Education Centers should think like big businesses when it comes to technology

Education centers, especially higher education centers, should take technology cues from the nation’s leading businesses. To be successful, the latest technology has to be leveraged to improve attendance, garner new students, retain current students, and improve the student’s overall experience. The following shows how big businesses are driving sales and gaining new customers, and how education centers can follow suit:

Leverage Data Visualization Software

The nation’s largest organizations understand the power of business intelligence, which is why they invest in data analytics and visualization software. Colleges, especially small technical schools, can benefit from using industry-leading software, such as Tableau or Microsoft Power BI. For a detailed comparison of these solutions, check out - Power BI vs Tableau. Comparing them is essential to learning which system provides the most benefit for a particular institution.

Basically, these programs incorporate all the big data collected from spreadsheets, storyboards, and other software. It then places it in a user-friendly space where it can be analyzed and interpreted by anyone. The benefits are immeasurable. It can help schools identify successful student traits, advertise more effectively, and reveal opportunities previously unseen.

Embrace IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT), is widely used in business to improve the workplace for employees and customers. They use the IoT to improve data insights, track and manage inventory, and to improve the efficiency and productivity of the workplace. Schools should take note and start implementing some IoT of their own.

Examples of IoT offerings include light controls, sprinkler controls, key card access, parking monitoring, and parking space notifications. The IoT makes things easier for students and faculty, which can result in greater attendance. When touring your school, imagine how a student will feel entering a building that’s automated and futuristic. Plus, it can cut down on energy consumption. Internet-connected lighting systems are smart enough to know when someone isn’t in the room and will turn off the lights to conserve energy.

IoT classes can also be offered to students seeking tech degrees and certifications. There’s a huge employment market for IoT related jobs, such as the 100,000 drone-related jobs that are projected to be available by 2025. Desirable companies, such as Amazon, will be using drones to deliver goods and services and students will be excited to take part in these programs.

Improve Cloud Computing Offerings

Cloud computing contributes positively to the education experience by connecting students to each other, teachers, and other campus offerings. It allows for convenient access to shared computing resources, such as messaging services, storage solutions, and collaboration interfaces. Basically, cloud computing utilizes software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to build more inclusive online spaces.

High-performance computing (HPC) is a cloud offering used by large companies, specifically in the industries of aerospace, manufacturing, life sciences, and information technology. Education centers can leverage it to improve academic research. It’s basically a large-scale virtual computer lab used for complex analytics. It’s especially beneficial to schools offering technology programs, as it offers students the chance to be hands-on with enterprise-scale architectures.

Cloud computing is beneficial to faculty and staff too, as it connects them from anywhere and provides real-time data and analytics. It provides them with an opportunity to improve learning outcomes through analytics initiatives. It can even predict a student’s grade with only a 2 percent margin of error.

As you can see, it’s imperative that education institutions embrace emerging technology just like the nation’s leading businesses. This approach gives higher education centers a competitive advantage and improves their student experience. It contributes to more informed decision-making and policy development. Overall, the benefits of technology outweigh any consequence of cost and prove to be a smart and worthy long-term investment.