IRIS Education - It's Time For A MIS Revolution

Schools have been forced to be reactive for too long. Without the right tools at their disposal, it’s been near impossible to get the real-time data and insight that’s needed to make proactive changes.

And who could blame schools for this? Long-established software packages have been thrust upon them by circumstance, third parties such as local authorities, or simply because there’s a lack of options on the market. To take a different path and choose a new, innovative solution would have been a waste of precious budget.

When COVID-19 struck earlier this year, schools were forced once again to be reactive. Nobody was prepared for the idea of a nationwide pandemic, let alone the reality of one. School leaders and administrators were left scrambling for answers.

However, the coronavirus crisis has also been a catalyst for positive change – not just to processes, but to people’s attitudes towards them. It’s now finally acceptable for schools and trusts to seek out the best possible options.

That means that the traditional MIS options are, for the first time in recent years, under threat by any innovative alternatives that are soon to join the market.

Vestigial limbs

Well-established management information systems have been built and rebuilt countless times now. Every time they release a new version, developers are only adding new features and functions on top of an older, deprecated version.

These MIS have become lumbering beasts with functionality that’s not suited to modern working practices. In 2015, Microsoft scrapped its Internet Explorer web browser and released Edge browser for the same reason – Internet Explorer had gone through countless updates and iterations and had become too unwieldy when compared to modern alternatives.

It’s clear that the only way for MIS providers to remove their vestigial limbs is to start again with a fresh new system. For example, traditional MIS products make it difficult to collaborate. There’s no way easy way to fix this; instead, these providers should look to create a modern, streamlined alternative.

However, new providers are already working on these modern cloud-based alternatives. Old MIS providers could struggle to keep up.

The MIS revolution

It's time for a MIS revolution. We’ve brought together the minds behind ParentMail, IRIS Financials and iSAMS to create a cloud-based MIS that serves real-time data to meet schools’ every need. It’s going to be a fresh MIS built from the ground up for education – without the vestigial limbs of older, established MIS. It’s coming soon.

iSAMS, our most recent acquisition, already serves over 500,000 daily users with their groundbreaking MIS. Its development team will bring a wealth of expertise to the development of this new MIS product, aiming to build synergies between the MIS and the rest of the back-office IRIS portfolio.

We’re working with schools to make this happen – and we want you to have your say. Before you renew your MIS contract, make sure you know about all the options available to you. You can sign up at www.iris.co.uk/mis to get future updates as we work on this project. You'll also have the opportunity to shape the development of this new MIS.