Device as a Service for Education
Deciphering 1:1 vs. BYOD programs in education
Remote learning has highlighted recent advancements in technology within education settings – yet also exposes a myriad of challenges that are evident in various school device programs. Whether it be a 1:1 model or BYOD – considerations such as cost, maintenance, management, and equitable access need to be considered.
Data#3’s Device as a Service (DaaS) model provides education institutions with the ability to deliver a consistent approach to technology, which supports effective and immersive digital education experiences, enabling schools to make the shift from procuring devices to procuring an outcome.
This flexible and bespoke solution is designed to suit the school’s procurement model, with a choice of included services, such as deployment and management services, analytics, security and eventual end of life recycling.
Why a BYOD model could spell ‘Bring Your Own Disaster’
At the time BYOD became popular in the education sector, it was seen as the better of two imperfect options. Offering greater choice to parents, BYOD allowed them to choose a device to suit their budget, and saved the school IT department from a large capital expense and some of the ongoing device management burden.
BYOD did, however, introduce a new set of problems, including:
- Potential digital-equity concerns
- Lost learning time, with teachers being the first line of IT support and troubleshooting
- Increased security risks to school networks
- Difficulty managing device access, updates, patching and warranty support
- Potentially long lead times with device repairs or replacement
- Insecure device decommissioning at end of life
- Additional burden on the parent community
Acquiring and managing devices presents concerns such as:
Unreliable SLAs – ongoing global chipset shortages means schools are managing a plethora of brands and models in an attempt to avoid lengthy wait-times.
Lack of standardisation – across deployment and management services, analytics, security and end of life disposal.
Limited expert resources – school IT departments are often small and cannot afford to tie up skilled IT resources to deal with EUC deployment and lifecycle management.
Budget control – typical Fleet refreshes demand considerable capital investment, funding that could be better used to drive educational and learning outcomes.
Cyber security – protecting students and school networks should be a priority. Old technology is vulnerable, and lost and stored assets are a risk if not tracked and managed effectively.
Device as a Service: the best of both worlds.
While traditional 1:1 procurement programs present numerous difficulties, few schools have the optimal environment for BYOD to work well. More recently, a third option has emerged that prevents the challenges of supporting numerous device types, provides greater consistency, and avoids capital expenses. Device as a Service (DaaS) from Data#3 offers a practical, pay as you go service that is designed to maximise learning time and minimise stress on IT departments.
Advantages of a 1:1 DaaS environment
Streamlined and strategic approach to procurement that minimises the impact of global chipset shortages. Access the right stock when needed, with always available pricing that leverages the full fleet’s economy of scale.
Equal learning outcomes and opportunities while giving students the right devices for their learning needs.
Tech support by trained IT professionals takes the pressure off the IT team, parents, students and teachers.
Hot swap/spare availability so that students can get back to learning, on a familiar advice, in minutes.
Greater control over device security, patching and updates to protect students online.
Flexible procurement options can be capex or fixed monthly/quarterly or annual payments, and are easily calculated into technology levies in a way that best serves the school community.
Secure and environmentally friendly decommissioning with full reporting and certification.
Streamlined
Procurement
Multi-Vendor
Approach
On-site Installation &
Deskside Support
Warranty Call Handling &
Service Case Management
Asset
Management
Analytics &
Reporting
Asset
Decommissioning
Scalability &
Flexibility
Start your DaaS journey with Data#3
Data#3’s Device as a Service is the modern way to manage diverse device fleets. It is a unique managed lifecycle for all your end-user compute devices, including the services your environment requires to remain secure, well managed and accounted for.
DaaS delivers a predictable monthly spend and consistent service structure across your entire hardware fleet. The consolidated management and reporting unveil insights into your user’s habits, device performance and maintenance support, to ensure you’re getting the most productive performance from your end-user computing investment.
Data#3 maintains the highest level of certifications across all leading vendors, acknowledged by numerous awards. Supported by our long-standing partnerships with HP, Microsoft, Dell and Lenovo, we have collaborated on some of the largest, most complex end-user computing solutions across Australia.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Enquire Today
Begin your journey towards digital procurement and modern device management, request an end user computing assessment or to learn more, reach out to a Data#3 DaaS specialist below.
