on-premise systems and cloud-based IT systems? Should network infrastructure be bought or leased to best optimize capital versus operational expenses? And how will budget constraints and funding uncertainty impact these decisions?
When schools reach their limit in being able to practically handle these areas, MSPs can provide a solution. Simply put, with an MSP, schools can gain access to a team of experts that can complement and extend the capabilities of a district's IT staff. These professionals stay up-to-date with the latest technological advancements, develop in-depth expertise in cybersecurity and compliance best practices, and have the know-how to keep IT infrastructure at top performance and efficiency.
In this way, when a district hits a wall with no longer being able to manage the complexities of its IT and cybersecurity infrastructure, or with needing to augment its IT staff with specific domain expertise, this marks an opportune time to consider partnering with an MSP.
2) Guarding a Prime Target
A second way in which an MSP can optimize a school district's IT management is in cybersecurity.
In today's K-12 digital landscape, protecting students, staff, and IT infrastructure from cyber attack has become Priority 1. As discussed above, districts are a prime target for cybercriminals seeking to exploit the personal information of students and staff. Information such as student records, medical histories, and financial data are all valuable for identity theft, fraud, or sale on the dark web, among other areas where it can be exploited.
Adding to this, the expanse of end-user devices and software platforms has rapidly increased the attack surface for cyber criminals. And, with schools' often limited IT budgets and expertise, it's become increasingly challenging to effectively implement and monitor complex IT and cybersecurity infrastructure around the clock.
In this area, an MSP can support districts with a diverse set of capabilities to assess, implement, and manage a robust cybersecurity infrastructure, and enable districts to respond quickly in the event of a cyberattack.
One way in which MSPs can help districts do this is by assessing districts' cybersecurity posture against established standards, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for Education, which can help guide a district's policies and effective response. This includes training staff and students on "cyber hygiene," such as phishing and password best practices, that can help build responsible online behavior and overall cybersecurity awareness.
Investments in enterprise-grade security infrastructure, including firewalls, endpoint detection and response solutions, and multi-factor authentication, are a second way in which MSPs can help protect important district resources and information assets. While these investments are crucial for districts to make in the first place, the active monitoring and management of this infrastructure is also critical in being able to respond to threats promptly. In this area, an MSP can provide round-the-clock monitoring of security events and take swift action in the event of an active threat.
In addition, keeping applications, servers, and endpoints updated with the latest operating system and application patching helps to fix known security flaws. MSPs can, again, assist districts in this area with the implementation and ongoing management of patch management systems to automate this time-consuming and often neglected security best practice.
Moreover, automating backups of critical IT systems to off-site storage can help districts quickly recover from ransomware or data loss. This, combined with a comprehensive incident response plan that establishes processes, procedures and communication protocols during a breach, is essential for effective planning and response. An MSP, with deep expertise in cybersecurity best practices, can assist districts with a variety of resources to aid in the preparation of these systems and plans.
If a district is not able to stay on top of all these challenges and is reaching a hurdle, partnering with an MSP can offer a practical solution. An MSP can play a key role in helping a district review its current cybersecurity posture and make recommendations on how to best to navigate these challenges. With deep engineering expertise, comprehensive technology solutions, and round-the-clock security monitoring and support, an MSP can help ensure districts operate and maintain proper cyber defenses for peak performance.
K-12 IT 2.0
The continuous rise in cost, complexity, and risk of IT management is increasingly leading K-12 school districts to consider MSP partnerships. MSPs can bring a new level of skill, experience, and technology to solve IT challenges, but they also represent a whole new way of working for many districts.
The two areas above are ones that districts should particularly assess in determining when they begin to reach a tipping point where making the move to an MSP partnership makes the most sense. Ultimately, a district can not only gain from higher performance, security, and cost-efficiency from an MSP partnership, it can return its top focus to its most important education goals and leave the formidable and fast-moving world of IT in expert hands.