Higher Education sector calls ‘time’ on ‘on-prem’

The Australian software company, whose products are used by two-out-of-three universities and TAFEs and empowering close to 2 million students globally with its Student Management solution, said it was proud to report a large majority of the sector had switched to a modern platform.

TechnologyOne’s Industry Director for Higher Education and Adjunct Professor, Peter Nikoletatos, said: “We provide solutions to about 70 per cent of the sector, so this is a significant milestone for the industry. Beyond the reduced cost of buying and maintaining IT infrastructure and compliance, SaaS is helping increase productivity and staff retention.”

In a first of its kind economic analysis in 2021, researchers from IBRS and Insights Economics estimated there was a potential ‘digital dividend’ of $8.4 billion over ten years if all Australian higher education institutions ditched their datacentres and switched to cloud-based platforms to run their operations, a figure larger than the entire sector’s annual income from the Commonwealth Grants Scheme¹.

“While the technological benefits of SaaS had been clear for years, the pandemic made the business case for SaaS impossible to ignore.” Mr Nikoletatos said.

“Digital transformation is high on a university’s roadmap, and the pandemic upped the ante. The ability to work anywhere, anytime on any device went from ‘nice-to-have' to critical’ overnight.

“Similarly, the need for more resilience and flexibility, not to mention streamline processes to work more efficiently, have been instrumental in helping our institutions manage the aftereffects of the pandemic; from supply chain disruption to staff shortages.

“It’s just over 10 years since we brought our first SaaS solution to higher education. The technology moved from early adopters to mainstream. Technology strategic direction is now at the top of the agenda for all C-suite leaders, not only the CIO, and SaaS is now the default choice.

“The sector is also turning to SaaS to improve the student experience. We’ve been conducting an annual survey of around 1,000 Australian students since 2019 and have seen the number of students prepared to change their place of learning for a better technology experience increase dramatically.”

“Student management systems are designed to simplify the interaction between institutions and students. They are a one-stop shop for administrative services from enrolment to graduation – and everything in between.”

“Our student management solution acts as the focal point of an organisation-wide effort to improve student experience and deliver better outcomes for students, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative functions and better attract teaching and support staff,” said Mr Nikoletatos.

La Trobe University is one of the institutions that implemented TechnologyOne’s OneEducation SaaS solution to support its operational, strategic and educational requirements via a single, integrated platform.

“The cloud provided a unique opportunity for us to leapfrog the industry and end up with a sophisticated solution rather than play a slow catch up. TechnologyOne’s OneEducation solution has simplified operations and introduced an enhanced digital experience, one that takes a product that’s been developed with universities in mind and fine-tuned to enhance the student experience,” a spokesperson said.

TechnologyOne CEO Ed Chung said: “We’ve partnered with Australian universities and TAFEs for more than 30 years to address their biggest priority: upskilling the next generation of the Australians while providing an outstanding student experience. Our SaaS solution is helping universities and TAFEs provide simple and engaging experience for staff and students while reducing the administrative burden.”