7 Years Later: Why We Chose Schools Over Business

Fri 04 April, 2014

We know there are many small IT companies which serve both business and schools. But we made a radically different decision which has paid off over the 7 years we’ve been in business.

We decided to specialise in school IT support. Why?

For a start, Paul Guinane is a former primary school IT teacher with frontline experience of the difficulties that schools have in getting great IT. It was clear from our experience that schools in general and primary schools in particular, have radically different needs from companies. Secondly, we realised that if we were going to become a truly great business, we needed to focus on solving as many problems as possible in one area.

That’s why we’ve always specialised in IT for primary schools. With IT firmly embedded in classrooms, even the smallest problems can waste valuable classroom and teaching time meaning pupils are not getting the best deal and teachers find it harder to meet the requirements. Just 30 minutes wasted per teacher each week cumulatively wastes over 17 hours of teaching time each year.

Over the years we’ve concentrated on processes and service. Like our Dawn Patrol where we remotely make dozens of checks every single day before class starts. We’re alerted if something is up and we get on the case straight away. In terms of service, we strive to solve problems quickly – remotely where we can, and with an engineer as soon as possible where an on-site visit is required.

Fundamentally, Soft Egg is about caring about the impacts IT has on everyday school life, and doing our best to make life that little bit easier. It’s an important, worthwhile goal, with many unseen positive effects for teachers and children alike. That’s why we’re in Soft Egg and specialising in IT for education.