Why educational institutions are switching to cloud computing

Cloud computing is a popular choice for educational organisations because of the many benefits it provides. In this article, we examine why cloud computing is becoming  the new status quo for universities, colleges, schools and other institutions. In 2023, cloud services are expected to become even more widely used in education. Let’s find out why.

1. Real Time Collaboration

Using cloud computing allows your organisation to work together in real time without the need to buy expensive software or hardware . This means that staff or students can work collaboratively using cloud based apps and other software. Furthermore, cloud computing makes IT infrastructure management much easier. Equally so, administrators can rapidly add new desktops and scale up the services to expand the number of users. 

Organisations can use AI and machine learning in their educational settings to enhance their teaching and learning. With cloud services, educators can  quickly share files between multiple users around the world. Real time collaboration enhances student communication, drives remote learning classrooms and creates management portals for staff which allow parents to be involved too.

2. Cost Savings

Cloud services help educational organisations save money on costly hardware upgrades and maintenance costs with data stored virtually in the cloud. In addition, institutions can easily access more computing power and improve their overall performance. Overall, the data centre manages the costs of the server hardware, software and storage which produces valuable savings for the college, school or university. Also, cloud services allow organisations to flexibly scale as their number of students expands which provides in turn higher profits for the educational institution. 

Having data services offsite means institutions can switch from intensive, heavy costs for capital investment for onsite servers & IT infrastructure to more affordable monthly costs. Lower data storage costs, less expenditure on new hardware and minimal onsite maintenance are all meaningful advantages.

Overall, a comprehensive and well-planned strategy for cloud computing will help educational institutions utilise these services in the optimal way for cost savings and provide a better virtual learning environment for staff and students.

3. Global Reach

Educational institutions benefit from cloud computing because they become more agile and can respond rapidly with  their services. Likewise, it breeds innovation because they can use cutting edge technologies to reach their global audience. With organisations able to roll out leading technologies in a more economical way than having onsite software and hardware, both staff and students benefit as a whole. 

The global market for cloud services for education was approximately  £100 billion in 2021 with cloud spending in the UK at about £25 billion in 2022. The US Cloud Computing education market was valued at USD 23.81 Billion in 2021 and it is forecast to hit USD 173.62 Billion by 2030.

4. Enhanced Quality of Education

A cloud-based educational system is a powerful tool for improving the quality of education because it allows educators and students to collaborate on projects online across the world. Equally, this allows educators to share lesson plans and track student progress from anywhere.

It’s an ideal tool for fostering a global educational community as cloud-based education systems allow teachers and students to focus on more rewarding activities while saving time and money. With the right tools, educators can spend more time improving individual classes and new resources can be added to courses with just a few clicks. Cloud-based educational systems also reduce the cost of textbooks.

Finally, student engagement is improved by utilising tools like video conferencing and interactive whiteboards to hold students’ attention better than traditional methods.

5. Flexibility

Data hosting solutions are very flexible with a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ approach, so you can add more services and users as you scale and expand. This means flexible growth rather than large capital investment for onsite IT services and infrastructure. The connectivity of the cloud services allows connection with multiple commercial and state networks. Furthermore, as the educational sector is prone to rapid change, cloud computing allows the flexibility to respond to innovations and changes as new technology is hosted on external data servers.

6. Risk Management

A data centre will monitor facilities 24/7 and maintain power availability. The cloud computing services are managed to ensure minimum disruption and downtime. Also it gives educational institutions peace of mind knowing that their data is secure and compliant with GDPR regulations.  

Cloud-based platforms provide increased levels of advanced security by encrypting data and offering robust authentication measures that protect against unauthorized access. Also, cloud services provide automated data backup instead of having to manually back up. This means educational providers can rest assured that  information is stored safely.

7. Future Proofing An Educational Organisation

A data centre has an extensive fibre infrastructure and diverse routes, so an educational organisation can connect to a multitude of services and leverage tools such as apps. This future proofs the educational institution as it does not need to install any new IT infrastructure onsite and has direct access via the fibre infrastructure. Thus, futureproofing saves your organisation the need to invest in costly IT infrastructure.

Clearly, cloud services help to modernise learning environments and prepare them for the future developments.  This also makes your organisation more attractive for prospective students because  of the leading edge technology.

8. Sustainability

Working with a data centre to host your computing offsite in a cloud can save electricity and reduce your carbon footprint. Not to mention the money an organisation would have spent and the carbon emissions created from building onsite data storage and IT infrastructure. Also, if schools, colleges and universities use virtual services they can reduce the amount of paper documentation they use which will also reduce their carbon footprint. 

Reflections

Certainly, cloud services are revolutionising teaching and learning in terms of delivery of lessons, online collaboration and the sharing of resources. It connects staff, students and parents together seamlessly in one virtual environment complete with apps and software. 

All stakeholders can make the most out of the virtual environments with such innovative technologies. With data hosting your institution can be at the leading edge of technology and enhance the teaching and learning experience for staff and students. Finally, as educators, you can work faster and harness the power of cloud computing and its technological innovations without the worries about outdated software and hardware. Leave all of that to your data centre!

Call us today to find out more about IP House Cloud Computing Services for educational institutions. Fill out the contact form below!

SOURCES

1. https://crownhostingdc.co.uk/sectors/education/

2.https://nexstor.com/the-importance-of-cloud-computing-in-education/

3.https://nexstor.com/the-importance-of-cloud-computing-in-education/

4.https://compareyourbusinesscosts.co.uk/cloud-for-education

5.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crown-commercial-service-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021/ccs-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021-html-version