IT Support for Education
Sharp’s reliable IT Support for Education will enhance your learning environment with services tailored to your school’s unique needs.
Bespoke IT Support for Schools
Whether you are looking for a partner to take full responsibility for your IT or require additional support for your existing IT team, Sharp offers bespoke IT Support for Educational organisations to help meet your unique needs. Maintaining your IT infrastructure, providing assistance remotely via our dedicated helpdesk team, carrying out proactive on-site support, ensuring you adhere to a set of government-backed cyber security frameworks (Cyber Essentials), or monitoring your systems - we do all of these and more.
Whether you are interested in Microsoft’s apps and services or Google’s products, we recognise that IT is continuously evolving, and our proactive approach will help you to plan for the future. We will create a bespoke IT Support Education package just for you, which will be tailored to your specific needs. As your dedicated support provider, we are committed to introducing cutting-edge software solutions that will optimise the IT experience for your students, educators, and leadership team. Our expert team stay informed on the latest innovations designed for classrooms & teaching, they will inform you of all the options available and provide consultative advice on which best to utilise.
Our IT Support for Education Options
You may be thinking, ‘How do I know which IT Support package is right for my school?’ Let’s explore our IT Support for Education options...
Complete IT Manager
This service is for schools who wish to outsource their IT Support. You will benefit from a dedicated technical consultant who will manage your IT infrastructure and systems, acting as an expert to consult with or fully manage projects, giving you the time to dedicate to your core responsibilities.
At a fraction of the cost of recruiting an additional on-site IT professional, this service includes unlimited helpdesk support, on-site support from a dedicated Technical Consultant, managed monitoring to quickly identify and resolve any issues, cyber security, and more.
Complete IT Support
This service is ideal for schools that need additional support for their in-house team. We will cover holidays and sicknesses, as well as being an additional resource you can rely on for IT expertise.
Whether you need someone to step in and take some of the strain or you need high-end technical troubleshooting and resolution, our helpdesk teams and consultants are here for you, so that you can focus on the strategic goals that you have for your school.
Managed IT Services
If you have an in-house IT team and are wondering if you should be considering outsourcing to a managed IT service provider, or whether you would benefit from an IT team based onsite who are managed by an external IT partner then Sharp’s Managed Services offering will be beneficial for you.
With 30+ years’ in delivering market-leading IT Support, we know what to look for when it comes to recruiting the top IT talent. We are then able to recruit, train, and manage a dedicated IT manager on your behalf. Your IT manager will have at least three years’ experience and will be located on-site at your school, on hand to support users and manage infrastructure.
Multi-Academy Trusts or larger schools with a more substantial IT landscape may prefer to opt for our in-house Team option for a dedicated team of experts, offering the same support as an IT Manager.
Why outsource IT support for Education?
At Sharp, we have an award-winning team of over 200 technical experts located around the country. We can support your in-house team, providing off-site or on-site support for your school, ultimately reducing the risk that comes with relying on one person or a small team. We can help with:
- Supporting your existing team providing holiday or sickness cover, overflow cover and assistance with technical queries or more specialist projects.
- Keeping your existing team focused. Outsource helpdesk tasks to us to that your in-house teams can stay focused on strategic projects.
- Recruiting IT staff. We know how difficult recruiting for technical roles can be – especially if you’re not an IT expert. Sharp experts will recruit, train, and develop an in-house manager or team on your behalf.
- Improved productivity and flexibility. We can provide the latest technologies to help your school and students collaborate and work productively, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. We will work with you to adapt your technologies as your requirements change.
- Proactive monitoring and advice. Our sophisticated remote management software can detect any potential problems or security risks before they arise, keeping your education establishment safe, and reducing disruption to teachers and learners.
- Reduced IT costs. You’ll only pay for the amount of IT support that your educational institution requires, other IT projects can be planned and completed on an ad hoc basis.
- Reduced risk by reducing your reliance on one person or a small team. Our team of over 200 technical and project personnel are continually trained on all the latest technologies, IT trends and cyber security risks so that we can provide you with the most up to date advice and guidance in the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.
Why Sharp?
Our multi award-winning team are dedicated to working alongside our clients to provide support in a consultative and collaborative way. We’re well equipped to deal with sensitive data and working to stringent policies and procedures that schools must follow, having achieved ISO-27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus Certifications. We are in the top 1% of Microsoft partners globally and have Microsoft Solutions Partner Accreditations for Modern Work, Infrastructure Azure, and Data and AI Azure, so our IT Support for Education team are well equipped to support you on your IT journey.
