The Goldilocks Guide to choosing your school software
When it comes to school software, the stakes are high. Choose well, and you’ll enjoy streamlined admin, clear reporting and more time to focus on your students. Choose poorly, and you’ll be stuck with clunky systems, frustrated staff and expensive workarounds.
This is where the Goldilocks principle comes into play. It’s all about finding an option that’s ‘just right’ for your school. Not too big, not too small, and not too complicated. In this post, we’re going to run you through a quick process that helps you decide whether your next software investment is the right pick.
Step one: Get real
Ever sat through a software demo and felt dazzled by all the shiny new features? We have.
But here’s the truth: most schools don’t need all the bells and whistles when it comes to investing in new software. In fact, there’s a very good chance that you’ll never use them. But you’ll still pay for them. Instead, we recommend sitting down with your team and listing out all of the problems you’d like your software to solve.
Are you looking to track enrolments without losing prospective families to a spreadsheet error? Are you hoping to streamline Payroll? Parent communication? Get your SMS talking to your LMS to reduce double handling?
Once you know what you need (and what you don’t), it’s time to…
Step two: Think about your future
It’s one thing to invest in software that suits your school now. It’s another to ensure it will be suitable two, three… even five years into the future.
The best software grows with you, letting you add functions or integrate with new systems as your needs expand. Choosing a system that’s ‘just right’ means you won’t have to go back to the drawing board whenever you add a new team member, new initiative or new campus.
Step three: Consider the end user
If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you’re a little tech savvy. But what about your admin team? Your casual staff? Or even the family members who’ll be logging into your Parent Portal?
Making a Goldilocks choice means considering usability for everyone. If your people can’t figure it out quickly, your adoption will drop. And before long, you’ll be back to running your school with spreadsheets, sticky notes and a filing drawer filled with paper forms.
Step four: Ask about support
Even the best systems are useless if no one knows how to use them. At Cole, we carefully partner with vendors who stick around and help schools with onboarding and ongoing support once the sale has been finalised.
We know the actual software is only one part of the ‘just right’ equation. The rest? Make sure you know how the vendor handles training, what’s included, and how quickly their team responds to support requests… before you sign the contract.
Step five: Do the real maths
Subscription costs are one thing. Set up fees, training costs, customisation, potential downtime and onboarding hours are another. No matter which system you choose, you’ll need to invest time and resources in getting it up and running. However, the amount of time and resources can vary wildly from vendor to vendor.
Our team often jumps in to help schools perform an accurate side-by-side comparison of vendors, and the results can be surprising. Sometimes the ‘cheaper’ option ends up costing far more… not just in time, but in frustration too!
Finding your ‘just right’
At Cole School Experts, we’ve seen too many schools struggle with systems that don’t fit. Some are over-engineered, and others are too basic to get the job done properly. Some are too time-consuming to implement, and others don’t work for the end user.
Choosing the ‘just right’ option doesn’t have to be a guessing game. You don’t have to test drive every system to know whether it’s too hot, too cold, too big or too small. After all, your current system may just be your Goldilocks!
We can help you define what ‘just right’ looks like for your school: your must-haves, your nice-to-haves and your deal-breakers before you sit through a single demo. From there, we’ll help you rule out systems that will leave you burnt, overwhelmed or stuck.
Want to learn more about our process? Check out our list of handy FAQs on the Cole School Experts software page. We run through optimising your existing systems, choosing a new solution, staff training, implementation support and more.
