2020 was a busy year in the world of MIS!

Juniper Education Group acquired Pupil Asset and SISRA amongst others.  The Key Support Services has bolstered its position in the school MIS sector by adding Arbor Education to their portfolio alongside ScholarPack.  IRIS Software Group has acquired iSAMS Ltd which is a great addition to the solutions they already offer the education sector. And finally, Montagu announced they intend to acquire SIMS from Capita, and also invest in ParentPay with the goal of bringing SIMS into the ParentPay Group.

Following on from our initial chat in the Spring, Phil Neal and I caught up towards the end of the year to discuss the various changes that had happened across the sector, and get his views on what might happen next.

We’ve broken the interview down into parts to make it easier to digest. Enjoy!

Towards the end of 2020, I took the opportunity to chat with Furlong SchoolBase about their school management solutions. Furlong has been around in the education sector for over 30 years; they have developed, grown and acquired over the years, and were finally acquired themselves in 2017 by Canadian software group, Volaris.  They now work with over 250 schools across the world.

In this vid, I catch up with their Sales & Marketing Manager, Jack Broome, to discuss future plans and get his view on the school management software sector.

We’ve split it into two parts to make it easier to digest – enjoy!

Last week I took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with thought leader Graham Reed to talk all things edtech.

Graham has a diverse background and knows the MIS and epayments sectors particularly well. Amongst other things, we discussed:

• What made Graham start Omega Pegasus
• What’s driving more market movement than ever to challenger cloud solutions
• Views on recent acquisitions, and Graham’s predictions for the future of MIS
• The future of the e-payments sector which Graham knows well, including potential new players and innovations
• Graham’s separate app projects, and the thinking behind creating them

Please note: We chat about the future of MIS and how challenger solutions might look to compete by working with adjacent solutions, in particular epayments systems. However, this was recorded a few days before it was announced that Montagu intended to acquire/invest in both SIMS and ParentPay so things have changed!

Lots of insightful stuff was discussed so we’ve split the interview out into separate parts below – enjoy!

Nick

Are you and your edtech partners ready for the next generation of technology?

I’m looking forward to presenting a session on this subject at the virtual GESS Dubai later this month. Not quite the same as being there in the sunshine, but I’m excited all the same!

If you look around at the world and at how industry is using technology, education is behind the curve. This has a major impact on children in preparing them for adulthood, not just regarding how they manage what technology throws at them but, more importantly, are they curious to see how technology can benefit them and the world around them.

The goal of my presentation is for leaders in schools and the education market to push suppliers to use the latest technology and drive innovation.  Look forward to seeing you there!

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GESS is a two-day EdTech-focused event for leading educators who directly influence purchasing, owners of schools or those influencers who direct school strategy and training in the EdTech sphere.  You can register to see my presentation and listen to many other great speakers here.

#GESSDubai #GESSEdtech

With so much change going on in the UK MIS sector, I thought it was time to have a conversation with one of the big MIS support teams to understand how their business is changing too.

Last week I had a virtual get together with Director of School Business Services Ltd, Mark Tadman, to talk about how his company supports schools in their use of MIS, amongst other things. Mark and Tina started the business back in 2008 and have always been clear that the goal is to provide schools with the freedom to teach; with their managed services and budget planning software, they aim to save taxpayers money and allow schools to focus on teaching on learning.

Some of the questions we discuss include:

• In what ways has the business changed recently (especially around MIS)?
• Do you think that commercial school service teams are going to have to expand on the types of solutions supported?
• With the change in the MIS and tracker market, how does this affect your vision and strategy?
• Who do you think will be the winners in the MIS space?
• Do you feel the Capita SIMS FM agreement with Local Authorities will stay in place even if someone does buy SIMS?
• How would you make it a more competitive and innovative market?

We’ve split it into three parts to make it easier to digest. Hope you like it, and we’d welcome your comments.

Over the summer, we took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with thought leader and entrepreneur Josh Perry to talk all things education.

Josh has a diverse and creative background, having worked in a large, progressive MAT himself and then going on to start numerous edtech businesses.

Really interesting views on everything from the role of MATs in an emerging tech market, his new projects (including Carousel, Smartgrade and advisory work), trends in the MIS sector, his Bring More Data blog, thoughts on forthcoming MIS mergers/acquisitions, and a great deal more!

Lots of insightful stuff was discussed so we’ve split the interview out into separate parts below – enjoy!

Next in our series of Q&As with edtech thought leaders is Ali Guryel of Bromcom.

As the Chairman and Managing Director of Bromcom Computers Plc, Ali is responsible for the strategic development of the company products and markets.

Check out Nick and Ali’s virtual get together below.  Here Ali talks about why he believes schools and academies need a one-stop-shop, and what differentiates Bromcom from the other MIS suppliers out there.

We’ve split the full interview into parts to make it a bit easier to digest. Enjoy!

During lockdown, Nick took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with Phil Neal to talk all things MIS.

Really interesting views on everything from the inception of SIMS, the future of the market, the role of support teams, the big questions MAT leaders should be asking and a great deal more.

We’ve split the full interview into parts to make it a bit easier to digest – enjoy!