New Year, New Educational Tech!
Now that the new year is here, it’s the ideal time to consider tech upgrades for schools. With many devices from the pandemic era nearing the end of their lifespan, school leaders should act now to plan for a refresh before summer hits.
Most of the tech in classrooms today was deployed during the early days of the pandemic, and those devices have taken a beating. With a growing focus on providing high-quality learning environments, it’s clear that updating tech should be a priority. The sooner schools start planning for 2025 upgrades and engage the right partners, the better.
The earlier a tech refresh is planned, the better – from realizing a better return on investment for outdated devices to re-investing those dollars in new Apple devices, staff and students can have access to better tech tools and resources to create an optimal 21st century learning environment.
From the impact of new Apple devices coming this year to working toward a more sustainable tech strategy, the sooner schools can start planning for needed tech upgrades in 2025 and engaging a knowledgeable provisioning partner – the better.
New Apple Devices Are Coming in 2025 – What to Know
Many schools invest in fleets of Apple devices like iPads as a high quality and longer-lasting tech solution for students and staff. This investment offers many advantages, from better support to more frequent updates to access to the latest features and innovations – compared to other device manufacturers.
However, the debut of these new anticipated Apple products means that older devices can become outdated more quickly. The brand’s continued high demand and brand reputation impacts the depreciation of tech fleets – which makes it challenging to maintain the value of existing tech in a quick-moving market.
Further, new Apple devices can be a budget buster for many schools – luckily, resale and upgrade options are available to offset the upfront cost. Schools can sell their outdated devices and put the collected funds toward the investment of a new fleet. Purchasing gently used devices is also a way to further balance school tech budgets.
Preparing for a More Sustainable Tech Future
Planning for a tech upgrade can be daunting for schools trying to budget for the year ahead – never mind in the years following!
The nature of educational tech purchasing – in which everything needs to be purchased all at once – often makes it difficult for school leaders to plan ahead and afford larger-scale tech upgrades that are needed on a more consistent basis. Not to mention that many schools’ general maintenance budgets don’t typically include technology upgrades.
To make the process more sustainable, Diamond Assets can work with schools to develop a 10-year sustainability lease plan to provide a predictable, consistent, and cost-effective payment schedule for schools upgrading devices. Not only that, schools can also get a better return on investment by doing trade-in’s now, as opposed to the summer months when depreciation and market oversaturation can impact buyback valuations.
We can locate pathways to helping schools accomplish their tech refresh goals and to realize their longer-term vision to ensure high-quality devices are continuously available for staff and students now – and into the future.
Consider Provisioning Services to Assist School IT Departments
Managing a tech upgrade is a big undertaking – and many schools’ internal IT departments are not equipped to do it alone.
The process can often be logistically cumbersome and complicated for internal IT departments at schools to manage on their own. If it’s not handled properly, it can disrupt educational lesson plants and daily operations – not to mention deployment success.
To set these schools’ IT departments up for tech upgrade success, Diamond Assets provides comprehensive provisioning services – which involves working in tandem with an internal IT department to set up an IT infrastructure for organizations – to help schools and their IT departments successfully deploy devices as part of a tech upgrade, including:
- Unboxing and sorting devices
- Applying asset tags to devices, as well as asset tag association with device information
- Documentation of device asset tags, device specifications, and device serial number
- Updating iPad and Apple device software
- Managing all of the necessary device software updates
- Reboxing of completed devices
- Mapping devices to a school’s mobile device management system (MDM)
Our experienced team collaborates with internal IT departments to successfully manage the tech provisioning process for schools of all sizes – from ones that upgrade tens of thousands of devices that need as little as an asset tag and case install to deploy, to a larger deployment that requires:
- Asset tags
- Case install
- MDM installation
- Assignment of student device per student and classroom
- Delivery of devices to individual services
Set Up Your School for Tech Success in 2025. Diamond Assets can help your school plan for tech upgrades for the upcoming calendar year and beyond. In fact, our provisioning process can help schools successfully plan for a set up new tech in as little as one to two weeks! Our experienced team can handle the requirements of getting new devices prepped, ready, and delivered – allowing schools to focus on their priorities and have the best tools and resources for students and staff.
Don’t delay – connect with our team today to learn more about how Diamond Assets can partner with your school to create and execute a more sustainable tech upgrade plan and provisioning process for 2025!