Is it time Universities had an education in modern ERP systems?

Higher Education has had a bit of a hard time recently, with cuts to its funding, increased student expectation, and pressure to deliver on research and innovation.  The last thing that they need is an outdated ERP system that can’t meet the demands made on them.

Many universities struggle with outdated processes when what they need is a single solution covering finance to procurement, and HR to student management.  It’s essential that they have a comprehensive system that is flexible enough to adapt to changing demands.

In a recent survey compiled by US research firm Info-Tech, they evaluated ERP vendors for the HE market, and labelled UNIT4 as an innovator in the field. It’s great to be recognised as a leader, and we think this is illustrated in the work we’ve been doing recently to establish an international centre of excellence for education software in Wales.  We’re working to create a single, international solution for higher education which will have our existing Agresso ERP platform as its foundation.

The report recognized our innovation, particularly in our very strong capabilities in helping our customers support change – a massive issue for education institutions. We have great functionality for areas like student engagement, business engagement and research management. Our new Centre of Excellence will allow us to provide even stronger support for education customers, and build up areas that may currently be perceived as weaknesses.

This is an exciting and dynamic area of the market, and one that is rapidly changing and becoming globalized, which is why we want to give it even more dedicated focus. The most important lesson this survey has given though is that there is such a wide range of solutions to help universities rationalise their processes, and a great deal of support that they can take advantage of; so in a fast-changing market, their software doesn’t need to add to their list of concerns.