When Glencoe School District began looking for a more cost effective solution in managing their technology, a neighboring district indicated they had joined forces with an Application Service Provider (ASP) in the area and were quite happy with the results. The ASP housed all of their financial and student data programs as well as word processing and additionally hosted their website. While this solution provided them with the redundancy they were looking for, Glencoe’s research showed the district was required to purchase their own servers. The hardware cost, plus questions as to who (and in what time frame) would perform software updates critical to the financial and student database left Glencoe intrigued with the concept, but not this particular solution.

As Glencoe continued to investigate, they learned of ISCorp, an ASP with a better all around solution. Having over 20 years experience with major financial institutions throughout the country, they had the expertise Glencoe was looking for, plus they were working with Skyward to develop a cost effective solution to rising hardware costs and timely updates for school districts with limited financial resources. Glencoe found this to be a win-win solution. By partnering with ISCorp, they were able to not only cut hardware costs and offer a secure environment for their sensitive financial and student data, but also eliminate the overtime costs and headaches associated with installs and updates. This relationship offered Glencoe the opportunity to ensure that time sensitive updates were installed seamlessly during non-work hours. ISCorp also offers personnel 24/7 whose only job is to manage and maintain the district’s programs, data and hardware. Most small school districts do not have the resources to dedicate one person to just these responsibilities. There is never a need to consider upgrading equipment as more complex programs are added. With ISCorp, it happens automatically. They also have the resources to provide state of the art encryption and security that most districts only dream of.

Since Glencoe wanted to reduce, as much as possible, their need to purchase hardware for all of their administrative applications, they asked ISCorp about the possibility of hosting other programs that the administrative team used. Currently, they house, maintain and back up all word processing applications used by the administration, giving them the same redundancy and security afforded their Skyward software. By moving in this direction, Glencoe staff have the ability to work from home as seamlessly as sitting in the office.

Last year when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, it became abundantly clear to Glencoe how important it is to have a viable disaster recovery plan. Part of ISCorp’s normal service is disaster recovery, data restoration and nightly backups with copies stored offsite. Glencoe has, on two occasions had to make use of these services to restore data that was inadvertently lost. By making one quick phone call, the saved data was available without comprising the integrity of the live data. Had the district had to recover this data in house, it would have taken several hours and required suspension of the use of the data while the restore was performed.

Glencoe’s relationship with ISCorp has been better than they could have imagined. The ISCorp staff is professional, knowledgeable and more than willing to do what it takes to create a positive working relationship. When Glencoe first began the process of finding an ASP in 2002, ISCorp listed 12 districts as clients. Today, their district list numbers well over 200 schools all across the country. Increases in business of this magnitude over such a short time period only reinforce what Glencoe already knows - ISCorp does it right.

The ISCorp ASP Solution takes care of all software and technology burdens that challenge schools to operate within a limited budget. If you would like to learn more about ASP and ISCorp, please visit www.iscorp.com or contact your Skyward Account Representative.