ICT Hardware in Schools

ICT Hardware in Schools
National purchasing insights.
Research conducted by independent educational
consultancy partner, Moxton Education.

Background
There can be no doubt that the last six years has
seen a significant downward pressure on spending
on ICT. This is unsurprising as, after buildings and
staffing, ICT is usually the next largest expense
for any school. At the same time the technology
available to schools – from devices through to
management tools - has transformed.
Given the ongoing reduction in ICT spend, the
ability to continue to use ICT as a critical tool has
meant that in some cases schools currently find
themselves at a crossroads. The majority of schools
know they need to make investments in ICT but
there are a number of questions to be answered:
What are priorities? What will have the greatest
impact? Where are the savings to be made?
How much ought a school to be spending on ICT?
How has the movement to Trusts affected ICT?
Given the aforementioned twin issues of
developments in technology capability and funding
challenges, we believe it is timely to ask schools
exactly what their views, issues and priorities are
going forward with regard to ICT. We all know ICT
needs to be refreshed and schools have had to
‘batten down the ICT spending hatches’ in the past
few years – but are they now ready to progress?
To find out, we commissioned a survey of ICT views
from senior leaders in schools in England and Wales.
The survey resulted in over 1000 responses from a
mix of primary, secondary and independent schools,
a sample which clearly gives a very representative
set of views. This white paper has been drafted by
our independent educational consultancy partner,
Moxton Education.
1%
20%
8%
0%
7%
9%
Responding
schools by type
17%
38%
Independent
Primary LA
Secondary LA
Primary Academy
Secondary Academy
Free School
UTC
Other
8%
31%
15%
Responsibility
of respondents
46%
Principal/
Headteacher/
Deputy Headteacher
IT Co-ordinator
Technical role
Other
Executive Summary – Key findings
Two thirds of schools expect spending on ICT to remain the same or increase in 2016.
On average, schools are expecting to undertake at least two ‘key projects’ in the next 12 months (e.g., server
replacements, security upgrades, wireless implementations etc.)
Schools believe they can make their biggest savings in:
• Printing – 47% of schools
• Moving to a mobile environment – 17% of schools
• Servers and storage – 15% of schools
Schools expect to prioritise expenditure on:
• Wireless improvement – 20% of schools
• Server refreshment – 20% of schools
• Device refreshment – 30% of schools
Schools are not moving to the use of frameworks in any significant volumes. 76% of schools will still procure
themselves and only 9% are utilising any sort of Trust-wide procurement method.
Despite the lack of capital for ICT expenditure, schools are not embracing newer revenue-based models of
paying for goods and services – 83% expect to still pay using capital funds.
Tablets or ‘2-in-1’ devices have come to the market in the last 2-3 years. These can potentially provide a ‘happy
medium’ between a laptop and a mobile device. Schools were asked which groups of school users would
potentially make best use of this type of technology. Responding schools believed that they would be useful in
equal measure to students, teaching staff and administrative staff.

In summary
Schools are now looking to invest in ICT again.
Given the previous need for restraint, most schools
have more than one ‘key investment’ to make in the
next twelve months – likely to be in servers, storage,
devices or wireless. At the same time, almost half
of schools recognise they can make significant
savings in their printing costs, and addressing
this may well help to fund other important
developments. The majority of schools are also
still acting autonomously in their purchasing and
not aggregating through frameworks. Trust-wide
purchasing is also still in its infancy as is the move to
a predictable revenue style funding of ICT.
Challenges
Schools face many challenges – none more so than
balancing the effectiveness of ICT investments with
teaching, leaning and management outcomes. Over
the last 10 years, ICT spend has grown as schools
have become more reliant on it for delivering an
integrated approach to data analysis, mobility,
communications, display, security, content access
and content development etc.
Before it ceased operations, BECTA (the British
Educational Communications and Technology
Agency) undertook a very significant amount of
research that indicated that a benchmark spend
of circa £240 - £260 per student per year on the
complete ICT environment (including all support
and maintenance) enabled a school to deliver its
vision. There are very few schools in the country
that now hit that benchmark and funding streams
are very significantly reduced from the time when
BECTA identified the benchmark.
Independent analysis of ICT spend in a range
of schools also shows that on average schools
are spending approximately 25% more than the
benchmark and in many cases (especially in primary
schools) double that. This ’extra’ spend is not,
however, a result of investment in new ICT solutions
or on refreshment, but rather is a result of spend in
areas of ICT such as printing, staffing and licencing
of software – hence the figure has ‘crept up’ as the
importance of ICT has increased.
Many schools are now, therefore, at a watershed.
The confidence to spend on ICT has now broadly
returned, due not only to necessity but also as a
result of schools having more confidence in longer
term funding.
38%
What are your
views on ICT
spending in 2016?
37%
25%
The questions are now twofold:
1) Where can we make tangible savings?
Increase
Decrease
About the same
2) When we spend, what should we spend on,
given the whole range of new technologies and
capabilities now available – i.e. how are
schools prioritising?

