Technology Blog

3 critical reasons to review your IT contingency plan today

Written by Luke Hately-Broad, Product Manager | Oct 27, 2026, 3:10:27 AM

Unexpected network downtime or data loss can severely impact school performance and reputation. Here are the three main drivers compelling schools to revisit their continuity strategies right now: 

1. Evolving cybersecurity risks

The education sector continues to be a primary target for sophisticated cyber threats, including ransomware attacks and unauthorised breaches. Having secure, isolated backups and rapid recovery protocols in place is no longer optional – it is your first line of defence to get systems back online quickly without paying ransoms or losing vital records.

2. Minimising learning and operational disruption

Whether triggered by hardware failure, extreme weather event, or cyber incident, site outages happen. A modern contingency plan ensures that both staff and students can pivot seamlessly to remote or hybrid learning with minimal loss of teaching time. Continuity keeps classroom learning active, no matter what happens to your physical network.

3. Compliance, governance, and insurance standards

Regulatory expectations around data protection and risk management are stricter than ever. Governors, independent school inspectors, and cyber insurance underwriters increasingly demand proven evidence of robust backup frameworks, regular testing, and proactive risk mitigation.

Get your actionable plan in place

Don’t wait for an outage or security incident to test your resilience. We are offering schools a free Infrastructure Health Check to identify gaps in your current setup and put a clear actionable plan in place.