Putting broadband-enabled PC’s into classrooms around the country has long been a government ambition. They have spent millions every year in providing schools with IT equipment, and we’ve certainly seen the impact over the past two decades – there are very few schools indeed that lack computers in the classroom or a special computer room for the kids to learn in.
Unfortunately the follow-through on this government spending program has been woefully poor. Schools are given a budget to purchase IT kit one year, and given nothing to sustain the investment over time, particularly in the area of IT knowledge: Schools largely depend on IT-savvy, already busy, teachers and parents to solve their IT problems and plan for the future. They are also using a hodge-podge of old and new kit, spending their grants as they get them, often failing to get the best value for their money.
The private sector has, to some degree, stepped in to help. In other degrees, there has been a great deal of gouging of what is seen as easy public money: I don’t visit one school without seeing waste or non-techy principals being ripped off by business-savvy sales guys who use techno- jargon to charge way over the odds.
To give examples of just two schools I visited during the week, in one they had just purchased some 15 fairly basic laptops, for €550.00 each. We’re selling the same laptop for €365.00. The school also recently lost its broadband connection in a – wait for it – roof collapse, and are having trouble getting reconnected with Eircom. We’ve stepped in with our own contacts – free of charge, this is just a friendly helping hand we’re offering – to try and resolve the situation for the overtaxed working principal, who really knows very little about IT and is worked off his feet, like so many others.
In another school a service company had come in to quote for what is a fairly simple job to network the whole school up. They were quoting €550.00 for the pleasure of a job that, including parts and labour at €20.00 an hour, I quoted at €150.00
Schools do not have the IT backup, even in the form of roaming Department of Education IT people who could visit a school once a month even to solve problems and help them to make purchasing decisions and turn the wants of the school into technical solutions that work for a cost-effective pricetag. The only schools with such support are those lucky enough to be attached to a larger organisation, such as a hospital.
This would be a great idea – so great, in fact, that we’re making good business for ourselves and our consulting partners in offering such an on-call IT guy, as well as full IT Audits and many other services to schools.
Komplett is having great success in partnering with primary and secondary schools around the country in order to bring them both low-cost hardware and services. We see it as a long-term relationship, offering cost-effective solutions so that the school will continue to partner with us to deliver whatever they should need.
The funny thing is, I suspect that we do it for a cheaper pricetag than would some public sector run mass-IT department for schools.
If you are working in or around a primary or secondary school, or a small business that doesn’t have a dedicated IT department, don’t hesitate to drop us a line and we can arrange a no-obligation meeting to take 20 minutes of your time and see what your needs are and where we can help out.
You can drop us a line at business.ie@komplett.com or else phone for Rafal on (01) 8610 207 / 087 6297 851
An FYI, 52” TV’s are bloody popular! We’ve not had any in stock since before Christmas, and recently we got a 
The Shocking Lack Of IT Support For Our Schools
March 27, 2009Putting broadband-enabled PC’s into classrooms around the country has long been a government ambition. They have spent millions every year in providing schools with IT equipment, and we’ve certainly seen the impact over the past two decades – there are very few schools indeed that lack computers in the classroom or a special computer room for the kids to learn in.
Unfortunately the follow-through on this government spending program has been woefully poor. Schools are given a budget to purchase IT kit one year, and given nothing to sustain the investment over time, particularly in the area of IT knowledge: Schools largely depend on IT-savvy, already busy, teachers and parents to solve their IT problems and plan for the future. They are also using a hodge-podge of old and new kit, spending their grants as they get them, often failing to get the best value for their money.
The private sector has, to some degree, stepped in to help. In other degrees, there has been a great deal of gouging of what is seen as easy public money: I don’t visit one school without seeing waste or non-techy principals being ripped off by business-savvy sales guys who use techno- jargon to charge way over the odds.
To give examples of just two schools I visited during the week, in one they had just purchased some 15 fairly basic laptops, for €550.00 each. We’re selling the same laptop for €365.00. The school also recently lost its broadband connection in a – wait for it – roof collapse, and are having trouble getting reconnected with Eircom. We’ve stepped in with our own contacts – free of charge, this is just a friendly helping hand we’re offering – to try and resolve the situation for the overtaxed working principal, who really knows very little about IT and is worked off his feet, like so many others.
In another school a service company had come in to quote for what is a fairly simple job to network the whole school up. They were quoting €550.00 for the pleasure of a job that, including parts and labour at €20.00 an hour, I quoted at €150.00
Schools do not have the IT backup, even in the form of roaming Department of Education IT people who could visit a school once a month even to solve problems and help them to make purchasing decisions and turn the wants of the school into technical solutions that work for a cost-effective pricetag. The only schools with such support are those lucky enough to be attached to a larger organisation, such as a hospital.
This would be a great idea – so great, in fact, that we’re making good business for ourselves and our consulting partners in offering such an on-call IT guy, as well as full IT Audits and many other services to schools.
Komplett is having great success in partnering with primary and secondary schools around the country in order to bring them both low-cost hardware and services. We see it as a long-term relationship, offering cost-effective solutions so that the school will continue to partner with us to deliver whatever they should need.
The funny thing is, I suspect that we do it for a cheaper pricetag than would some public sector run mass-IT department for schools.
If you are working in or around a primary or secondary school, or a small business that doesn’t have a dedicated IT department, don’t hesitate to drop us a line and we can arrange a no-obligation meeting to take 20 minutes of your time and see what your needs are and where we can help out.
You can drop us a line at business.ie@komplett.com or else phone for Rafal on (01) 8610 207 / 087 6297 851
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