The Emirate of Dubai and in fact the entire UAE as a country is among the pioneers of the digital transformation in the region. It is the foresighting of the UAE Government who enabled the entire country to embrace digital transformation and technology. Thanks to the vision of the great leaders of the nation, the country has completely transformed in past decade. With innovation and service satisfaction at center, the Government is not only adopting technology to itself, but also made excellent policies which enables the private sector too to easily adopt technology and digitalization. The education sector is no exception. In fact the UAE government is investing huge in education sector as they know the key to success is education for the next generations. The education ministries all around the country are also helping education sector to transform and improve their outcome by leveraging technology and digital solutions. On top of that the government is also making very flexible and supportive policies to support service sector, manufacturing, financial and educational sector to be able to adopt modern technologies and practices. Which is supporting transformation across a multitude of business sectors in the country.
The educational sector is more traditional in nature, it is harder to implement innovation and transformation in the educational sector all around the world. However, things have drastically changed in UAE since past decade. The UAE is leading the entire region in the digital transformation in educational sector. Now a days’ the children, teenagers and young adults are very different from the previous era. The newer generations have born in the midst of technological revolution. Now a days, every child or young adult have access to the internet. I was with my nephew yesterday, he is 3 years old but he know how to operate a smartphone and he can play his favorite cartoon program on it. That was something no one have ever imagined before. Especially the entire Gen. Z is much more advanced when it comes to the technology. On top of that the smartphones, easy internet access, e-learning and after the post-pandemic effects have also helped boosting digital transformation in the educational sectors.
Now the question is what exactly is the digital transformation for the educational sector? Well! The educational sector is not so different from other regular businesses and organizations. The management have to manage the employees, they have to develop strategies and plans to improve internal processes and to maximize the experience of the students, parents, teachers and also their staff. Like any other business entity, the educational sector also require technological solutions to optimize internal processes and to maximize their efficiency. The management needs supportive systems to improve their capabilities, the staff needs solutions to perform their daily tasks more efficiently, the students need better and convenient access, the parents want better interaction and experience, etc. All this can only be achieved when the school, collage, university or educational institute have proper systems and solutions in place. The software is the brain of any system or solution. In fact most of the enterprise tools are just a software only.
There are two types of software, the COTS or commercial off-the-shelf software and the customized software development. The customized software provide a tailor-made solution for the business needs however, the COTS are generic solutions. That is why the custom software development is much superior to the COTS. In this blog we will discuss how custom software can help digital transformation in the educational sector.
A Custom Software based Learning Management System
A custom software based learning management system at a school can digitalize a lot of internal processes. Mostly in schools and other educational institutions the basic operations is all done on paper and mostly it is manual. Which requires a lot of human resource and consume time. Another big disadvantage of a paper based system is that there is a lot of space for human errors, the discrepancies and errors are quit common in the paper-based systems. The amount and complexity of the data that schools and other educational institutes handle also result in poor performing internal processes and slower work flow. In order to avoid all that, a custom software based learning management system can be a great help for the students, administration and also for the management. The students can access information online, they can apply for courses, check their mark sheets, status, etc. The registration and enrollment can also be done through online channels using a smart custom software based learning management system.
The administration can avoid a lot of time consuming paperwork which not only save time but also resources too. The custom software solution also help administrative staff to access and analyze data online within a few clicks. The intuitive user interface allow schools and educational institutes to easily train their staff to work on the digital system. The ability to host on cloud also make management easier, and help optimizing the cost too. Here are some major areas where a custom software based learning management system can help the schools and other educational institutions:
- Student Enrollment and Registration Process
- Providing Information via Online and Remote Channels (such as schedules, announcements, timetables, and any other relevant information)
- The students can get passes, signup for various programs, register for extra curriculum activities via online student portals
- Efficient and faster document processing tools for the administrative staff
- Cloud-based student data enable the management to easily analyze the stats and monitor KPIs
- HR tools help taking HR tasks online
- Accounting tools minimize the paperwork and provide crucial data and stats via online dashboards
- Student & parents relationship tools help improving their experience
- Improved, easier and effective management
The custom software based learning management systems are a great companion for the modern schools in Dubai and all around the UAE. Acquiring all above mentioned digital features can help maximizing the student outcomes as well as the overall efficiency and performance of the school or any other educational institution.
