How Education Leasing Helps Schools Manage Edtech Lifecycles

As education becomes increasingly reliant on the capabilities of EdTech, it is more important than ever that schools effectively manage the lifecycles of their tech equipment.

However, schools are facing a budget crisis and have been forced to make difficult decisions regarding what they should spend their limited budget on. Sadly, this has meant schools have to make do with aged equipment due to not having the capital budget available to replace it.

Compliant education leasing is an ideal solution for schools, as they can spread the cost of new equipment over several years and reserve their much-needed capital for essential maintenance, bills and staff salaries.

In addition to helping schools afford new edtech, leasing has many other benefits that help schools to manage their tech equipment lifecycles:

Establish a regular edtech budget

Leasing enables schools to allocate an affordable, regular budget for their edtech, as payments are fixed over the lease term. This makes it easier to manage the equipment lifecycles as schools can simply upgrade their equipment by leasing a newer model when the equipment is no longer fit for purpose, without having to worry about how to fund the refresh.

Upgrade all aged technology at once

Most schools would only be able to afford to purchase new edtech through a staged upgrade. This means that it could take years before all students have access to the new technology. On the other hand, education leasing enables schools to be able to install new equipment at the same time, so all students can benefit from the technology. This promotes fairness and creates a consistent learning environment for teachers and pupils.

It also reduces teacher training needs as teachers don’t have to learn how to use different models of each technology. Instead, teachers can move seamlessly between classrooms, without having to worry about setting up unfamiliar technologies. 

Plan training sessions

Whole-school technology refreshes, funded through education leases, allow schools to plan training sessions for all staff to ensure teachers fully understand how to make use of the new technology. On the other hand, organising training sessions for different models of each technology is far more time consuming.

Reduce troubleshooting

Installing new edtech school-wide should reduce schools’ IT issues as the technology is more fit for purpose than outdated technology. Additionally, having standardised technology in each classroom helps IT staff to solve technical issues far quicker, as they have a full understanding of the technology. This means students can benefit from the learning time that is regularly lost due to problems with technology and staff don’t have to worry about equipment malfunctioning.

Plan future refreshes in advance

Leasing is flexible to suit different schools’ needs. At the end of the primary term of the lease, the asset can either be returned to Room 12 or the lease can be extended into a secondary period, where the lessee can continue to rent the asset at a fair market rent which would be agreed at the time.

Our education leasing advisors can talk through these options with you, so you can make well-informed future plans for your school’s equipment.