[sims] Capita is trying to sell off non-core businesses (SIMS is for sale)

[enjay]

As you can see on the Edugeek homepage, Iris Education (who own ParentMail) have just purchased iSAMS and are talking about an MIS revolution themselves so...

 

Didn't Civica recently buy someone big-ish in the edu sector too? Parago, that's it. Plus Civica already own Corero finance, so maybe they're just focussing on back-office stuff.

[supportman]

Looks like Arbour are the next ones to fall into line by being bought by "The Key", I think they own scholarpack as well.

Arbor Education joins The Key

With both ScholarPack and Arbor in the group, The Key can now provide a modern MIS solution for all schools, regardless of phase.

Together, we will help more schools get access to great tools, quicker and truly transform the way they work for the better.

 

https://thekeysupport.com/

 

Interesting moves going on and could be good news for those moving away from Sims to have another strong competitor.

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by supportman

[CeekaySchofield]

I work in a LA and use ESS, it be interesting to see who buys this if it ever gets sold.

[supportman]

Sounds like the deal is done

 

Montagu Private Equity (“Montagu”), a leading European private equity firm, today announces it has agreed to acquire the Education Software Solutions business (“ESS”) of Capita plc and has also agreed to invest in ParentPay Group (“ParentPay”), a leading provider of education technology. Following successful completion of both investments, ESS will become part of the ParentPay Group.

 

https://www.montagu.com/news/montagu-to-acquire-capita-s-ess-business-and-invest-in-parentpay-group/

 

The interesting thing is they have also bought parentpay. And Sims will be under parentpay!

[sefton]

£343 million sale to a private equity fund.

 

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/936408/capita-bags-just-343mln-from-sale-of-education-software-business-936408.html

[GrumbleDook]

https://www.montagu.com/news/montagu-to-acquire-capita-s-ess-business-and-invest-in-parentpay-group/

 

And we have the result.

 

So, Sims and ParentPay in the same family now!!!

 

The market is shaping up to be quite

Interesting.

[paulkerton]

So ParentPay are now in control of SIMS.

 

Oh how the mighty has fallen!

[supportman]

They even mention that they will invest in Sims 8

[synaesthesia]

Not sure whether this is good news or not. Little point in guessing however, so will wait and see how things change!

[Ditto]

It's going to be interesting to see the messaging to current SIMS schools. SIMS 8 rollout, as mentioned in the new reports, is still a big challenge. It's likely to get a lot more schools to look at the market place and there for some, might trigger a full-on procurement in some MATS. For those procurements, they are going to need to be completed properly or risk challenge. 2021 is going to be an interesting year for school MIS and other related software.

[Norphy]

If ParentPay is now managing ESS, what's going to happen to SIMS Pay? Ironically, we were looking to move away from ParentPay to SIMS Pay.

[localzuk]

I think people are reading that wrong. They're buying ESS. But they aren't buying ParentPay - they're investing in them. That doesn't mean they're taking control.

 

EDIT: Oh, that's odd. "Following successful completion of both deals, Education Software will become part of the ParentPay Group".

Edited December 14, 2020 by localzuk

[paulkerton]

If ParentPay is now managing ESS, what's going to happen to SIMS Pay? Ironically, we were looking to move away from ParentPay to SIMS Pay.

Well ParentPay already have Schoolcomms and CyPad in their portfolio. Can't imagine they'd want a fourth solution!

 

They could do with getting themselves a good quality UX/UI team though!

[paulkerton]

I think people are reading that wrong. They're buying ESS. But they aren't buying ParentPay - they're investing in them. That doesn't mean they're taking control.

They're not going to put ESS under the ParentPay Group without taking a controlling share in it.

[localzuk]

They're not going to put ESS under the ParentPay Group without taking a controlling share in it.

Its very odd wording then! But yes, you seem to be right. "Following successful completion of both deals, Education Software will become part of the ParentPay Group"

[enjay]

Well ParentPay already have Schoolcomms and CyPad in their portfolio. Can't imagine they'd want a fourth solution!

 

It's certainly an interesting development for a group who otherwise own payment and communication systems, as obviously an MIS is a whole lot more than that. Certainly, owning the MIS would make it a lot easier to develop all these applications which link off it, and possibly to provide integration the other way, e.g. pay for school fees or exam remarks. The cynic in me then starts wondering if they might limit the payment systems which SIMS will talk to, so schools have to use one of the ParentPay Group's products or go back to CSV exports. Are the Competition and Markets Authority happy with this?

[DrCheese]

Parentpay hasn't really been updated since 2010 - It still can't do basic tasks, like automatically pull staff in (I had to get salamander to bodge it) so it seems like a match made in heaven. Schoolcomms is a bit long in the tooth as well. I'm not all that hopeful this will improve things.

[supportman]

Schoolcomms is a bit long in the tooth as well. I'm not all that hopeful this will improve things.

 

I remember calling schoolcomms asking if they had any intention of fixing their archaic login system that required a "memorable word" to be screenshotted (you couldnt copy and paste it) to login which confused all our staff to the point of the software becoming unusable on occasions. They basically said it wasn't possible because the underlying technology "wasn't upgradeable".

 

These days we don't need it any more as Bromcom has all the text and email functionality built it. And best thing its all a single sign on with Office 365!

[localzuk]

Parentpay hasn't really been updated since 2010 - It still can't do basic tasks, like automatically pull staff in (I had to get salamander to bodge it) so it seems like a match made in heaven. Schoolcomms is a bit long in the tooth as well. I'm not all that hopeful this will improve things.

Yup. Staff not being pulled in was one of the main reasons we ended up migrating away to ParentMail.

[free780]

Not touched SIMS in a long time. But.

 

Capita finally finds buyer for education software biz, private equity Montagu to pay £400m • The Register

[Michael]

I can completely understand why Capita wanted to sell SIMS and reduce its debts. At the same time a new buyer not only has the customer base, but can also bring a fresh perspective to the MIS development cycle.

 

This is where I think lies the problem however - both SIMS and Parent Pay need complete rewrites and this will require a lot more money than the purchased price.

 

It'll be interesting to see if SIMS 8 is scrapped and rewritten or whether development will continue and finally released.

[RogerCorrigan]

It'll be interesting to see if SIMS 8 is scrapped and rewritten or whether development will continue and finally released.

 

According to Montagu, the plan is to continue with and roll out SIMS 8.

[DrCheese]

Yup. Staff not being pulled in was one of the main reasons we ended up migrating away to ParentMail.

 

It's rubbish - If it can pull it students, it can pull in staff as well. There's no logical reason why it can't. If anyone here has salamander, ask them to split out the XML for you that it needs, as that saves a lot of time. You still must upload it manually but maintaining it before was just a nightmare.

 

The only oddity is that staff appear as "Children" when you add them to a PP account, i.e if I register with my details, I'm a child of myself. - Which again, shows how little they invest in the product when they can't be bothered to update the terminology (It knows it's a staff account in the background)

[NickBryson]

According to Montagu, the plan is to continue with and roll out SIMS 8.

What is the source of your information - can you tell us more ? I haven't seen any public facing comments from Montagu.

[Steve21]

What is the source of your information - can you tell us more ? I haven't seen any public facing comments from Montagu.

 

Lots of places

 

https://www.montagu.com/news/montagu-to-acquire-capita-s-ess-business-and-invest-in-parentpay-group/

 

 

Montagu and ParentPay intend to utilise their combined expertise and network to support and accelerate innovation within the product portfolio, including the roll-out of ESS’s cloud-native SIMS 8 and other value-add services to schools and parents, catering to their increasingly sophisticated needs.

 

Steve