We asked schools whether they pay for any additional technical support services for their ICT over and above those offered by the manufacturer or supplier as part of the original sale.

Where schools do pay for such a service and they have had experience of using it, we asked a range of questions about the main support service that the school pays for, and the provider of that service.

One support provider features in the results:

RM was the only brand that produced enough responses to be analysed as an individual brand. In order to put this into some perspective the other types of suppliers of technical support have also been represented under generic headings indicating where schools said they pay for a support service from their hardware manufacturer, from a supplier, or from their LEA. To provide an appropriate comparison, RM have also been included in the overall analysis for suppliers and manufacturers according to how they were categorised by the respondent.

Overall, schools were most satisfied with their support providers' knowledge, although this was closely followed by their awareness of the needs of schools. They were least satisfied with support providers' responsiveness.