When In-House Break/Fix Works (and When To Call for Backup)

As Device Fleets Age, Hardware Maintenance Needs Grow

Thanks to ESSER funding, many K–12 districts built out brand new device fleets in the COVID-19 era. And for the first few years, keeping device repair in house was doable because new devices break less often. But after three to five years, failure rates start to increase — and that’s what many districts are facing now. 

Spare pools can start to suffer at that point too. A school might keep a collection of additional devices that they can give to students or staff when their device breaks so classroom time isn’t interrupted, but if they’re not able to keep up with repairing the broken devices, the pool will dry up, especially when devices need major repairs. Districts might assume their self-maintenance program is working because they haven’t yet quantified the backlog or the diminishing spare pool. Eventually, it will come to a breaking point.

Districts need to get a handle on their device fleets, especially around critical times of year like testing. If they have a closet full of stranded assets that are inventoried but in need of a fix before they can be used, they may not realize they are short on devices until the moment they need more than they have available. IT teams should be preparing a few months ahead of testing to make sure that every device is working and that the spare pool is robust. If a device goes out during that testing period, a backup needs to be available right away.

The Real Cost of a Device Repair Backlog

Let’s face it: IT professionals didn’t sign up for a career spent sitting in an office replacing screens and laptop batteries all day. But for K–12 IT teams buried in broken devices, that can sometimes feel like the reality. Every hour spent maintaining devices is an hour not spent addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities, hardening the network or planning for strategic ed tech enablement. It’s no wonder, then, that schools can struggle with retaining skilled technicians. Moving to a hybrid device repair model — knowing when devices should be repaired in-house and when to call in outside support — can ensure that the right people are doing the right work.

DISCOVER: Expert guidance can help districts manage their device ecosystems.

Device downtime can hinder student success too. A major portion of classroom time is spent on a device in some capacity, whether it’s students doing an assignment on a tablet or an instructor projecting a video from a laptop. Even a minor repair can literally stop instruction in its tracks. Devices that need complex repairs and hard-to-source parts can be down for weeks, and learning simply cannot be on hold for that long.

Many districts also don’t have a strategic plan for what happens instructionally during device downtime, which is more than just the time it takes to repair a device and includes:

• The period before a student or teacher reports an issue, which may last days or weeks until the problem is impossible to ignore
• Time to route the device to IT
• Repair time, which can stretch for weeks if parts are difficult to source
• Time to route the device back to the student or staff member

When districts don’t have clear metrics on turnaround time, they can’t accurately calculate the cost of relying solely on in-house repair. 

The Problem With Sourcing Replacement Parts for Device Repair

In an ideal world, districts would stock up on spare parts for every device they have in-house. But the reality is that most K–12 districts don’t have that kind of budget. Instead, we see IT teams paying more for smaller quantities of parts when they buy them for ad-hoc repairs. In some cases, there are weeks- or months-long waits for parts too, especially for high-demand devices or aging models. What we often see in these cases is that districts rob Peter to pay Paul: They pull the part they need from another broken device. And while that might fix one device, it’s cannibalizing the other device and creating even more fully broken hardware.

LEARN MORE: K-12 devices require a strong technical backbone.

That’s where CDW DeviceCycle services can step in. Built specifically for K–12 districts, these repair services help schools protect and maintain device fleets. CDW DeviceCycle solves the spare-part problem for districts by buying in bulk for many districts simultaneously, sourcing parts from the same manufacturers the original equipment manufacturers use. For districts, this saves on costs and ensures that quality inventory is available when devices break.

Building a Hybrid Device Management Model

Outsourcing device repair isn’t an all-or-nothing model. For K–12 districts, it’s about finding the right balance of in-house repairs and CDW DeviceCycle support. Our team can help districts map fleet age and device mix to build a plan for what IT teams can manage and what should be sent out for additional support. Here’s what works for some districts:

• In-house repairs: Simple fixes such as screen replacements, keyboard swaps or new batteries
• CDW DeviceCycle: Complex repairs, including motherboard issues, soldering or hard-to-source parts

CDW DeviceCycle has three tiers, ranging from on-demand repairs to comprehensive accidental damage protection, so districts can start small and scale up as needed. The goal isn’t to outsource everything but to get device repair to a manageable level so IT teams can limit downtime, get a handle on their broken device backlog and focus on more strategic work.

This article is part of the ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology series.