Making savings
The table below demonstrates the areas of ICT where
schools see the most opportunities for savings.
9%
14%
4%
9%
School saving
opportunities
14%
Servers & Storage
Printing
Security
Mobile Device Mgt
Broadband
What are schools planning to
spend on?
Having considered the three main areas of ICT
savings, what are schools actually spending on? It is
clear that the technology available to schools now
is both different and ‘developed’ with much of it
simply not available 5 years ago. For example:
Effective wireless throughput
and coverage
1%
49%
MIS
Learning Platform
Use of cloud technology
Printing is at the top of the list by a considerable
margin. Interestingly, in many schools, colour
printing accounts for 20% of the use but 80% of the
cost, so keeping control of this is key. On average,
a move to a managed print type environment saves
primary schools 15% and secondary schools 30%.
Servers and storage are another key area. The
amount of storage a schools needs is growing and
in some cases very quickly, but is it being effectively
managed and backed up? Where is the data being
stored? Clearly, storage is now a lot cheaper than it
was 3-4 years ago and there is now also the option
of cloud storage and management. Exploring both
local and cloud options, or a mix of both, is key to
driving down costs.
The third key area where there is the potential
to make savings is in the management of mobile
devices. Sales of mobile devices have exploded,
especially in the last 3 years. This is not surprising
as many are cheaper than standard laptop/desktops
and their portability means they are more flexible
and do not require specific spaces for use. However,
the management of this equipment is complex,
especially if there is a mix of device types. Typically,
once all of the resource required to manage the
devices is accounted for, (including staff costs and
management software) we find that it costs as much
to manage the devices as it does to purchase them.
This is, therefore, leading schools to question
who should actually fund the devices if the school
manages them? The two options which schools
tend to consider are BYOD and/or a parental
contribution model. Therefore, whilst schools
will always need to supply some devices for swap
out, for pupil premium provision and for staff, the
driving down of costs means that many now look
to provide the management environment in school
but not all of the actual hardware.
Controllable printing
Multi-use devices
Mobile device management
The table below clearly identifies a whole range
of areas of ICT in which schools are expecting to
invest, but there are some core themes.
6%
16%
8%
9%
8%
16%
Where schools are
expecting to invest
5%
4%
28%
Servers
Devices
Printing
BYOD Schema
Filtering & Security
MDM
Storage
Wireless
Other
The most significant area is devices. Clearly schools
have struggled to refresh equipment of late and
so it is not unexpected that this is high on the
list. If the proportion of those seeking to invest in
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and MDM (Mobile
Device Management) is added, this takes the area of
investment in end user ‘tools’ to just under 50% of
the spend.
The next most significant area is wireless and
servers. Again, it is not a surprise that wireless
is high on the investments list. It is now much
more functional, manageable and reliable than
ever before and is core to mobility in any school.
Coupled to this is, obviously, servers. Whilst, as
previously mentioned, servers came high on the
savings list they are also core items and, due to the
lack of previous refreshment they are going to be
important items when funding becomes available.

Purchase type and method
Much has been made nationally of the use of
frameworks as an effective means of procuring
goods and services. Frameworks such as RM1050,
have been put in place by the government for
schools to use, thereby ensuring that (particularly
EU) procurement scale purchases are legal. It
therefore ought to be surprising that 76% of schools
do not use them. That said, although circa £550m
is spent on educational ICT annually, it is largely
spread across many thousands of smaller schools.
These are the schools that ought to benefit the
most, but in practice the overhead of using the
framework, coupled with the fact that the amount
being spent is comparatively low, dictates that most
schools find no benefit, unless of course they can
aggregate spend through a means such as a Trust
where is it broadly done for them – schools then
usually get the best of both worlds.
In commercial environments ICT spend is rapidly
moving to more of an opex or revenue model.
Businesses are purchasing services and often this is
‘wrapped’ around obligations to provide equipment
and keep it current and refreshed for a fixed fee.
Businesses are also very familiar with using some
form of finance to fund ICT projects and spread
the costs over an extended period. None of these
models have currently had any significant traction in
schools, but maybe times are changing.
Capital is reducing and grants are not available and
schools with reserves are finding them reducing as
they need to cover key operational requirements. It
is therefore entirely logical that schools ought to be
moving to a more operational way of funding ICT.
This will take time but the industry is expecting it
long term.
9%
15%
17%
How schools
will procure
Framework
School Procurement
Through a Trust
Capital or
revenue funding
Lease
Capital Expenditure
76%
83%
Summary
At a time of significant change in so many areas of education, it is clear that senior leaders in schools recognise
savings both need to and can be made in ICT spending. Savings that can be made in areas of provision such as
printing clearly make logical sense and it is relatively easy to recoup tens of thousands of pounds in this
area alone.
Schools are also looking to invest in robust wireless and an up to date server environment. Additionally, as we
move to more mobile ICT provision, the importance of a good MDM solution is identified as key.
Like all change programmes the most important first step is the vision and strategy. Schools which are part
of a trust are looking to their trust to provide an overarching approach whilst also saving money. As a group
of schools, it is clearly possible to drive down costs in a range of areas whilst usually still being able to meet a
school’s vision as solutions are aggregated and resource shared; volume purchasing therefore starts to make
a difference. New technologies also allow area wide solutions to be more easily managed without losing local
control, thus the small local school gains just as much benefit as a large secondary.
The importance of hitting the benchmark of £240-£260 per pupil per year has never been so critical. By
focussing on essential items, cutting wasted costs and concentrating on a robust mobile approach, backed
up by a sound 5 year strategy, schools can achieve their vision using the new technologies that can now
really deliver.

Learn more at Dell.co.uk/schools or call our
dedicated schools team on 01344 373716.
@DellPubUK
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