How schools can fix their IT infrastructure in 2025

The education sector is no exception to the sweeping changes that AI, automation, and digitization are bringing. 

As app-based learning, virtual classrooms, and personalized AI-driven tutoring become the norm in schools globally, educational institutions are having to quickly upgrade their IT infrastructure. Student information systems, digital learning platforms, and classroom technologies all need to be modern, integrated, scalable, and future-ready. 

There is also growing pressure to fend off security threats as cyberattacks are on the rise. In the first 3 months of 2025 alone, ransomware and cyber attacks on schools surged 69% compared with 2024. 

Educational institutions are now having to step up their IT game and future-proof their IT systems. But many struggle to keep up and are still resorting to reactive fixes and interim solutions. 

What’s standing in the way? 

There are several IT challenges plaguing schools and educational institutions, making it difficult for them to manage their IT infrastructure smoothly and efficiently.

The good news, though, is that these challenges can be addressed with the right ITSM software and a modern approach to technology. Let’s look at each of them:

1. Legacy, outdated software

Many schools still rely on legacy systems and basic software that were set up over a decade ago and have not been updated since. A lot of these products are not designed to scale and evolve as the institution grows, and are built to handle only certain challenges or specific tasks. But the education sector is evolving rapidly and these primitive software products are unable to keep up with the evolving demands. Moreover, using legacy systems can be pretty expensive. The UK government alone allocates nearly half of its yearly tech budget, a massive £2.3 billion, just to keep outdated systems running.

Solution: Replace or upgrade outdated systems with IT management solutions purpose-built for the education sector. These are designed to adapt easily to the evolving IT needs of schools and educational institutions. They are built using AI and other modern technology and help improve efficiency and productivity, while also cutting costs.

2. Reactive rather than proactive mindset

IT is still viewed as a basic requirement instead of an essential enabler for digital education. In a survey the UK government conducted last year, they found that less than 30% of schools had a proactive cybersecurity plan in place. As a result, tasks like patching, security monitoring, and updates are handled reactively only after problems arise.

Solution: Partner with an ITSM provider or vendor who is able to proactively update, manage, and handle IT requirements for all connected devices. You could choose an ITSM tool that is fully AI-powered and offers remote monitoring and automation so as to reduce onsite visits and prevent issues before they escalate. The continuous monitoring, intelligent alerts, and automation will help resolve issues faster and reduce disruptions.

3. Fragmented IT ecosystems

While most schools do have basic IT infrastructure in place, these are typically a network of 10-15 tools serving different requirements. Often, the products are siloed, and may not always work in sync. This creates inefficiencies, poor integration, and data inconsistency, and opens the products up to security risks as well. 

Solution: Streamline the IT infrastructure and consolidate systems through a unified ITSM platform. This way, IT teams can monitor, manage, and support all school networks, computer labs, smart devices, and faculty and staff endpoints centrally from a single pane of glass.

4. Poor tech adoption among educators

In many schools, technology is treated as secondary to traditional teaching. Educators are often hesitant to use unfamiliar software, and schools may not have adequate IT support staff to help them adapt. As a result, the existing products are often underutilized, and schools rely heavily on their IT teams of managed service providers to handle their IT systems.

Solution: Use modern, AI-powered IT products that are intuitive, user-friendly platforms that require minimal training. These new-age tools are typically easy to use so every teacher, student, or staff member can get the work done quickly and easily, rather than get bogged down by the software and processes.  

5. Compliance and reporting hurdles

Given the rise in cyberattacks on schools, several countries have laid down regulations and compliance requirements to protect personal information and sensitive data from hackers. While the initiative is essential and useful, managing audits, safeguarding requirements, and regulatory reporting can be a major operational burden for small IT teams. 

Solution: Work with IT service providers and software vendors that prioritize security, and have security features built in. Modern ITSM products are designed to enable your IT teams to stay ahead of cyber threats through capabilities like automated patching and updates, real-time device visibility, and compliance reporting aligned with GDPR, Cyber Essentials, and other frameworks.

6. Remote and hybrid learning environments 

With schools and the education sector becoming increasingly remote-friendly and digital-first, there is a need for IT support to also be remote and be available and accessible regardless of whether the students’ or teachers’ devices are at the school premises or elsewhere. But most schools still lag when it comes to setting up remote-friendly IT infrastructure. 

Solution: Replace your existing IT tools with platforms built for remote-first education. IT solutions designed for the education sector come with features like in-app and live chat support, eliminating the need for constant onsite visits. Whether a device is on campus or at home, support teams can access, monitor, and manage it efficiently, making remote or virtual education smooth and efficient.

7. Future-readiness and scalability

This is only the beginning of the technology disruption in the education sector. Schools and educational institutions need to build for scale and be prepared to adapt to changes as they grow. For example, there’s growing pressure for individual schools to join Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), making scalable IT infrastructure more important than ever.

Solution: Modernize your entire IT infrastructure using AI-powered future-ready platforms that address the unique challenges of education environments, whether it’s managing hundreds of student devices, supporting BYOD policies, or coordinating operations across a multi-academy trust.

8. Lack of dedicated IT staff and large budgets

The IT and IT service management budgets at most schools are minimal. So, most education institutions have IT teams with less than 3 members, or outsource their IT management entirely. Budgets are also extremely small, with schools spending less than 3% of their overall budget on IT. This comes in the way of adapting to change quickly, managing the systems proactively, and scaling as the institution grows. 

Solution: Ensuring safe and modern IT management doesn’t have to mean excessive spending. Plan thoughtfully and choose the right kind of vendors to ensure secure, future-proof IT systems with minimal spending. Unified ITSM platforms help consolidate tools and save costs, and enable schools to do more with less using AI and automation. 

While the challenges are staring us in the face, every challenge on this list is quite easily fixable. You would not need a large team or large budgets. You just need the right kind of software to protect your school, and modernize your IT infrastructure. 

Ready to get started? SuperOps has an all-in-one AI-powered platform designed specifically for education IT, for use in schools, colleges, and education institutions. Schedule a demo with us to see just how simple it is to upgrade your institute’s IT infrastructure, and take the time to learn more about our education IT solutions in the meanwhile!