How To Choose The Right Partner For Implementing School App?
Is your institute worried about how to choose a school app from a sea of options?
It can be intimidating to find the perfect app for your school when there are so many choices available. A school app when chosen correctly can revolutionize the way your school functions but the wrong app can also lead to loss of a lot of resources and time.
Most of the times, choosing an app is a long-term decision for schools as it not only involves teachers but also includes active participation from parents. Hence, ensuring the implementation of the right school management app is essential.
Here are a few things you need to consider before implementing a school mobile app.
Evaluate The School’s Needs
The most important step to do before getting a school app is to introspect and find out your school’s requirements. Based on the prerequisites, you can easily define the characteristics your app needs. This further assists you in figuring out whether a particular app helps to solve your problems. Ideally, the school mobile app should help you access data easily, have faster operations, and enable seamless communication between parents and teachers.
Check The ERP Partner’s Credentials
The partner should have proper accreditations and certificates so schools have the guarantee that the product is legitimate. Institutes should do a background check of the partner and find out how long they have been in the industry.
Review their capabilities and reliability. The partner should also have proper teams to focus on the school app development. Additionally, features like customer service and support, customizations, etc. should be looked for.
Talk To Other Customers
This is one of the most crucial steps. Current users can tell you how the app actually performs in real-life. Users can tell you about their experience with the partner and how prompt are they with their customer service.
Ask customers whether the partner satisfied all the school’s needs or do they have any grievances with the partner. Likewise, you can also know about the app's popularity amongst teachers and parents - as they are the ones who would use the app the most.
Read More - How School App Helps You Improve Student Academic Performance
Is the app scalable
Schools are continuously evolving and the school apps should grow with them. It would cause major inconvenience to schools if they had to change the mobile app every 2-3 years. Not to mention the number of resources and hassle it would cost.
Look for a vendor with the capability to provide you with a scalable school app to support the school’s growth. The complexity of the scholastic operations increases with the rise in the number of students. Hence, your app provider, as well as the app itself, should be flexible and scalable.
Check For Hidden Cost
Some partners offer their products at very low rates and sometimes even for free. But after implementation, they charge additional fees for various tasks like personal training, setup, maintenance fees, etc. Similarly, some apps charge a lot for a necessary upgrade!
Therefore, schools must review the contracts thoroughly to find hidden costs and any provisions that allow the partner to hike up their costs during the duration of the contract. The contract should also have provisions that allow schools to get out of the contract if the system is not working for them.
Give The School App A Trial Run
The school mobile app can prove to be troublesome if it doesn't suit the school’s needs. Thus, it is important for schools to try the app before getting it. The best way to ensure the compatibility of the app is to use it as a free trial for a month. This way you would know how the teachers, and parents react with the app.
Usually, trial runs are provided by the partner for no cost. During the trial run, review the app’s benefits, features and whether it is user-friendly. The app’s interface should be simple. If any training is required to use the app, the partner should provide it.
Ensure that the school’s requirements are being fulfilled. Clear any doubts with the partner.
Assess The App’s Security
Schools store a lot of private student data which needs to be protected. To safeguard students’ data partners should have proper security measures. The app should have multiple layers of encryption. Security updates should be regularly available.
Another important aspect of security is data backup. Backups are necessary to prevent the loss of information. So, the school app should have cloud backup and hard drive backup.
Other Things To Keep In Mind While Choosing A partner :
- partners must provide 24/7 technical support.
- Mobile apps for school should be easily integrable with the existing school technology.
- The app must manage time efficiently and be cost-efficient.
By making sure all the above steps are taken before choosing a partner, schools can choose an app that is perfect for them.
Get in touch with us to know more about Atcovation - School Mobile App.
