QuickSchools is offered as Software as a Service (also known as “SaaS”). There’s nothing to install, no servers to purchase or maintain, and you don’t have to keep IT personnel on staff. We take care of all that, so you can focus on your students and your school.

As a SaaS vendor, our value proposition is very different from traditional installed software. If you don’t already have a school administration system, or are thinking of changing from a traditional installed system, here are some advantages for using a SaaS-based school administration system such as QuickSchools:

Software that grows with your organization

If you’re going with traditional installed software, one of the first things you need to think about is the hardware: What kind of servers do you need, and how many? If you only have 50 students, does that justify buying a large server? And what happens as you grow? Will you need to buy better machines? With a SaaS-based solution, we take care of all that for you. You pay based on the number of students in your account, and we’ll grow the infrastructure as demand for our service grows.

Software that is available anytime anywhere

SaaS-based software is almost always web-based. So as long as you have an internet connection, you have access to your schools information. You don’t have to worry about setting up a network for multiple users to access your system. And for students and parents who want access to grades and report cards, this is a critical feature.

Software that evolves

When buying traditional installed software, you’re usually locked in to the version that you originally purchased. And when a new version comes out, you don’t get it unless you pay for it. And even when you do, the upgrade process is not necessarily an easy one. Upgrades when done improperly can be painful. With a SaaS-based solution, upgrades are automatically included in your subscription. It is part of our service to keep the software current and competitive within the market place. And our technical staff will make sure that all accounts are upgraded smoothly and painlessly.

Software that keeps your data safe

One very important feature of SaaS is that we keep your data safe from harm. What happens if there’s a fire? What if the server hard drive gets corrupt? At QuickSchools, we keep a real-time backup of the database in a separate server using a process called replication. If our main servers fail, a back-up server can be brought back up in a short period of time. We also run nightly backups of all accounts, which are stored at a separate location. This is all done automatically of course. So your data is always safe in the event of catastrophic failure.

Software that is well supported

Another high cost item that needs to be factored into traditional installed software is IT personnel. Software applications need to be maintained. What if something fails in the middle of the night? You’ll need to call your IT guy to fix it. And depending on the complexity of the software, you’ll need an equally qualified and equally expensive IT person to help you maintain it. SaaS vendors employ IT experts to make sure everything runs smoothly. Our IT experts will tend to not only basic support and maintenance issues, but to other important areas, such as security and new feature development.

These points speak to the SaaS vs. Traditional software aspect of school administration system. We’ll discuss what makes QuickSchools unique in another article later this month. Please stay tuned. Please feel free to comment on other advantages (or disadvantages) of using a SaaS-based solution.