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How to evaluate your IT provision

Strategy
An image of a dial on a gauge with three sections. An unhappy face, an indifferent face and a happy face. The arrow on the gauge is pointing to the happy face.

There is an old joke that crops up from time to time - “Words Cannot Describe your beauty, but numbers can 6/10.” This is a great demonstration of how selecting the right way to evaluate information can determine how successful it will be. Now I am a full time IT Consultant for the Education Sector I have to quickly evaluate elements of a schools IT provision - systems, people, and vision play a part in working out where to invest time and money. Initial questions like “What keeps you awake at night” or “What works really well.” help unearth issues and highlight the individual perspectives of the provision based on what is important to them. Over time I began to realise there are three key zones. This applies to everything from use of software like your MIS, staff effectiveness or investment in equipment. The three zones then form a development…

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