What is SaaS and Why It's a Game-changer for Universities?

By Peter Moss, Business Development Director at Ellucian

Imagine a university campus where staff workloads and processes are streamlined, student services are available at the click of a button, and faculty can focus on teaching and research, rather than being bogged down by administrative bureaucracy.

In some institutions, driving the digital transformation that's needed to achieve all this can feel like trying to turn an ocean liner, where every cog and wheel from helm to engine room must be perfectly aligned to successfully change course.

But there is an easier way to make change happen.

A growing number of universities are adopting Software as a Service (SaaS), a technical operating model that offers a smoother pathway institutions can take to modernise the way they run, reduce costs and provide a more dynamic and responsive digital landscape for students and staff alike.

What is Software as a Service?

The SaaS model eliminates the need for universities to invest in, manage and maintain multiple standalone systems and on-site servers. It moves institutions away from the burden of thinking about technical infrastructure or where and how it's deployed. And it eradicates the cul-de-sac of IT complexity that can be a significant barrier to successful digital transformation.

Instead, an institution on a SaaS operating model can onboard new students efficiently, even during the busiest of enrolment periods, without worrying about whether their systems can cope.

New courses and digital services can be added in a timely way to meet the changing needs of students. Universities could enable staff to work from wherever they can be most productive too, allowing them to plan coursework or assessments away from the bustle of the busy campus.

So, what are the key benefits of SaaS for higher education?

1. Improved efficiency

One of the key advantages to a university of moving towards a SaaS model is the positive boost to efficiency.

With SaaS, systems and working processes are more standardised. This consigns data silos to history and allows information to flow simply and securely across the institution, saving time that can be focused on improving the experience of students.

At Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) in the USA, paper invoices were previously mailed to students and campus cards produced by hand, which was time-consuming for staff. Moving to a SaaS service provided by Ellucian has allowed the institution to automate many of these tasks, saving hours of administration time and speeding up the whole process.

Around 4,000 campus cards can now be produced in the same timeframe it used to take staff to print 10 manually, so students get them much more quickly.

Students studying in a university with SaaS capability could access all course materials, assignments and grades online too, from wherever in the world they happen to be. As in any other area of life, people expect tech to make everything faster and easier. This is what SaaS can deliver for a university.

2. Peace of mind

Universities never have to worry about whether their systems will slow or crash due to heavy usage. Especially during busy times like student registration. With SaaS, the technical capability needed is automatically delivered to meet demand. Institutions can be confident that their most important systems can be relied on when they matter the most.

An app MassArt provides for staff and students was being accessed by around 1,000 users on average per year. Migrating to SaaS supported significant growth of the app, which now handles more than 1,100 users accessing it a day.

MassArt has also found the automatic system upgrades, that come with SaaS, useful. In the past, staff had often found they were six months to a year behind where they wanted to be with systems updates. Shifting to SaaS has allowed them to reclaim five hours per day that used to be spent on manual tasks and other processes. That's a staggering 1,250 hours per year that the university can now spend supporting the success and experience of students.

With SaaS, there are no unexpected surprises if the student services team suddenly needs more storage than expected. The service keeps on coming. And if a university wants to move staff from the medical to the science department to cover absence, there is little to no additional training needed as increased standardisation means cover staff will already be familiar with the systems being used.

3. Data security

One of the key benefits of SaaS is in maintaining the security of data across a university. Security updates and systems upgrades happen continuously in the background so downtime is virtually eliminated.

Threats are monitored 24/7 too, so a continual pipeline of data protection updates and systems improvements are automatically applied. This helps to ensure universities are protected as new threats emerge.

Why Ellucian?

We know that for many universities, driving change is an evolution that happens over time. It's often less about tech and more about managing a cultural shift that needs to take place to do things differently.

We understand this. It's why the Ellucian team includes highly experienced IT engineers and also change management experts, who work closely with institutions every step of the way to shape the technology and services they need to achieve a successful digital transformation.

For more information on how we can support your university to realise the benefits of SaaS, contact us.