How do we make choice decisions when faced with many software alternatives? The reality is that almost all of our choices are driven by compromises. We trade off price and attributes and we largely underestimate all the hidden costs.

In the automotive world, Toyota has risen to number 1 in the world by dominating this trade-off sweet spot. They started by making their cars absolutely reliable and over time they effectively took away the hassles and stress out of car ownership. Only then did they make the cars bigger and more comfortable, more attractive etc. Toyota’s dominance comes from the ability to deliver a highly desirable product with the lowest total cost of ownership.

Software is another area where there are always trade-offs between functionality (all the bells and whistles that one can wish for) and price. However, in software, there is a huge hidden cost that most people do not see until it is too late. That is the cost of training, software and hardware upgrades, and the most hidden of all the cost, security including hackers, viruses, data theft, backups and data restoration.

Have you heard about the software QuickSchools?

Quickschools.com has been designed and priced  to sit in the  software “sweet-spot.” Quickschools aims to deliver the lowest total cost of ownership by eliminating all of the hidden costs.  Once you are on QuickSchools.com you never have to worry. Not even about software or hardware upgrades, hackers, viruses, or even backing up and restoring data. All of that is done for you by QuickSchools.  Quickschools goes so far that you don’t even need to hire “IT” people or be “IT” savvy. Yet they can still be able to be a world-class school management system.

The role of a school is to educate and not to spend a moment more on worrying about your IT systems. Leave the IT to Quickschools.

Unlike driving a car or doing Internet banking or searching using Google – which are all straightforward and fairly “idiot proof” applications, most software is clunky and  have many hidden costs that we don’t realize until it’s too late. In fact using software is a misnomer because we end up spending a lot more money, time and effort on the hardware and the backing up and firewalls etc.  Why can’t we just use software as software?

Today I cannot imagine our lives without Internet banking, but imagine if the banks said, “to do Internet banking you need a server and a firewall and software and hardware and an IT technician at home.” No one would do it. We work for money yet today we rarely see that money we work for. From our employer it gets remitted electronically to the bank. We then use Internet banking  or a credit / debit / charge card or check to move that money. Rarely do we use cash anymore. That’s the true genius of the banking system. It has taken out all the complexity of  managing your money and made it simple, convenient and  cheap to use.

In the same vein, this is what QuickSchools.com is all about.  Schools need to embrace technology to become more efficient and what ERP systems are to manufacturing companies, SMS (school management software) is to schools.  QuickSchools.com is truly offering the market,  software as software.  Just like the bank where you trust them with information about your money, Quickschools takes care of all the information for your school. All you need is a computer with Internet access and you are in.

And just like Internet banking – where the banks have made it so intuitive and easy to use (I know  you and I didn’t ask the bank to give us training before we started using internet banking), QuickSchools.com goal is to deliver software that will give an experience just like Internet banking. You sign in and you will know exactly what to do. Why shouldn’t it be?