Missed Insights Without Whole-campus Computer Monitoring

June 28, 2021 |  Data
2 min

When you analyze usage data from a single department or computer lab, you could be missing key insights.

The benefits of monitoring student-facing computers on campus are far-reaching. So why limit that to just computer labs and classrooms?

LabStats is designed to be used as a campus-wide solution. There are significant insights that could be missed when you only analyze usage data from a single department or computer lab.

Risks of Limiting Hardware Usage Data

Without campus-wide hardware monitoring, you risk: 

  • Paying for computers that are underutilized or not used at all
  • Overlooking machines when addressing IT updates
  • Assuming you are getting value out of a machine when that may not be the case
  • Bottlenecking growth of Esports at your institution due to ill-equipped spaces
  • Limited agility when circumstances or budgets change
  • Unknown vulnerabilities (physical or digital) that could negatively affect expensive hardware
Related: How to Develop a Dynamic IT Environment

Risks of Limiting Software Usage Data

Without campus-wide software monitoring, you risk: 

  • Paying for duplicate programs or extra licenses that are not used
  • Supporting old versions of software that may be lingering on “out of sight” computers
  • Increasing vulnerability and compatibility issues, eventually demanding more time from IT staff
  • Allocating budget to unjustified software expenses
  • Allowing improper use of resources

Relieving Pressure with Data

Southern Cross University, located on the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, has been using LabStats for over 10 years. LabStats is called upon whenever there’s pressure on budget or space. There have been instances where a lab is identified as underutilized, and the IT team has been able to remove some of the workstations and reuse that space for other purposes.

Hot Desks

SCU also receives a lot of requests for hotdesks (computers and laptop docking stations) for staff. When a new request comes in, the IT team uses LabStats to look at the hours of utilization of nearby stations. They’re able to make decisions based on facts, rather than guessing or asking people how well used the spaces are. Understanding how these shared resources are used enables the IT team to better plan for capacity, and respond to requests with data. 

“LabStats represents a very good return on the investment. We find we use it a lot to provide data to allow the decision making process to be based on facts. I think it would be very difficult to have those conversations without LabStats providing that information for us.”

Paul Brown, Manager of Customer Service, Southern Cross University
Related Video: Southern Cross University Uses LabStats

With campus-wide data insights, you have the opportunity to increase faculty and staff satisfaction, improve IT department efficiency, and verify that user needs are met without overspending.

To see what insights you could gain through comprehensive usage data, schedule a walkthrough. If you already have LabStats and would like to see how you can start monitoring additional computers and software at your school, schedule a tutorial.


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