How Edtech Companies Benefit from NetSuite ERP

Technology and education are now intertwined in more ways than one. Students engage institutions online, enroll online, and even take courses online. 

Managing everything virtually is a requirement if a school wants to stay up-to-date with the times and expectations of future students. 

This is why Edtech is on the rise. Managing student enrollments, communications, digital courses, finances, and other critical tasks using manual processes is outdated and time-consuming. 

Yet, using a variety of software platforms to manage it all can be costly, and it creates unnecessary silos that can lead to fragmented data. 

The solution? NetSuite. 

Here's a look at the benefits it offers. 

Grow Your Shrinking Budget

And you're not alone. This is a common issue among school districts that face a constant uphill battle with funding. On average, schools are spending roughly $400/student just for IT. 

Then others can't afford IT projects whatsoever. At first glance, it may seem that solutions like NetSuite are out of reach. However, if you look closer, you'll see it's something else -- they're using outdated equipment that's sucking their funds dry. 

By eliminating these futile platforms and integrating an ERP solution, such NetSuite, you can reduce costs and enhance efficiency.

Studies show that by outsourcing IT, schools can save upwards of 40% (compared to hiring an in-house team). 

Stabilize Your Unreliable IT Infrastructure

When you turn your institution into a digital campus, you need to ensure your IT infrastructure is reliable. Unfortunately, this isn't always possible when you're using outdated platforms that fail to keep up with demand. 

This leaves your students vulnerable to delays in accessing online course materials. However, updating these so-called solutions can be quite expensive. 

By upgrading to a cloud ERP, you can cut the cost of these improvements and get the IT stability your school needs.

Get a Better CRM

Today's prospective students aren't calling you. They're visiting your website, chatting with online representatives, and reaching out via social media. 

This means you need a customer relationship management (CRM) system that can gather information from all sources throughout the customer lifecycle. This way,  you can effectively renew, upsell, cross-sell, and support students and potential enrollees at all stages of their journey. 

Qualifying leads faster will also increase student enrollments, with the help of direct mail and email targeting. 

Increase Your Revenue

There are multiple streams of income for educational institutions. You have donors contributing funds, students paying their tuition, members paying their dues, and alumni (and others) purchasing school gear. 

With NetSuite, you can set up an e-commerce store that integrates with accounting, marketing, and order and inventory management. You'll be able to accept payments and process orders effortlessly. 

Shipping, receiving and returns also become easier to manage when you have an ERP solution. 

Streamline Multi-Campus Operations

It's hard enough trying to organize the processes of campuses across the city or state. Why make it more challenging by using siloed software platforms? This makes it impossible to see what's happening from campus to campus?

NetSuite makes it so that you can manage multiple locations and subsidiaries efficiently. This includes having real-time visibility of what's happening, and it streamlines processes implemented across schools and divisions. 

At the click of a button, you can standardize new processes everywhere at once. 

Improve Human Capital Management (HCM)

Staff members are the backbone of your organization. But you need an HR team that can effectively onboard, train, and manage personnel. With an ERP solution, you can

• centralize safety training
• Manage code conduct management
• implement other processes

All the while using a single suite.

NetSuite simplifies human resources by offering vital features, including:

• payroll
• employee center
• HR analytics
• and other core HR capabilities

Get a Bird's-Eye View of KPIs

Education is a business. And just like any other company, you have KPIs to maintain. This may include metrics for student inquiries, enrollments, marketing campaigns, revenue, etc. With the dashboard offered by NetSuite, you can keep a hawk-eye on key performance indicators for individual schools. 

Knowing which schools are struggling and which are performing optimally can help pinpoint where improvements are necessary.

Plus, you can set it up so that the data is shareable between school admin, officers, board members, and auditors. 

Access Robust Financial Management Tools

NetSuite's dashboard goes beyond KPIs and metrics. You also have end-to-end visibility of accounts receivables and payables. Then you can eliminate bottlenecks by automating the order and cash process. 

The procure-to-pay and record-to-report processes are also seamless, along with accepting electronic payments securely. You'll find that creating invoices is faster, thanks to its advanced revenue recognition capabilities. It can process payments for tuition, field trips, special events, and more.

Monitoring what's coming in and out requires a robust dashboard with financial reporting. You can develop these reports and send them to key members in a jiffy. 

The real-time reporting also helps to track complex (and ever-changing) compliance rules. The goal -- to ensure the best security and visible audit trails. 

To take it further, NetSuite enables you to track and report the lifecycle of assets -- from acquisition to depreciation to retirement. 

Taking EdTech to the Next Level with NetSuite  

There aren't many ERP solutions out there that streamline all of your processes. If you're serious about improving tracking, reporting, visibility, finances, revenue, and marketing -- then you need NetSuite. 

We're helping schools combine their technologies into a single, robust platform. 

If you'd like to do the same, then reach out to Zanovoy today!

‍