Microsoft Solutions Partner
Modern Work
Microsoft Solutions Partner
Infrastructure Azure
Microsoft Solutions Partner
Data & AI Azure
Channel Futures MSP 501
2022
Cyber Essentials Certified
Student-centric IT services
In addition to our bespoke IT support package, we provide a host of support and services to help you to work smarter and safer. From cloud computing and hardware procurement, to disaster recovery and hosted telephony.
Cloud computing has become the norm within organisations of all sizes and in simple terms is the delivery of IT services over the Internet. We work with you to build a cost-effective roadmap, empowering you with solutions and tools to help you meet your goals.
Students and educators at eligible educational institutions can sign up for Office 365 Education for free, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and now Microsoft Teams, plus additional classroom tools.
Make collaboration easier, streamline instruction, and keep your learning environment secure with Google Workspace for Education. Use Google tools available without cost or add enhanced capabilities to suit the needs of your school.
Keeping students safe without compromising their ability to reach a rich and dynamic online experience is a key challenge faced by many educational organisations. Our solutions protect students with real-time filtering without restricting their freedom to explore and learn.
When introducing technology, schools need to ensure that they can monitor, manage and secure pupils’ mobile devices. Our solutions will help keep students on track and allow teachers to focus on teaching.
Don’t leave it to chance - what if an unforeseen technical problem, malicious activity, natural disaster, or human error led to the loss of vital data? How quickly could your systems be recovered in the event of a disaster and how long could you go without access to your data?
Datto from Sharp delivers both on-site and off-site backup, disaster recovery and continuity. This technology removes the headache of traditional backup and recovery technologies such as tapes, giving you the peace of mind disruption to learning will always be minimal.
Telephony in the cloud rather than on-premise. We have designed a communications platform for our clients that will alleviate the need for a complicated telephony solution.
Benefit from a fully featured, 100% cloud-based, simple to use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) solution designed to enable your teams to work smarter and safer. Make calls from your classroom phone, desk phone, soft phone or via a mobile app, anywhere, at any time. Switching to a hosted telephony solution is particularly important as traditional ISDN lines will be ‘switched off’ in 2025.
Cyber Security for Schools
Schools aren’t immune to cyber-attacks. In fact, all types of education institutions are more likely to have identified cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months than the average UK business, according to a Government report.
An effective cyber security strategy has never been more critical. Protecting sensitive data that is easily accessible via your employees’ devices, and the systems and solutions that hold that data, should be a top priority – especially as cyber threats evolve and become more sophisticated.
At Sharp, we always recommend a multi-layered approach to cyber security to best protect your systems, teachers and students:
- Firewall Protection: At the heart of our Cyber Security Solution is a WatchGuard firewall. Software will be installed on all your PCs, laptops and servers to check for any forms of suspicious behaviour. Both the firewall and the software are then monitored by your Sharp IT team. Any suspicious behaviour will be flagged and acted on immediately. Updates will be carried out as and when there are new firmware releases and you will be provided with regular reports.
- Email Security for Microsoft Office 365: Office 365 has a built-in level of anti-spam technology, providing a base layer of protection for users. Complete Email Security for Microsoft 365 will boost your company’s defences against unwanted emails. It uses Barracuda Sentinel, which detects threats that traditional email security systems cannot.
- End User Education: The weakest link in almost any organisation’s cyber security is their people. We offer free resources, blogs and The Complete Training Portal which has important guidance for maintaining the security of your IT operations. Sharp’s Security Awareness as a Service offering tests your team’s knowledge of; Incident Reporting, Internet Use, Social Media, Email Security, Passwords and Authentication, Mobile Devices, and Human Firewalls, with monthly AI-driven phishing campaigns that evolve based on individual actions.
- Endpoint Security: The endpoint Security solution from Sharp, helps provide peace of mind that your endpoints are monitored and secure, no matter where your teams are working. An ever-growing importance when organisations are offering remote and flexible working.
- Cyber Essentials: The Cyber Essentials scheme is a Government-backed framework that contains a set of universal security standards. Sharp can help you through the journey to achieve your Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation. Cyber Essentials accreditations may be essential for ESFA-funded organisations.
Our other products and services for Education
Choose from the options below
Sharp’s work with Tockington Manor School and Nursery
Sharp supported Tockington Manor School and Nursery with day-to-day IT support, an updated infrastructure, and implementing Windows 10.
Tockington is a small school so don’t have the resource to employ an in-house IT team. Outsourcing to their local Sharp IT Team was a perfect solution and enabled them to take advantage of consultative and flexible support, with a pricing model that didn’t include hidden extras.
“Our Technical Consultant knows the school’s systems inside out. He can fix problems quickly and efficiently and we have a great relationship with him.”
- Sarah Morris, Bursar, Tockington Manor School and Nursery