Custom eLearning and Smart Classrooms Software Solution
Each school or educational institute is different from the other, however, most of the times the similar academic programs might be following the same course outline, but every institute have a different culture and different approach and methods of learning. Some are more conventional, some are innovative, some are somewhere in between. Whatever the case is a customized eLearning software can significantly improve their learning methods and practices. The eLearning is not a new term. Since 2020 the world realized that remote learning or eLearning can be extremely beneficial. However, most of the schools and educational institutions are not fully equipped for an efficient eLearning program. A custom eLearning software can not only enable the schools and educational institution to make their eLearning programs more effective and efficient but it can also help them improve their in-class experience.
The custom eLearning software can be linked with smart class room platforms, which includes, smart white boards, online lectures and online course materials that can help students in their regular day to day tasks and assignments. The schools and educational institutes can live stream lectures, post recorded lectures, supported content and materials along with any other relevant information that can improve the students’ learning experience. The custom eLearning software also provides a student dashboard where all of the lectures, relevant materials, assignments, home works, notes, quizzes, tests and anything can be published in a well-organized manner. This can help both students and parents to quickly go through the class work and home work of the students and it can significantly improve their experience. Moreover for the teenagers or young adults who mostly wants flexible schedules can leverage the system to maximize their learning as everything can be made available all the times.
The virtual class rooms not only publish lectures and course materials, but they are also used to deliver an actual class like experience. While students are participating in an online class, the teacher and students both can communicate efficiently so much so that the experience is equal to a physical class room and in some cases it can even be improved too. All the students can have more focus on the lecture, board or whatever the teacher is showing to them which increase their engagement and interest. The custom eLearning software and virtual class room platforms are a great tool to maximize the outcomes of the students. Such tools help teachers and students too. For children these tools can provide a better experience for the parents or guardians who will be helping them with their home works, etc. For youngsters and young adults these tools can provide them more flexibility and freedom. Ultimately the learning can become more effective and efficient which tend to produce better outcomes.
Customized Smartphone Apps Integration
A customized learning management system can also be integrated with the smartphone apps. It can not only help offering various services to the parents and the students, but it can also help rolling out innovative educational and learning programs. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE almost everyone have access to the internet and everyone also owns a smartphone. This make smartphones more convenient channel to communicate with parents and students. The smartphone apps can offer services, information and learning materials. The schools and educational institutions can also integrate online payment mechanisms to offer quick fee or any other payment via smartphones. Which is more convenient for the parents and students. Traditionally the parents or students will have to go to the bank or accounts of the school to make the payments, however, with the customized smartphone apps the same can be done by a few taps on the mobile screen.
Students can browse through notes, lectures, information and educational materials from their smartphones. The very common functions such as enrollment, registration, schedules, and even appointments with the admin staff or teachers can be done through smartphones. The schools and educational institutions can also publish full audio-video lectures on the apps along with tests and quizzes or homework details. Furthermore the smartphone apps can also provide a quick communication channel between the parents and the teachers. The learning itself can be done through smartphone apps, that is quite a modern concepts and is also known as the mLearning. The main idea behind it is to meet the Gen. Z’s needs. Usually the children and youngsters prefer to consume information in a bit-sized portion. The smartphone apps enables teachers and trainers to prepare learning materials which is exclusively designed for the smartphone apps. The students can chose when to learn and how much they want to learn at a specific time.
The customized smartphone apps equipped with mLearning features can significantly improve productivity, especially for teenagers and young adults. It also enable the teachers and planners to gain a detailed insight to the students learning patterns, behavior and it also provide analytical data which help the educators to design more effective and efficient learning programs for the students. The mLearning is not just a digital transformation, but in fact it is a completely new education system. The informal education systems can help educators design more personalized student experience which tend to produce better outcomes. Furthermore the smartphone apps and the customized learning management software help schools and educational institutes to maximize the accessibility of their learning programs, such as ability to choose the color schemes, text size, and on top of everything the text-to-speech enabled platforms are a great tool to take a leap forward to more informal and more impactful education systems.
Custom ERP, Intranet or CRM Software for Internal Processes & Management
The custom ERP, Intranet or CRM are very useful tool to improve several internal processes. However, they all are different, the ERP is an enterprise resource planning software. The Intranet is usually a website or web-based app that is used to facilitate communication and collaboration among the employees within the organization. And the CRM is a customer relationship management software. All these have different application. However, the beauty of custom software development is that the businesses can get all the features they want only. ERPs are usually a large-scale software which requires a lot of research and is usually very expensive. The intranet software were designed to be available for the employees of an organization only when they are physically within the organization. However with time the Intranets also evolved and now a days an intranet is just like a website, but still it is only accessible for the employees of a particular organization. The CRM is a customer relationship management tool with a customer centric approach and help businesses deliver better services.
