In the five months since the appointment of William Berryman as the Digital Opportunities Community Technician, the Reporoa ICT cluster in the Bay of Plenty has welcomed the arrival of broadband and several new high-spec servers.
For William getting broadband into the cluster’s schools was a priority as most of the seven schools were still relying on the slow and clunky 56k dial-up modem to access the internet, which William describes as “a complete barrier to learning.”
While his numerous phone calls and dogged persistence saw the schools receive broadband relatively promptly, being a Community Technician gave William the confidence and validation to go and get things moving within the cluster.
“Being a Community Technician has opened up heaps of avenues for me.”
One of the biggest avenues to open is becoming a dealer enabling him to secure dealer rates, something William never achieved while running his own IT business.
Signed up with four IT suppliers, William says he can now service the IT needs of the cash-strapped schools with high quality equipment at reduced costs.
“I built a server for under a thousand dollars, before it would have cost the school four or five thousand dollars.”
Reporoa Cluster Co-ordinator, Mary Burge says having a Community Technician is benefiting the schools and community, with William already helping out locals with their IT glitches.
“Comments from principals are ones of relief knowing a Community Technician is available to fix something quickly, properly and not at exorbitant cost,” says Mary.
William, who is thoroughly enjoying being a Community Technician, also credits the project with giving his “floundering” IT business a new focus, stability and credibility.
“I’m making a living out of it now,” he says but admits that it’s sometimes hard to knuckle down to the study side of the course.
“Everything we’re learning on the course is really great but I’d much rather be earning a living than sitting in behind a desk studying, but I know it’s important because at the end of the day that bit of paper is going to help me earn my living.”
Keeping up the momentum, William is planning to produce a report on where the technology can take the students and schools in the future.
