How the education sector can benefit from the cloud
- Heightened productivity
- Reduced Capital Expenditure (CapEx)
- Simplified budgeting
- Reduced printing costs
- Bring your own Device (BYOD)
- Innovative ways of learning
- Safeguarding and GDPR compliant
- Lowered carbon footprint
How Atlas Cloud assists
the Education Sector
The demands on technology in the education sector continues to grow but limited budgets can make it hard to meet this demand. At Atlas Cloud we offer cloud solutions to schools, colleges, universities and multi-academy trusts (MATs). Our range of solutions create operational efficiencies on any budget and allow increased output for teachers and students.
With many schools, the journey to the cloud often begins with a switch to Microsoft 365. Depending on the needs of the establishment this is available for free to students, faculty and staff. However, it must be appreciated that this is a complex, enterprise-level solution which is often poorly or incorrectly implemented. Atlas Cloud can help you get the most out of your Microsoft 365 subscription and ensure that the implementation is fit for purpose.
To fully recognise the benefits of the cloud we highly recommend utilising Microsoft 365 in conjunction with our hosted desktop service.
Today teachers and lecturers can be required to operate across multiple sites and also carry out a lot of work in their own time. Working this way, accessing data and applications can be a slow process as once a connection is established all applications need to be re-opened every time. By switching to a hosted desktop it allows users to resume their session exactly where they left off, 24/7 on any device meaning no loss in productivity. We also offer a range of network connectivity solutions should you be experiencing problems with poor speed and connections.
Hosted desktops can be accessed securely on any device with no loss of performance. The fast processing power is cloud based means you can switch to cheaper ‘thin client’ PC’s which are environmentally friendly, using a lot less power than a traditional PC, which in turn brings cost savings to your school, college or university. You can also save money on expensive on-premise servers as we can host your data and applications in our data centres. For Academies/MATs who need to abide by the Academies Financial Handbook and show accountability to Parliament and the public, switching to a solution like this which brings financial and environmental benefits makes sense.
Limited budgets mean not every educational facility is able to provide portable devices to every staff member. With a hosted desktop setup, you can implement a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policy where teachers and lecturers can use their own computer to securely access their apps and data. As a lot of their work is often done in their own time at home this allows them to access their work desktop easily so they’re able to work as effectively at home as in school.
Safe and secure
Working in a school, college or university requires staff to have access to a lot of sensitive data including personal information on students. Due to this, security and data protection is vital. At Atlas Cloud we have been providing secure cloud IT solutions since 2010 and take security very seriously.
Both Atlas Cloud and our data centres are ISO 27001 accredited. Our solutions also allow you to track the activity of users to prevent any data loss.
When teachers aren’t issued with a device it means they are often creating documents and accessing email via a home computer that can be accessed by other household members which presents obvious security risks. Hosted desktops provide a secure gateway on any device which can be set up with multi-factor authentication logins and sessions can be remotely locked or wiped in the event of a lost or stolen device.
We know that your data is valuable and sensitive, which is why we also specialise in providing tools and services for cyber security and cyber resilience. This includes email monitoring and spam filtering tools, backup and disaster recovery. Our disaster recovery solutions are industry leading, allowing you to get all services up and running again within a few minutes rather than a few days with data loss in seconds not minutes. You can also access our support team, made up of engineers not call-handlers, who can resolve any issues for you and your users fast.
Faster access to all systems
It’s very common for teachers and lecturers to have to login to multiple systems in order to access all data and applications. Office 365 is accessed locally on their device and they have to access national or regional applications (such as Capita School Information Management System SIMS) via a remote connection. This means managing multiple passwords and lost time spent logging into different systems. Our hosted desktops allow users to access everything they need in one familiar Windows environment with only one login.
Hosted applications
We can even host applications that are historically only available on-site to make these applications available anywhere as well.
So rather than have disjointed systems where certain applications require different connections we are able to bring all your applications together. Whatever applications you’re using be it Capita SIMS, Blackboard, Sharepoint, SISRA, Evolve, Exam Wizard, Testbase, Show My Homework, CIVICA, Frog, CLEAPPS, Brightspace or Adobe Creative Cloud we’ll host them for you. So far we’ve not found an application we couldn’t support!
Student solutions
It’s not just teachers or lecturers who can benefit from hosted desktops. Our service can also help enhance the learning experience of students too by making it more affordable to have more PCs in each school. By using the processing power in our cloud it means lower cost computers, such as Raspberry Pi’s, Chromebooks, 10ZiG’s and other ‘thin client’ PCs can be used, allowing your budget (including Pupil Premium budget) to go further when kitting out computer rooms, libraries or classrooms.
From school children to university students, the Atlas Cloud hosted desktop service can be set up on personal devices too, allowing easy access to all learning resources and applications required for homework, assignments or exam revision.
Schools are a target for hackers
“Unfortunately, schools and other public institutions, such as hospitals, have become regular victims because hackers think they will be less likely to have good cyber-practices.”
Jane Wakefield, BBC technology report
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