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How Cloud Based Applications Help Colleges
There are incredible cloud based applications on the market right now that appeal to individual users. What’s even better is that most of them tend to be free. Strong applications like Google Drive and Dropbox have students that need cloud storage covered, but what about the colleges they go to? How can cloud based applications truly help colleges themselves? For colleges, simplistic cloud based applications like Dropbox are no longer sufficient, but they can certainly turn to software like online college management software by Edcited. Let's take a closer look at what makes cloud based applications advantageous to use for colleges today.
Flexibility to Add Additional Branches of Information and Data
A lot of the time, larger organizations like colleges have a lot of potential to offer additional services but are unable to meet the needs because of a lack of resources. Cloud based applications are able to solve this problem by being available on demand to the user, which significantly reduces the time spent on each additional change made. Colleges will also find it much easier to configure additional tasks in the system. For example, the main system could be solely based on academics but with the overlapping administrative tasks of the college, these tasks could be added on to what was formerly only a system based on lecture and student content.
Ability to Adopt Other Successful College Applications
This cloud based application advantage also runs off of the fact that it is highly flexible. While some fear that a lack of understanding with where the information is actually stored can create a sense of insecurity, there are high rewards to using cloud based applications and services. Cloud based applications and services are constructed from the feedback of users and their needs. As a result of this, a college should have no issues adopting similar cloud based services that other colleges are able to provide because the product is already in existence.
Staying Competitive
Colleges are driven to obtain the best students and keep their reputation high. This is why staying competitive among other colleges in the eyes of students has become highly important. In fact, marketing takes up a significant portion of college recruitment budgets. Cloud based applications like those from Edcited actually allow for college staff to free up time from overseeing the maintenance of in-house data management and shift their focus to providing students with the services they need in order to remain competitive among other colleges they might be directly competing against.
Best Practices
With a lot of initial information technology application launches, the laggards in the product adoption cycle lose out on the advantages of using the application because they miss their chance to use it before the technology becomes obsolete. However, this is not the case when it comes to adopting cloud based applications. While forward thinking organizations may have adopted cloud based applications right away, colleges may be more risk averse when it comes to investing in information technology. The cloud based application is an exception to those cases. In the case of the cloud based application, the late adopter is still able to reap a lot of benefits as the service improves and builds on customer experience. For colleges, this is very good news.
Higher Revenues
The final gauge for what makes cloud based applications so helpful for colleges is their ability to help higher learning institutions increase their revenues. Cloud based applications can help colleges with cost control and productivity, which in turn helps in delegating funding towards services that will likely produce more revenue for the college. Ultimately, cloud based applications are delivering a highly functional management structure for the colleges.
All that said, it is clear that cloud based applications have helped and will continue to tailor to the needs of organizations like colleges across the globe. The goals of cost reduction, productivity and revenue increase are common across many organizations and no different for the higher education industry. Often, colleges can spend too much time on the process of decision-making when it comes to adopting new information technology because of the numerous boards and student consultations that are required to delegate funding. However, it is fair to say that with all strong applications there must be an initial investment. The payoff of cloud based applications is still long-term and it is difficult to project what the long-term return of using a cloud based application will be relative to the short-term. However, past experience shows colleges to have been able to improve their information management with the use of cloud based applications.
What colleges can do to help with the cloud based application adoption process is to slowly roll out the implementation of these cloud based applications as part of existing IT systems. Employing cloud based applications as part of the college business strategy will closely integrate the technology with college operations.
Flexibility to Add Additional Branches of Information and Data
A lot of the time, larger organizations like colleges have a lot of potential to offer additional services but are unable to meet the needs because of a lack of resources. Cloud based applications are able to solve this problem by being available on demand to the user, which significantly reduces the time spent on each additional change made. Colleges will also find it much easier to configure additional tasks in the system. For example, the main system could be solely based on academics but with the overlapping administrative tasks of the college, these tasks could be added on to what was formerly only a system based on lecture and student content.
Ability to Adopt Other Successful College Applications
This cloud based application advantage also runs off of the fact that it is highly flexible. While some fear that a lack of understanding with where the information is actually stored can create a sense of insecurity, there are high rewards to using cloud based applications and services. Cloud based applications and services are constructed from the feedback of users and their needs. As a result of this, a college should have no issues adopting similar cloud based services that other colleges are able to provide because the product is already in existence.
Staying Competitive
Colleges are driven to obtain the best students and keep their reputation high. This is why staying competitive among other colleges in the eyes of students has become highly important. In fact, marketing takes up a significant portion of college recruitment budgets. Cloud based applications like those from Edcited actually allow for college staff to free up time from overseeing the maintenance of in-house data management and shift their focus to providing students with the services they need in order to remain competitive among other colleges they might be directly competing against.
Best Practices
With a lot of initial information technology application launches, the laggards in the product adoption cycle lose out on the advantages of using the application because they miss their chance to use it before the technology becomes obsolete. However, this is not the case when it comes to adopting cloud based applications. While forward thinking organizations may have adopted cloud based applications right away, colleges may be more risk averse when it comes to investing in information technology. The cloud based application is an exception to those cases. In the case of the cloud based application, the late adopter is still able to reap a lot of benefits as the service improves and builds on customer experience. For colleges, this is very good news.
Higher Revenues
The final gauge for what makes cloud based applications so helpful for colleges is their ability to help higher learning institutions increase their revenues. Cloud based applications can help colleges with cost control and productivity, which in turn helps in delegating funding towards services that will likely produce more revenue for the college. Ultimately, cloud based applications are delivering a highly functional management structure for the colleges.
All that said, it is clear that cloud based applications have helped and will continue to tailor to the needs of organizations like colleges across the globe. The goals of cost reduction, productivity and revenue increase are common across many organizations and no different for the higher education industry. Often, colleges can spend too much time on the process of decision-making when it comes to adopting new information technology because of the numerous boards and student consultations that are required to delegate funding. However, it is fair to say that with all strong applications there must be an initial investment. The payoff of cloud based applications is still long-term and it is difficult to project what the long-term return of using a cloud based application will be relative to the short-term. However, past experience shows colleges to have been able to improve their information management with the use of cloud based applications.
What colleges can do to help with the cloud based application adoption process is to slowly roll out the implementation of these cloud based applications as part of existing IT systems. Employing cloud based applications as part of the college business strategy will closely integrate the technology with college operations.
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