Software as a Service: A Practical Application in Education

Introduction 

Traditional models of software deployment in education require the School District to buy or build the application or solution required.  Typically, the District is required to purchase a perpetual license, pay an annual maintenance fee and assume responsibility for the software's implementation and ongoing management.  These applications are typically installed directly onto District owned servers, with upgrades and patches applied periodically requiring communication and planning by the local IT department and the Vendor.

Dissatisfaction with the costs and challenges of the traditional model has resulted in acceleration in the demand for alternative models, such as Software as a Service.   

What is Software as a Service?

Software as a Service ( SaaS) is a software delivery model where a vendor develops a web-based software application and hosts and operates the application for its use by clients over the internet.  The SaaS model enables a school or a District to plug in and subscribe to services built on shared infrastructure via the Internet. 

 SaaS has typically been associated with business software as a low-cost method for businesses to obtain the same benefits of traditional, commercially licensed, internally operated software but without the associated complexity, high initial costs, and worry of maintenance.

 With the changing demands on information technology projects / initiatives in all School Districts, SaaS is fast becoming a viable alternative for Districts faced with high IT demands, but scarce human and financial resources to deal with increasing needs.  

Key Considerations when considering Software as a Service (SaaS):

Lower Initial Costs 

• No expensive software and hardware start-up costs.
• All hardware, software and networking infrastructure are included in the annual fee.
• cost-effective subscription based model or per-student pricing
• Mitigate longer term financial risk / ROI.

Faster Implementation 

• A solution can be set up in a fraction of the time it would take you to implement an internal solution.
• Free up valuable technical resources from developing and managing in-house solutions.
• Make solutions available to your staff, students or partners without having them breaching your internal network security.

Seamless Maintenance / Upgrades 

• There is no need to worry about the cost and hassle of backups, operating systems updates, software upgrades or applying the latest security patches to operating systems.
• Regular software upgrades - new features, functions and services.

Guaranteed Uptimes 

• Proven, reliable, secure data network with 99.5% plus performance uptime - guaranteed.
• IT and technical experts maintain, upgrade and monitor every hosted solution.

For more information on SaaS, please contact Darryl Denyes at ddenyes@leadershipservicesteam.ca.