Enhanced Customer Service at the Heart of LHRIC’s Managed IT Initiative

In a region where school districts across the Lower Hudson Valley have come to rely on the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center for much of its technology needs, the emergence of a new Managed IT initiative offers more collaborative support that will closely align with each district’s culture, its workforce and its individual needs.

The initiative applies in particular to the back end work that district technicians must do on a daily basis and the hard work that is required to keep each school’s technology infrastructure humming.

The Managed IT project, which was rolled out to a handful of districts last year, is based upon the idea that consolidating technical staff is the most efficient way of providing crucial services to schools, such as improving their ability to manage information, secure data, enhance teaching and learning, and facilitate and transform communication.

The school districts that have already signed on to the initiative see it as a way to enhance their support teams and to save money, said LHRIC Executive Director Dr. Dennis Lauro.

“The trend is to look for efficiencies through the use of technology, not only to control costs but to deliver a better, effective service to assist teachers and students in doing their daily work,” noted Dr. Lauro.

“Managed IT will provide these benefits and overtime will enhance what districts are able to do with their networks,” he added.

Working in collaboration with Southern Westchester BOCES as well as the BOCES in Putnam and Rockland counties, the service allows the LHRIC to provide technology support more efficiently.

Districts sharing the LHRIC’s team of field support technicians won’t experience any down time in services as Erica Beasley, director of technology for the Briarcliff Manor School District, can attest to.

Last year when her district experienced frequent power outages, she was able to tap into the LHRIC’s expertise, glad to find an immediate solution to the problem.

“Everything is really secure now,” said Ms. Beasley. “The advantages have been phenomenal. We definitely got what we were looking for in terms of expertise.”

The LHRIC’s team of field support engineers will be the face of the initiative, said LHRIC Assistant Director Christine D’Aiello, highlighting the importance of what she describes as “just-in-time support.”

A centralized service desk at the LHRIC’s offices in Harrison that is equipped to handle remote and on-site support, as well as specific projects and technology management issues, is key to its success.

Two centralized support teams, one dealing with systems and end user issues and the other focusing on districts’ infrastructure and wireless needs, will provide real time assistance. Each team of technicians has skill sets specific to the kind of help that is needed, be it problem management, research and development or continual service improvement, explained Ms. D’Aiello.

“We know that there is a distinct culture and work schedule in each of the region’s districts,” she added.

“We know, also, that they are unique, that they have differences and that technology is not the same across all of the them. It is critical to our success that we keep in mind the balance to be flexible and to focus on customer needs while creating the efficiencies required to most effectively manage these environments together.”