For schools and educational institutions investing huge amount of money and resources in all three solutions is a bit difficult. That is where the custom software development comes to the rescue. The schools and educational intuitions can leverage the custom software development to create a customized software with all the required features borrowed from the above mentioned three systems. For schools and educational institutes there are a lot of internal processes that are crucial. The customized software allow them to develop tools and features for all these functions and processes. For example, for the administration there could be an entirely different sets of tools and features are required comparing to teachers and examination departments. Same is the case with the HR and accounts, every department needs different tools and features. However, at some point or another one business function will have to collaborate with another one.
A custom software development enables businesses to maintain a centralized information center where all the data is stored and all departments can access to the required data through their dedicated portals and dashboards. A document processing system help improving the internal work flow. The custom software allow schools and educational institutions to develop a single software application that can meet all the needs of all the departments. Another great advantage of custom software development is that the schools and educational institutions can start only with the most needed features to optimize the cost of the project, and then on later stages they can add more features to finally digitalize all internal processes which will enable them to boost the performance and profitability. Such tools and features make management easier and more effective and provide valuable business intelligence data that can help schools and educational institutes to improve their strategies and plans for future.
Digital Transformation Help Reducing the Cost and Increase Revenue & Growth
A custom software development drives productivity and efficiency, which in itself result in improved products/services and better customer service. In case of educational institutions the digital transformation helps everyone, whether it is students, parents, teachers, administration and the management. The digital transformation help improving learning process and improve the outcomes of the students. Which in return help building a good reputation and attracts more students. Furthermore the dedicated parent portals, and smartphone apps significantly enhance parent’s experience too. Other digital tools help improving the in-premises experience of both students and parents. Integration allow several business functions to collaborate and communicate better which help improving the efficiency. The digital transformation also help automating several internal processes which reduce the need of human resource and help HR optimize the expenses.
The intelligent AI (artificial intelligence) based analytical tools collects valuable business intelligence data which help the management to make better and more informed decision and let them improve their strategies and planning over the time. All these features help schools and educational institutes improve efficiency & productivity, enable them optimize the cost and expenses and result in more profitability which lead to consistent and stable growth. The modern day businesses are heavily relying on data, it is crucial to establish a centralized information center for the business which help all business functions to perform efficiently and effectively. Furthermore the schools and educational institutes can also gather valuable students’ and teachers’ statistical and analytical data which help them evaluate the performance and enable the management to develop more advanced and effective learning programs. As per several studies and surveys the digital transformation can double the profits and revenue of a business if done effectively.
See More: Step-by-step Guide to Develop Custom Enterprise Software
Conclusion
The digital transformation is a modern day’s need for all industry sector and businesses. The educational sector is no exception, the educational sector is usually the one following more traditional approach. However, with the help of digital transformation the schools and educational institutes can significantly improve their learning programs and the outcomes. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the schools and educational institutes are intensively using digital solutions and various software to facilitate their day-to-day tasks and operations. However, a more centralized approach can help bridging the gap between the strategy and execution. The modern day educational sector is rapidly evolving as the technology and innovation is integrating rapidly to our daily lives whether at all levels. The educational sector is the one that lags behind. There are two different approaches to bring digital transformation to any business. One is to deploy commercial off-the-shelf solutions or COTS and the second is to go for custom software development. In general the market is rapidly adopting customized solutions because of their superiority, flexibility, adoptability and cost-efficiency.
The biggest advantage of a custom software solution is that it help businesses design a tailor-made solution for their very specific needs. On top of that, the businesses can start with the most important of high priority needs and later on they can keep adding more features to obtain a full digital transformation. This approach is more cost-friendly and can also help schools and other educational institutes to gradually implement digital transformation. RSI Concepts is a leading custom software development company in Dubai, UAE. If you are a school, collage, university or any other educational institute, we can help you achieve your long term goals with our digital transformation solutions. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to help you bringing digital transformation to your educational institution, feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
Check out this: How to Reduce Software Development Cost in Dubai, UAE?