Value Add Services
Deliver value through end-to-end IT estate management
To ensure our education customers get the most out of their technology investments, we offer a number of Value Add Services which benefit institutions through tailored technology solutions, expert consultation, strong vendor partnerships and the ability to quickly scale to meet their diverse needs. By leveraging SCC's VAR, education providers can enhance their operational efficiency, improve student experience and drive business growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.
SCC's networking capabilities for education customers are tailored solutions crafted with in-depth product knowledge. They provide services such as installation, configuration and ongoing support, to ensure smooth operations across classrooms, buildings and student accommodation. Acting as trusted advisors, SCC offers strategic guidance on networking investments, keeping abreast of industry trends. Partnering with leading vendors enables access to cutting-edge technology at competitive prices.
Our solutions are scalable and flexible, accommodating the unique needs of education provider businesses. With a consultative approach, we deliver end-to-end networking solutions, which empower education providers to enhance student experiences and drive business growth.
Our solutions are focused on the following areas:
Local area networking
Wireless
Software defined wide area networking
Maintenance and managed services
Network security
With a dedicated specialist software team aligned to our software accounts, education customers can benefit from end-to-end support in maximising the value from their software investments. Our services can drive cost savings for education institutions by rightsizing licensing contracts, negotiating costs and offering software payment agreements, which allow providers to spread the costs of their purchases and renewals.
Our ITAM services have been created to help education institutions invest in and maintain their IT assets by maximising visibility, efficiency and prioritising their organisational needs. They remove the burden and expense of monitoring IT estates from IT staff by amalgamating all software and hardware information for all technology types into one platform. Our platform gives organisations a single view of the IT estate—they can see what assets they have and where they are, their support contracts, asset lifespans and renewals information.
Our solutions include:
Software Asset Management
Hardware Asset Management
Cloud FinOps
GreenOps
As student expectations are increasingly favouring greener solutions, education institutions are facing pressures to deliver their services more sustainability. One avenue for carbon reduction is to utilise the latest in technology advancements. However, with the current economic climate and tightening of budgets that is ever-changing and uncertain, many education providers are having to innovate on a limited budget.
At SCC we work to relieve the cost strain associated with staying ahead of competitors. We provide payment solutions which deliver flexibility and agility for technology purchases, allowing education providers to invest in new technology in a sustainable way and release the value from past investments.
We work with our financial institution and vendor partners to provide:
Anything ‘as a Service’
Value Release Service
Software Payment Agreement
As technology becomes increasingly connected and IT estates more complex, finding the skills for short term IT projects can often be difficult and expensive. SCC's Flex Resourcing offers tailor-made resourcing solutions to assist education institutions in delivering critical business outcomes.
Utilising automation technology and our specialist staff, we can quickly find skilled resources to support our customers in the delivery of their short- and long-term goals.
Outcomes we enable:
Founded in 1927, the University of Hull has approximately 17,000 staff and students. The University has a strong tradition of providing high-quality education to students and a well-established reputation as a research-engaged institution.
In 2020, the University required a partner to provide support and maintain their existing IT estate. This led to a strong relationship with SCC, resulting in additional projects—including a network refresh as the existing infrastructure neared end-of-support.
To meet these requirements, SCC partnered with Aruba to deliver our Partner Branded Support solution, which offers a shared support model. SCC provided frontline services and Aruba provided third line support and software support. This approach delivered significant savings to the University compared to the previous support solution.SCC worked closely with the University to deliver a campus-wide wired and wireless network refresh. This project provided a future state network infrastructure using Aruba CX switches and a wireless LAN with 1300 wireless access points.
SCC provided the University with two options: a like-for-like replacement of their existing estate based on the latest Aruba software, or a ‘future state vision’ which incorporated a number of changes based on advancements in their operations. This included increased video conferencing, IoT and additional wireless connected devices.
University of Hull chose a ‘future state vision’. SCC’s design supported Wi-Fi 6 and 100Gbe downstream connections to support the extra bandwidth.The project was delivered on time and on budget, using SCC’s proven project methodology which is based on PRINCE2 best practice. SCC made several recommendations during design, which ensured success of the project, including:
Conducting thorough site surveys before installation to understand the existing coverage. Since the existing wireless network was deployed, buildings may have changed and new physical barriers may have been introduced—potentially affecting signal strength and coverage. Site surveys helped optimise access point placement.
Testing interoperability with different devices and technologies to ensure compatibility.
Testing software versions prior to deployment to ensure they were robust and stable.
The solution has been in place for 12 months and has improved the wireless network infrastructure for students.
