Over the past few months I have met with schools across the country, and there’s a recurring theme that keeps coming up: school budgets are being squeezed by cost pressures, with price increases for some essentials far exceeding inflation. Balancing budgets is front of mind for everyone I speak to, so I’ve been happy to talk to schools about how they can make their budgets work harder by getting more from SIMS with SIMS Connected.
SIMS Connected saves schools the expense and effort of managing SIMS servers by moving all their SIMS data to the cloud. That means that all of your SIMS functionality can be securely accessed by school staff on a range of internet-connected devices and platforms. Even third party products, with permission, can access SIMS data held in the cloud – making it far more energy efficient for schools.
To illustrate the potential cost saving of switching to cloud-based software, an example server using 300 to 400 watts, running continuously, uses 2,628 to 3,504 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. Even after recent falls in gas prices, electricity remains four times as expensive as in 2020. A 400W server in 2020 might annually have cost around £250 for electricity (7.23p/kWh), but may now be costing over £1000 (29p/kWh). Put simply, SIMS Connected means you can switch off your dedicated servers for good, removing the cost of running them from your school’s electricity bills.
By increasing the choice of possible devices and platforms used to access SIMS, schools can choose the technology most suited to helping teachers improve the educational outcomes of their students.
SIMS Connected also reduces the burden on these devices, potentially extending the life of pre-existing equipment and allowing for lower-cost technology to be purchased when they need replacing - couple this together with a reduction in energy costs, your school is reducing its environmental footprint whilst boosting its efficiency.
When you move to SIMS Connected, all your backups, updates and maintenance are managed by us, meaning no time investment or maintenance costs are needed to keep everything running smoothly.
Your school will also benefit from the latest SIMS Next Gen developments, including SIMS Take Register and SIMS Progress Tracker, which allows teachers to simplify their essential tasks by taking the register or entering and analysing assessment data on any device, from anywhere, in just a few clicks.
You can find out more about how SIMS Connected can save your school money, and get in touch with us to discuss moving your data to SIMS in the Cloud.
Matthew R. Norris is an education and tech sector professional with experience of teaching, training, data administration, network management, support and consultancy spanning over a score of years, 14 of these with SIMS, and coloured by an ardent thrust for liberating technology value in schools.