IT Audits for Education
Does my school, academy or trust need a technology audit?
Most education providers have acquired a huge amount of technology, which may have been purchased or donated over the years. The technology may be on different systems, have different manufacturers or not be part of an overarching technology plan for your school, trust or academy. Having a mixture of devices can be incredibly frustrating when trying to teach a classroom, or during lesson planning when using school devices at home.
Our services
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Network & Monitoring
We manage the complex network of connected devices in modern business.
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Cyber Security Services
We can keep your business safe from an ever-changing security landscape.
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Hosted Desktop Services
Access your applications, documents, and data anywhere in the world.
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Migration & App Development
Simple solutions through Microsoft’s Power Platform for low-code programming.
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Business IT Support
The foundation of a modern business is the technology that enables your success.
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Office 365 Support
We provide Microsoft modern workplace support to improve your team’s productivity.
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Microsoft Azure
We help build strong foundations for organisations to scale flexibly in the cloud.
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Data Compliance
We protect your crucial information in line with the latest standards and practices.
A school technology audit is the best way in ensuring that your investments are being utilised to their full capacity and identifies any areas where you may be losing efficiency
Zenzero offer a free technolgy audit to schools and academies to help you understand if there are any vulnerabilities within your data or IT systems. The IT audit process looks to ensure that you have adequate data security processes in place, are getting the most from your systems and helping your school or trust get best value.
As with many IT departments, the majority of the budget is spent on maintenance rather than improving things. A report funded by Intel, Fujitsu and Birmingham University found that 53% of surveyed UK teachers wanted to invest in technology, but didn’t know-how. 32% believe they lack the in-house experience to cope with IT complexity, and 27% feel they need more training and support.
The Benefits of an IT Audit:
Identify risks (both school and personal data)
Having a full IT audit is the best way to ensure effective risk management within your IT systems. There is a wealth of sensitive data in a school or trust systems that could be vulnerable to attack. Attacks can range from ransomware to spoofing, phishing to malware. Being a victim of a cyber attack can have disastrous consequences for educational organisations such as large financial losses or significant reputational damage.
Evaluating your IT systems and operational efficiency
A full IT audit looks at whether your systems are performing optimally, Zenzero looks at areas such as your core infrastructure including server, networking and connectivity. This is one of the best ways to ensure return on investment and that your IT systems are set up for your needs.
The purpose of the efficiency audit is to examine defects or irregularities within the operations and systems that your computers use. Its aim is to assist the management team in achieving the most efficient and effective operations. The intent is to examine and appraise the methods and performance in all areas to help you maximise your information technology efforts.
Conducting an IT audit will let schools know whether they are investing in the right system or not. This will ensure that the system is working effectively and is meeting all the objectives and goals that it was meant to. If there is something wrong with the system, we will suggest the changes that can be made, to create a more efficient information system.
Highlight areas to improve efficiency
An IT audit helps your school or trust have full awareness of your tools and systems and we will provide recommendations for building strategies for future growth. This enables you to work towards future-proofing your internal information technology procedures rather than responding reactively to issues.
Evaluate compliance and legal status
Having a Zenzero school technology audit allows a full evaluation of your access controls, data centres and other information technology specific laws ensuring information security managers are adhering to compliance. As part of your final report, we will make a full recommendation for any IT protocols you need to put in place.
Maintain your school or trust’s reputation
Through an audit, we can identify areas that can be improved to avoid any risks to your school or trust's reputation. We can look at individuals who can support others with their knowledge in areas of the organisation's technological infrastructure. We also assist management with working towards their best value for schools submission by running through what you already have and helping spot any gaps within your existing training.
A Zenzero audit uses the following basic structure:
Planning
2. Studying and Evaluating
3. Testing and Evaluating
4. Reporting
5. Recommendations
Best Value in Schools
What does the best value in schools mean?
Best Value is a policy designed by the government to further the cause of continuous improvement in education. In schools, this applies to improving standards of attainment through, for example, better leadership and management. Value for money does lie at the core of Best Value. However, Best Value develops it into the idea that close partnership with those served by the school and the effective use of resources leads to:
• the raising of education standards; and
• continuous improvement.
The Principles of Best Value- the Four Cs
Best Value should not be seen as a new process, rather an opportunity to improve the ways in which management decisions are made. The main principles of Best Value can be remembered by the Four Cs:
Challenge – why, how and by who is an activity carried out for
Compare – performance against other schools and between departments
Consult – involving stakeholders, especially pupils and parents
Compete – securing efficient and effective services from organisations
The Four Cs can be considered separately however, as schools make decisions, the principles are most effectively applied in combination.