AIT Cloud
Moving to the 'Cloud' enables Schools and MATs affordable access to advanced technology. AIT Cloud can centralise your solutions, maximise budgets and benefit from enhanced security.
From first migration plan to fully hosted infrastructure, AIT Cloud is designed, delivered and supported by the same UK-wide team that looks after your classrooms, networks and helpdesk every day. We handle the move, we run the service, and we show you exactly what it costs — every cloud licence and subscription is tracked in AIT Horizon, our leadership platform, included with our service, not sold on top.
COLLABORATE WITH AIT CLOUD
A unified approach
At first glance, going 'Cloud' may seem overwhelming with unfamiliar terms and technology. AIT have the knowledge and expertise though to help your School or MAT navigate the road to a true Cloud solution. Thanks to the power of Cloud Computing, the education sector is undergoing a major transformation, and it's revolutionising the way schools, Trusts and Colleges operate. As systems modernise, traditional locally installed tools and resources onsite are being migrated to the Cloud as schools leverage the power of the internet to deliver better outcomes for all.
Whether you are a single primary school moving your first server workload, or a trust standardising Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace across a dozen sites, our engineers plan the migration around the school day — holidays and evenings where it matters — so teaching is never interrupted. See how we support primary schools, secondary schools and multi-academy trusts.
Enhanced Security
Identity, encryption and threat detection built into every migration.
Remote Management
Proactively monitored and patched by our UK support team.
AIT Cloud Roadmap
A phased migration plan tracked in your Horizon strategy roadmap.
Infrastructure Services
Hosting, backup and connectivity engineered for education.
High Speed Internet
A stable, reliable and speedy internet connection is essential for adopting and accessing cloud-based applications. As partners of the Faster Britain Network, AIT can support your organisation in accessing SuperFast Fibre across the UK to deliver truly seamless connectivity. Our networks team can work with you to upgrade existing infrastructure, implement WAN or IPVN circuits to optimise your network for optimal Cloud performance.
Cloud only works when the connection underneath it does. That's why AIT Cloud is delivered alongside our broadband for schools service and, where eligible, DfE Connect the Classroom upgrades — one team accountable for the circuit, the network and the cloud services running over it.
Enhanced Security
We are proud to be partnered with the Cyber Resilience centre, upholding the highest security standards going beyond industry best practice. Our dedicated team ensure that your data, applications and infrastructure remain secure throughout migration to AIT Cloud and beyond. AIT operate and own two Data Centres with specialist architecture and design that means you can tailor solutions to specific requirements. From identity and access management to data encryption and threat detection, we employ industry-leading practices and cutting-edge technologies to safeguard your cloud environment
Security in the cloud doesn't stop at migration. Our security services — including safeguarding and filtering and managed backup and disaster recovery, covering Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup — wrap around your cloud environment so data stays protected, recoverable and compliant.
Remote Management
With 24/7/365 proactive monitoring from our central facility, AIT continuously scan for issues and perform a wide range of ongoing remote management to ensure that systems are running as expected. Our engineers can quickly address any issues, perform security updates, patches and upgrades so that your IT infrastructure is always reliable, functional and secure.
Remote management is part of our school IT support service, not an add-on. The same engineers who answer your helpdesk calls maintain your cloud environment, so nothing falls between two suppliers.
Every cloud pound, on one screen — with AIT Horizon
Cloud subscriptions have a habit of creeping: a licence added here, a storage tier upgraded there. AIT Cloud comes with something no ordinary cloud provider gives a school — AIT Horizon, our leadership platform, included with our service, not sold on top.
Horizon's IT Finance view lists your software licensing line by line — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, backup, MIS integrations, hosted applications — alongside your hardware refresh plan, so your business manager or trust CFO sees cloud spend in the same place as the rest of the IT budget. Its 5-year projections show what your cloud estate will cost over the life of your strategy, not just this term: for example, an illustrative single-form-entry primary might see cloud licensing of around £4,800 a year projected flat across five years, while its server replacement line falls to zero after migration — the saving that makes the cloud case for governors in one chart.
For trusts, Horizon's Executive view rolls cloud spend up across every school, while the Schools view lets each head see their own licences and renewals. The RAG compliance tracker shows at a glance where each site stands against the DfE's cloud solution standards, and your AIT Cloud Roadmap lives in Horizon's strategy roadmap — every migration milestone visible to leadership as it's delivered.
See Horizon as part of IT strategy and digital vision · Existing customers sign in via the Customer Portal
All figures shown are illustrative. Horizon presents planning data, not live performance feeds.
SUCCESS STORIES
Improving Outcomes
We've worked with Schools and MATs across the UK to support them on their journey of moving to the AIT Cloud; encouraging staff and students to adopt new resources to streamline processes and deliver the very best learning outcomes for students. AIT will work closely with your executive leaders to develop a strategic roadmap with clear milestones that support the migration to the Cloud. Our solutions have been carefully developed to securely automate user account creation, file permission and delegation via your institutions MIS systems ensuring a higher level of security across all systems. We will be with you every step of the way from project development right through to staff onboarding and training.
That strategic roadmap isn't a document that gathers dust — it's tracked in AIT Horizon, milestone by milestone, so your leadership team always knows what's been delivered and what's next.
Frequently asked questions
Both. Many of the 249 schools we support are single primaries who moved to the cloud to retire an ageing server and cut energy and replacement costs. We scale the same approach up for multi-academy trusts, where centralising identity, filtering and file storage across sites brings the biggest savings. The migration plan is sized to your school, and support afterwards comes from the same UK-wide helpdesk either way.
Usually — but you shouldn't have to take that on faith. Before you commit, we model your current on-premise costs against a cloud alternative, and after migration your real licensing spend and 5-year projection sit in AIT Horizon's IT Finance view, so your business manager can check the numbers term by term. Typical savings come from retiring server hardware refreshes, reduced energy use and consolidating duplicate subscriptions.
Nothing moves until we've agreed a plan with your leadership team, and migrations are scheduled around the school calendar. Data is encrypted in transit, staged migrations keep the old system available until the new one is verified, and our managed backup and disaster recovery service protects the environment from day one. AIT operate and own two UK data centres, so we control where your data lives.
The DfE's cloud solution standards ask schools to plan cloud adoption strategically, secure it properly and understand its costs — exactly how AIT Cloud is built. Your position against the standards is visible in Horizon's RAG compliance tracker, and your migration is planned through the Horizon strategy roadmap so you can evidence progress to governors and the DfE alike.
Not always, but connectivity is the first thing we check in a cloud readiness review. If your current circuit can't support cloud working, we can upgrade it through our broadband for schools service — one provider for the connection and the cloud, so there's never a gap between suppliers.
LETS TALK
Get in touch
We understand the unique needs and challenges that are faced by schools, and we are all about finding a solution that works for you. Get in touch with our friendly team to have a chat about how we can support you on your digital journey.