Higher Education in the Cloud: Three Reasons Your Institution Should Consider a New Student System
Technology has changed a lot in the last 20 years with beepers and palm pilots giving way to mobility and modern analytics. However, many higher education institutions are operating on legacy systems that are more than 20 years old, and often cobbling together several systems to achieve functionality they need. With an eye on better visibility, many institutions are considering technology modernization, including shifting student systems to the cloud. As institutions consider the options for moving to the cloud, here are three reasons to do it now.
Drive better student outcomes
Enterprise Management Cloud (EMC) solutions like Workday Student can contribute to achieving institutional goals for student success. Cloud eliminates typical barriers, giving students and employees access to information wherever they are, with an easy user experience that drives action. Students, faculty, and staff can connect on a single platform, enabling seamless data sharing between student, financial, HCM or other applications and better visibility into student successes, struggles, and needs. Using legacy systems, if students or faculty were having difficulty, it could take weeks or months for issues to be apparent. With Workday Student, faculty and staff can monitor student progress using the technology and engage at critical points in the student life cycle, contributing to student success.
Keep pace with an ever-changing landscape
After increased remote learning in the 2020-21 school year, the lesson is clear: from the smallest schools to the largest institutions, there is need to be flexible and able to adapt to change. With a cloud-based system, institutions can keep up with the expectations of students and faculty. This enables faculty and staff to spend less time on manual processes, and more time delivering an exceptional student experience. EMC solutions can also connect students regardless of where they are learning and contribute to combatting the digital divide. Reaching students and faculty where they are, regardless of physical location, can move many institutions into a new world of efficiency and transparency.
Leverage a fully integrated system
Disconnected systems lead to manual interventions, inefficiencies, and work-around processes that slow core functions down. There is a reason why many institutions have moved HCM and financial solutions to Workday. Using a single system brings processes together and reduces human error. It also brings better security, and clearer information through a single source of truth.
By integrating the student information system with other applications, staff and students can have better insights into student progress, and staff have easy-to-use dashboards and analytics to recognize trends. With stronger reporting built into the integrated system, leaders can leverage information to make better, quicker decisions that improve the student experience.
Moving student systems to the cloud can ensure higher education institutions get greater value from technology investments, meet students, staff, and faculty where they are most likely using technology, increase efficiency, and enable data sharing for more informed decisions. Integrating systems to meet increased expectations of students and faculty is key to being a modern institution that delivers an outstanding student experience and better student outcomes.