sharonk

Yes please - can you share the letter as I would love to be able to compare details?

It seems simple to me - I read this as Link2ICT are selling their support and they will step in as and when Advanced Learning are unable or unwilling to assist... If that's the only deal Advanced Learning were able to offer, then it seems as if Link2ICT have done their best to at least give schools a one year window to look at alternatives. Would have been great to be forced to go direct now with no notice at all.

I have just seen the following update from Link2ICT - so it looks like a deal has been completed. Advanced Learning – Progresso and Facility CMIS Update Dear Colleague, Further to our previous communication, the announcement made at the Link2ICT Conference and our recent telephone conversation. We are delighted to confirm formally that following protracted negotiations with Advanced Learning we will be able to provide you with licences and support for Facility (CMIS) and Progresso software for the next twelve months. The one major difference from previous years is that whilst your support is procured through Link2ICT, Advanced Learning will become your primary point of contact for Facility (CMIS) and Progresso software support this coming financial year. This was Advanced Learning’s key condition for signing up to the deal. As a result we will be revising and reissuing your current service level agreement to provide the relevant contact details for Advanced Learning. Please note however that Advanced Learning has agreed that if it is unable or unwilling to provide you with support then Link2ICT will be entitled to step-in on your behalf. It is disappointing that after more than a decade of selling and supporting its software in Birmingham schools, Advanced Learning had chosen to bring its relationship with Link2ICT to an end. Rather than it having been a big bang over a rapid timescale as Advanced Learning was originally envisaging, this deal at least means we can manage the transition from old to new over twelve months. The subscription price for the financial year 2016/2017 has been communicated to you already however details can now be found on the Link2ICT support portal at http://www.link2ict.servicenow.com. You will note that Link2ICT is not passing on the 13% increase in cost that Advanced Learning has charged it. Whilst far from ideal we believe that the agreement between Advanced Learning and Link2ICT provides the optimal approach to protecting Schools’ interests for the coming year.

Hi, As a regular reader of these pages, I've never commented before, however today our Business Manager received a call from Link2ICT in Birmingham who have supported us with Facility CMIS for the last 12 years or so. Apparently Advanced Learning have ended the rights for Link2ICT to re-sell any of their products to Birmingham schools, forcing schools to go direct on an individual basis to ask for a licence renewal. We were told that the company asked for over a 10% increase in licence costs from our provider in January before deciding to force all schools to buy direct in the last couple of weeks or so. This just doesn't seem like good business sense to me - so I wondered if the company is desperate for money. Over the last few hours I have been doing some digging on-line and asking colleagues in other local schools. I have found out that the Advanced group were recently acquired by a venture capital company and according to figures posted on this forum they have lost around half of their MIS customers in the last five years with over 400 leaving in the last 12months or so. This causes great concern when they want us to sign up directly and we need their software to complete our next census return in May - that appears to be 'having us over a barrel' as one colleague said earlier. Colleagues in other schools say that Progresso is still not working as it should, and that a number are seriously looking at moving to SIMS or Bromcom instead. We are completely fed up with the lack of any development in Facility for several years now, and Progresso is a definite no from what we are hearing - I've also spoken to one school who purchased facility from the company directly when they became an academy who say that the support received from Advanced Learning is appalling in comparison to that we get from Link2ICT - does anyone have any comments on this? They also said that everyone they used to speak to at the company seems to have left in the last 12months or so. I would love to get a better picture of what the company is like from schools who already buy direct - it isn't something we want to do, but it looks as if we will be forced by the end of next month. Any comments most welcome as we want to make an informed decision.