Challenges of Supporting a Technology-Enabled Campus
Providing tech support to faculty, staff and students both on and off campus is no small task. The days of only supporting on-campus computer labs filled with rows of identical desktops is a thing of the past. Campus boundaries are expanding with the growth of online classes, remote branches and international programs. And keeping technology up and running is even more critical as books, lessons, schedules and grades all move online.
Educational institutions are on the front lines when it comes to the next generation of technology users, who expect to use their personal laptops, smartphones and tablets for school. End-users have Mac laptops, Windows 8 systems, iPads and Android devices - all of which they expect you to support. Plus, IT departments must maintain the highest levels of security when it comes to student records and employee data.
Having a technician based on one side of campus trying to service classrooms that may be a 15 minute walk away can be problematic. The growing online and international programs presented another challenge. We needed a way to support those remote users as well. Having the ability to log on to their system remotely allows us to more quickly solve their issue.
Support Any Device, Anywhere with Bomgar
Bomgar’s appliance-based remote support solution allows you to remotely access and fix nearly any system or device, anywhere, while keeping sensitive data and system access behind your own secure firewall.
- Efficiency - IT service desks can remotely access and fix nearly any computing device, from laptops to servers to smartphones, whether on campus or on the other side of the world, eliminating costly on-site visits.
- Multi-platform flexibility - Service desk reps can provide support to Windows, Mac and Linux systems as well as iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, enabling BYOD.
- Mobility - Reps can provide support from their own iPad, iPhone and Android devices—keeping them productive even when away from the help desk.
- Security - Session access and data never passes through a third-party server, ensuring sensitive data and student records stay safe and your organization remains compliant with guidelines such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
With Bomgar, our help desk team can simply log in, quickly fix a problem and we’re on to the next user’s issue. We are now able to close support tickets on average within 24 to 72 hours, rather than weeks.
Why Do More than 500 Educational Institutions Use Bomgar?
Bomgar is a single, centralized solution that allows you to support all of your end-users and devices, from servers to smartphones, both on and off your network. With Bomgar, educational organizations around the world have drastically improved support efficiency, performance and security while significantly cutting costs. That’s why more than 500 educational institutions use Bomgar to support their students, staff and systems.
Bomgar has enabled a massive shift in our approach to IT support. Before, if someone asked for support on their personal machine, we could only say ‘no.’ Now, if they ask us to do something like help them connect to the VPN from their home, we can say ‘No problem. I’ll connect you.’ Gone are the days when we just had to say no.
