Lift Schools

Lift Schools centralized cybersecurity and device management across 57 UK schools using PDQ Connect, replacing three tools and enabling a fully serverless IT model.

Supporting students and staff across a broad national school network

Spanning 57 schools across the UK — with more joining soon — Lift Schools oversees a large and diverse device fleet. From early-years nursery sites to sixth-form academies and specialist schools, the IT landscape is broad, distributed, and constantly changing.

Karl Burnard is responsible for cyber strategy, vulnerability reduction, and secure device management across the organization. Over time, Lift Schools' IT workforce, once a staff of four, has expanded to 80 IT professionals across 13 regional hubs.

The Lift Schools device ecosystem includes 33,000 Chromebooks, 5,000 Windows devices, 4,500 iPads, and 300 Macs (rapidly increasing).

From an inflexible managed service to full internal control

Lift Schools previously relied on a managed service provider for device management and support. As the organization expanded, the provider’s structure didn’t align with the needs of 57 schools operating at different speeds and with different challenges.

“Our schools didn't feel they were getting the level of service they needed,” Karl said.

A ransomware event made the limitations clear. The site was restored, but because the underlying issue wasn’t resolved, it returned.

The organization chose to rebuild its IT operations internally to gain the oversight, responsiveness, and standardization needed across all sites. Their goals included:

• Improving service quality for every school

• Increasing agility

• Eliminating unnecessary on-site servers

• Standardizing cybersecurity practices across a distributed network

• Avoiding relying on service providers that didn’t know the nuances of their environment

One of the largest milestones was their move to a serverless environment.

“As of August, all 57 sites have removed their servers. Having a centralized tool for deployments and device management is essential because we’ve got nothing on site to do that anymore.”

Why PDQ Connect became core to Lift Schools’ security strategy

Lift Schools first encountered PDQ through a trial focused on software deployment. But what started as a deployment utility quickly became a pillar of their cybersecurity and operational model.

PDQ Connect offered the right blend of remote visibility, deployment control, and simplified security enforcement — all without requiring servers.

“We were looking for tools when we moved away from the managed service. PDQ tied in perfectly with what we needed for managing each site.”

Replacing three tools with one

Before consolidating under PDQ Connect, Lift Schools depended on:

• Lansweeper for inventory

• TeamViewer for remote desktop

• NinjaOne for deployment

As PDQ expanded, the need for the other platforms fell away, reducing tool sprawl and redundancy while simplifying their environment.

“With the expansion of what PDQ can do, we went from needing three separate tools to just having PDQ do all three jobs — which obviously saves us money.”

The team was particularly eager to retire TeamViewer.

“We’ve just got rid of TeamViewer — thank God. It was a nightmare. With PDQ’s remote desktop, we don’t need it anymore.”

Lansweeper followed.

“It was clunky. We had to have an Azure server linked in. It just didn’t make sense to keep it when PDQ already gives us what we need.”

“Once PDQ Connect’s remote desktop tool came out, we realized, oh, we don’t need TeamViewer anymore. And the information we need from devices, PDQ provides, so we didn’t need Lansweeper. What NinjaOne was providing, which was primarily deploying updates and rebooting our cloud servers, we’re managing to get now from PDQ Connect as well. So that’s three tools we’re getting rid of because we’ve got it all in PDQ Connect.”

Enforcing zero trust at scale

Security is a major focus for Lift Schools, especially with tens of thousands of devices across widely varied environments. PDQ Connect helps enforce strict application control and vulnerability management.

“We use Trend Antivirus to block all applications except a specific subset. Nobody can install anything unless it’s packaged and deployed by PDQ.”

PDQ Connect helps the team:

• Patch vulnerabilities quickly

• Enforce consistent guardrails across dozens of locations

• Manage devices centrally

• Maintain visibility in a serverless environment

• Support an increasing number of Macs

“We’re getting more and more Macs. Once we start managing them through Connect, that’s going to be exceptional.”

Growing to meet needs

While Lift Schools needs have grown, PDQ Connect has also evolved to meet their needs.

“The tool seems to have expanded with our needs in some bizarre sort of way,” said Karl. “We’ve matched what we wanted with PDQ’s expansion of what it’s doing.”

“It never feels like PDQ is sitting still. Everything that’s being released is fitting what we need it to fit.”

Getting the support they deserve

After Lift Schools subscribed to PDQ Connect, the relationship only deepened as PDQ’s support team helped the Lift Schools team get more out of the product.

“Once some companies have your money, that’s it — you’re on your own,” said Karl. “But it’s not been that way with PDQ. Support has been nice, friendly, they keep me up to date, and we’ve gotten through any problems.”

Looking ahead

Now operating with a fully serverless architecture, a vastly expanded IT team, and a unified device management strategy, Lift Schools is positioned for secure and scalable growth.

PDQ Connect is central to that vision.

And the Connect roadmap makes Karl even more optimistic about the future. These two features particularly stand out:

• Multitenancy: “I’m really excited about multitenancy. We’ll be able to bring new sites into a temporary tenancy, see their devices, figure out what’s needed, and then move them into their hub.”

• Increased Mac support: “At the moment we’ve got no real visibility of Macs. Being able to see vulnerabilities on Mac will be a game changer, especially as we’re looking at expanding the Mac fleet.”

While the Lift Schools IT team has already overhauled how it operates thanks to PDQ Connect, the product promises to be even more game-changing over time.

“Having a tool that we can manage centrally to deploy packages, update devices, and control vulnerabilities across the entire country makes our lives a lot easier. These tools help us protect students’ data, keep learning from being disrupted, and make sure devices are up and have what they need. And if they don’t, we can sort it with a couple of clicks.”