Independent Schools of New Zealand

The complexity and breadth of technology usage in schools has expanded almost exponentially in the last few years, requiring leadership to critically evaluate the smartest and most cost effective way to manage a school’s growing investment in technology. 

Historically, an “IT Generalist” could reliably cover most areas of technology in a school, however the combination of increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats along with new specialized areas of ICT such as cloud services and AI means even the most committed individual struggles to keep up. 

As a result, more schools are seeking to partner with ICT services companies that have a focus on education customers, such as Cyclone. These partnerships allow schools to access a wider range of expertise, with individuals who are typically certified in specialist areas and who can provide comprehensive support to ensure projects, upgrades and emergency ICT responses can be supported in a timely manner. 

School leaders should be constantly evaluating how they are performing in the following six core ICT areas. Consider the questions in each section as a self-check warrant of fitness for your organisation.  

Security 

• Have you had an external audit of your current security posture in the last 12-18 months? 

• Are you confident that vendor firmware updates are consistently and reliably applied to critical security appliances such as your firewalls and core network switches? 

• Have you provided training to your staff to help them identify and report cybersecurity threats from increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks? 

Identity 

• Do you have a cloud-based identity provider that allows you to securely access services hosted both on your school network and in the cloud, whether you’re on campus or remote? 

• Can your staff and students easily Single Sign On into all school-approved resources (devices, cloud services, SMS, printing etc)? 

• Is Multi-Factor-Authentication (MFA) required and enforced when accessing content from a non-secure location? 

Endpoints 

• Are your school owned laptops/tablets/phones currently managed by an MDM? 

• Are vendor released security and operating system patches automatically applied to protect devices and users? 

• Are your devices running a managed and updated security product to protect against viruses, malware and other threats? 

Network 

• Have you had an external audit of your current network in the last 12-18 months? 

• Is your wireless network reliable and coping with increased network traffic and number of devices connecting to it? 

• Have you budgeted for upgrades to future-proof your network as usage increases, and before current equipment goes end-of-life or end-of-support? 

Infrastructure & Cloud 

• Have you had an external audit of your current on-premise infrastructure in the last 12-18 months? 

• Have you explored which services you currently run on-premise that could be migrated to the cloud or the vendor’s Software as a Service offerings (e.g. Student Management Systems, Library Management Systems, Learning Management Systems, Print Services etc) 

• Are you currently backing up core data stored on-premises and in the cloud (e.g. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace) and regularly performing test restorations to build confidence in your disaster recovery capabilities? 

Artificial Intelligence 

• Do you have an organisational AI policy that has been communicated to your staff and students with clear expectations around usage and approved AI platforms? 

• Have you performed an audit of security permissions for cloud resources to prevent accidental data leaks / exposure before purchasing AI tools like Microsoft Copilot for M365 and Google Gemini? 

• Have you provided training to AI Champions inside your organisation to help maximise the value of AI to your users? 

If you have identified there are gaps or concerns to the above questions, then reach out to Cyclone for assistance on 0800 686 686 or hello@cyclone.co.nz.