EdTech is booming, and it seems like there are countless platforms available to choose from if
you’re looking to make a change or expand your on-campus tech stack.
You’re not alone if you feel lost on how to choose the right edtech platform for the needs of your team and your campus. The right talent platform for higher education is central to keeping your institution running smoothly, so make sure to take the time to pick the software that will work for you.
There are several factors to consider, including interoperability, flexibility and customizability, ease of use and user interface, and data analytics accessibility.
With these factors in mind, here are 4 key questions to ask when choosing your talent platform.
Does this platform work with our other on-campus tools?
Interoperability should be a top concern for your institution when choosing edtech software. When organizations launch new systems that can’t share information across departments or systems, users often find increased administrative burden due to duplicate data entry and struggle to find accurate answers because information might not match up across systems. It’s vital that your digital tools integrate with each other so that stakeholders can access a single source of truth for data, and so that teams across campus can explore new insights.
Look for a platform that offers integrations with tools specific to higher education. PeopleAdmin offers more than 25 out-of-box, seamless connectors with popular HigherEd systems, and we are always adding more tools to our Marketplace of Connectors to support customer needs.
Is this platform user-friendly?
Change management on a college or university campus can be a challenge. In a recent PeopleAdmin webinar, 67% of attendees reported that implementing innovation and new ideas at their institution was a slow, painful process. HigherEd institutions, including staff and faculty, can sometimes be slow to change and that becomes a significant challenge when it comes to new software.
That’s why, when choosing software, your team should seek out a user-friendly, easy-to-learn edtech platform. If the platform isn’t user-friendly, it can end up adding more
work to everyone’s plate, rather than saving time and offering new capabilities.
PeopleAdmin’s innovation team has pushed the HigherEd Platform to new levels in recent years, offering a streamlined and simple user interface that is easy to use across all of our modules.
What kind of data analytic tools does this platform offer?
Data analytics and insights are the future for HigherEd to stay viable and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Proactive, strategic decision-making requires not just access to data, but access to real-time insights and analytics.
Ensuring that your software has robust analytic tools is key. It’s also important that the insights offered by your system are accessible to the users who need them, without complicated imports and exports or training in data interpretation. Addressing interoperability can impact the quality of the insights your team can leverage—systems that exist in data silos won’t give you the full picture.
Look for easy-to-read dashboards and reports, like the real-time visual dashboards built into PeopleAdmin’s HigherEd platform. PeopleAdmin’s analytics tools also allow users to easily export pre-built or custom reports to share with stakeholders across campus. This can enable data-driven, strategic decision-making in every department.
Can this platform adapt to my needs?
Finally, when choosing the right software for your institution, make sure that it is customizable and adaptable. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the needs of HigherEd, and you know that your institution is growing and changing constantly. That means your business needs may shift over the years, and your software solutions need to adapt to meet those changing needs.
It’s also important to ensure that your software is specifically designed for your use cases—the needs of colleges and universities are unique from the needs of the business world, so it’s vital that your platforms are built specifically for HigherEd. PeopleAdmin is fully dedicated to HigherEd, and we’ve been innovating for the HigherEd community for over 20 years.
Final thoughts
Choosing the right platform for your institution isn’t a simple or quick process, and it can be intimidating because there are many edtech platforms to choose from. Still, you can set your team up for success if you start by asking these four questions. Be sure to do your research and get the answers you need before making a decision!
If you’re interested in learning more about PeopleAdmin’s solutions, get in touch with our experts.