Technology in the education study travel space is constantly developing, but cost and complexity means schools can be slow to adapt. Sudesh Prasad, head of project development at Intrinsiq, which develops software solutions for the sector, tells The PIE why schools should be enthused by the efficiency of tech.
The PIE: Do you think there is a huge amount of innovation still to happen in the education/study travel space?
SP: Yes. Our goal is to see what is available now and make it all work together, which is slightly like the internet of things. But I think the schools and the language experience operators need to be made aware of what is out there now that they are not using.
The PIE: How many schools and education companies do you think actually use technology to the best advantage?
SP: It depends on the culture of the school. I would think less than 50%. Because we come to them and say things like, ‘Did you know you can use near field technology like payment platforms, or use the Bluetooth in all of your students phones to check whether they have checked into their residence?’ and for some reason, there is not a mistrust but there is a wariness.. ‘no, we would rather have it on paper’.
“One of the things I have been talking about is, why are you emailing people? People don’t look at their emails anymore”
But it was the same thing with internet banking, nobody wanted to do that, but I would much rather do that than give a stranger in a restaurant my credit card. So I think it is a perception issue with schools. Some are very up to speed and embrace as much new technology as they can, but I think the majority don’t, because they fear the cost and complexity factor.
The PIE: Do you think it is an ignorance problem sometimes?
SP: I think some schools are not paying enough attention to their students who generally are young people and young people expect [tech-embedded solutions]. I would guess that for most people in the industry, their students will have smartphones, and we as Intrinsiq can certainly use that but our clients are slow on the uptake.
One of the things I have been talking about to existing and new potential clients is, why are you emailing people? Because people don’t look at their emails anymore – but they will read a text that says, your transfer is x, your driver is y, your class has been moved from this location to this location.
The PIE: So your system will accommodate that?
SP: Yes. Anything that exists we can talk to because we are software developers, so we develop the interface to talk to Google Maps, to texting, to an API that any company on the web will have. A lot of smaller schools are investing in online accounting packages like Xero – we have been speaking to the developers to get their API tweaked so that we can just export data rather than printing a spreadsheet and then uploading a spreadsheet.
The PIE: So is it bespoke in the way you work with your clients?
“There is no reason that schools can’t use the power that is out there for their own advantage”
SP: First thing we do is we say that you are buying our consultancy, we figure out how your workflow works and then we build the software to match that, not the other way around.
The PIE: It all comes around a need for a nimble and dynamic CRM, I guess?
SP: We always tell people we could build you a CRM, it won’t take us very long, but why would you pay us to do it when there are hundreds out there? SalesForce is a very good example, our bigger clients use that. We just integrate with them, so yes, nimble is a good word, because everything about schools has to be that way because it is very competitive.
[When people say] the internet has made it difficult for us, because now all that information is out there, my immediate response is: use that to your advantage. There is no reason that schools can’t use the power that is out there for their own advantage, to put dynamic pricing, or you met an agent, put that into your system and then your home office has it before you even leave the conference hall.
The PIE: What did you think about this debate around standardisation?
SP: I think standardisation as opposed to commoditisation is correct; I think it is a bad analogy with the airline industry [that’s often used] because of what they are delivering. Forgetting brand, it is getting you from A to B in a certain level of comfort and that’s what you pay for. Schools are different, they cannot say look what happened in the airline industry because they are not the airline industry. They are delivering something that lasts typically not more than 11 hours at the longest, we are talking about 6-8 weeks.
“I think it is a bad analogy with the airline industry. Schools are different”
If we standardise the way that you input that, which is the software developer’s job, you don’t have to change the way you are operating because we can present it in a unified way. There has to be a certain amount of standardisation but not in the way that they fear.
The PIE: So is it your biggest challenge, just changing the mindset of education?
SP: Yes, it is showing them we are not the adversary, because even big schools confuse us with the IT department. For our software to work, all you need is a device that can get you to Google; you don’t need a server, you don’t need PCs, you don’t need any of that.
We get a lot of resistance from in-house IT departments who say no, no, no we have to have the data in-house because they make their livings by changing servers and being the shamanist guardians of the network and we are saying 4G on a phone, get what you want, when you want because the rest of life is like that.
The PIE: Can you give me some more exciting ideas about how schools can really harness technology?
“We get a lot of resistance from in-house IT departments who make their livings by being the shamanist guardians of the network”
SP: From an efficiency point of view, one of things we have done is an app, so that group leaders that are going to Heathrow to drop off 200 students and pick up 150 can point their iPad, click tick box and it uploads so that the base knows that they have received that student and can process that student before they get back to the school.
We capture a photo from a device, then we place it in the right place, and it goes up into the cloud and that cloud syncs with the person back in the office, the other team leaders, the parents, the guardian in this country.
And it also texts or emails, or Facebook or tweets the parent with the photo, to say ‘we have Johnny’ because we had an issue where Chinese students – Li Ping is not the same as Ping Li, so even if it says Ping Li but you have the right photo, they can say, that is my kid…
The PIE: Are there any downsides to this technology?
SP: The only thing I heard was that it costs a lot of money to send those texts – sure, [but otherwise] you are paying £22,000 for a mid-level admin person to type that all in. We would rather you give us that money once and then next year buy a big Christmas tree, because you are not going to need that next year.
The downside is the downside of any technology: yes, iTunes goes down sometimes but it is all backed up and it all comes back, whereas if your server dies or if the woman who knows all the passwords to the spreadsheet quits and goes to the Far East (true story), the 56 spreadsheets are no longer available.
The PIE: So tell me about being located on a tech park in Cambridge.
“We would rather you give us that money once and then next year buy a big Christmas tree, because you are not going to need that next year”
SP: Well we aren’t affiliated to the university; however, because we are high-tech and we have connections to the university, I approached the director of Idea Space, which is an is entrepreneurship initiative from Cambridge University and they are based in the Hauser Forum in West Cambridge and also in a place where we are on the River Cam, which is IdeaSpace City.
It is essentially an incubator development area for Cambridge spinouts, for postdoctorates who have an idea, so we were asked some questions, like can you affect a million lives and how do you intend on doing that? And of course, through changing how education is done we can certainly do that.
