The education industry is known to run a certain way. But today the entire world has come together to change that. Education policies and paradigms are changing drastically around the world. But are you ready for that? 

At the heart of this discussion lies an impending need for changing the current infrastructure to digital. Over the past few years, colleges, schools and training institutes have gradually paced towards using digital technology for managing their organizations better. It gave them a competitive edge and helped them cope faster with the changing scenario of the education industry. 

Meanwhile, there are remarkable tools and technologies available specific to meet the needs of the education industry, Student Information System is the most discussed and perhaps the most widely-adopted. The reason is the software’s multi-functionality. Most decision-makers believe the Student Information System is a record management tool for education organizations. On the contrary, in this blog, we would be introducing you to this multi-faceted software product and how investing in it benefits your organization. 

What is a Student Information System, a.k.a. SIS? 

Information is one of the most powerful words of the time. The dire need of every industry is to get the right information to the right people so that they make the right decisions. The word means “facts about someone or something”. Powerful, isn’t it? 

For years, like any other industry, education too used papers to manage student information. Everyone was shackled to paperwork. Papers are hard to manage and more prone to destruction, and extracting any information from them was like searching for a needle in the hay. Most of all it was very expensive. 

With digitalization, things shifted to modern and robust digital infrastructure. Things became cheaper and Student Information Systems came to light. As the name suggests, the tool allowed institutes to manage any student-related information in form digital format. It increased accessibility to the data and over years, people started becoming more creative in the use of digital technologies. Today, Student Information Systems are integrated with modern technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), BI (Business intelligence), and more. 

Education organizations started storing student grades, course history, student records, academic information, non-academic achievements, and so much more. It is a secure, easy-to-manage, cloud-based solution that increased the usability and longevity of the student data. It improved schools’ understanding of their students and how they can improvise to gain a sharper edge in the market. 

More than just a Student Information System

The world of technology is fascinating. It sits at the core of every industry today, but if go back in time we would see how wondrously every industry has evolved over the years as technology grew. 

In terms of the education industry and Student Information Systems too the case is the same. The SIS was introduced in form of a record management system, but technology changed that. Information – as we said earlier it is a very powerful tool. It encourages better decision-making and backs your decisions to derive desired results. 

In today’s scenario, the Student Information System is used collaboratively by various departments to take the right decisions. Right from creating unique student IDs to managing academic records to managing student behavior, everything is done within the Student Information System and the data is used by decision-makers to improvise their academic strategies, marketing strategies, fee policies, and most importantly – encouraging diversity at their institutes to attract better student prospects at their institutes. 

More or less, the digitally-run institutes have a data-backed understanding of the weaknesses and strengths of their education system, and they use this information to broaden their scope for improvement. 

The five best reasons to invest in SIS 

To help you understand how a Student Information System software would benefit you, here are six reasons: 

• Boost performance 

An education ERP (Student Information System) allows you to store a vast amount of information in the system. In the backend, it compiles this information and saves it for using the data for various operations. It is a centrally integrated system where the information can be cohesively used by various departments to offer the best services to the biggest stakeholder in the education industry – the students. 

Using the information, various departments can take better decisions and put in place better strategies to improve student outcomes. It helps them boost student performance individually and for the class as a whole. Furthermore, it promotes communication as the teachers/ faculty have information about students and they become more accountable for overall performance improvement and student experience. 

• Fee management 

Online payments have taken over the world. Students and parents prefer to pay for the fees online as it is more convenient and faster. Most institutes currently don’t have the digital infrastructure to receive payments through online channels.

A Student Information System thus allows you to integrate your database to the online payment channels and provides you with real-time updates on the payment received, payment pending, and more. It completely eliminates the paperwork from the fee management process and allows you to digitally store the information in the system. 

Most Student Information System software vendors follow the best practices while building and integrating SIS software into your database. They follow security protocols such as role-based access and PCI compliance. Furthermore, tracking and mapping of the online payments with unique student IDs are done accurately within the system. 

Taking the ease a step ahead, you can add automation to it which would give you and student/ parents an automated reminder for pending fee payments, the payment received, receipts, and more. 

• Security 

Cyber security haunts all industries. Education is no exception. Also, students and parents are very particular nowadays about data security and they do ask institutes a lot of questions relative to it as ed-tech becomes more of a routine thing. 

Investing in a cloud-based education ERP (Student Information System) allows you to get both flexibility and security. It is a powerful system that allows you to keep the database secure. With more and more digitalization; students, faculty, and other staff members are using the web and mobile applications to perform various tasks. Furthermore, these apps collect data at several points which are stored in the database. 

A secure Student Information System thus has to be implemented to ensure the data collected by your institutes is secure. Also, since cloud-based ERP solutions and Student Information Systems follow the security protocols and are not prone to physical threats you can trust an efficient service provider and ensure security at par. 

• Course management 

The beauty of the Student Information System is that it goes beyond just recording and compiling information. The tools are very handy in giving support to teachers and parents to help students in their academic pursuits. The Student Information System gives real-time updates on attendance, activities, classwork, homework, performance, and other relevant information on a student. It promotes transparency and thus, allows teachers and parents to participate in the growth of the students. 

• Resource Management 

Students are primary stakeholders in an education ecosystem, and most decisions are taken around them. Having a vast amount of information about students gives you a scope to improve the resources and facilities in the system and improve the student experience. 

A Student Information System thus allows you to administer each department, classroom, hostel, and other resources well. It ensures the facilities are streamlined to the needs of the students and if there are any gaps they are informed to the authorities and faster decisions can be taken for faster implementation. 

Key takeaways

Student Information Systems are very helpful in administrative and management tasks for universities, colleges and schools. They come with various benefits and allow secure and easy management of large sums of student data that can be used collaboratively within various departments for improved student performance and experience. 

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