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The need for ERP in educational institute cannot be ignored anymore. And, who doesn't love ERP solutions? They provide a centralized approach to managing the different processes, improve productivity and efficiency and help stakeholders to stick with the school/college in a long run.

Educational ERP for school is now in huge demand. The growth is already been seen in the 1st world countries such as USA, England, and other countries. The adoption of ERP is slow in many countries. The slowest adopter of the education ERP is the Asia-pacific region

ERP for education is now making its impact on many schools, but one of the biggest hurdles of using Educational ERP is the cost associated with it.

With such a high cost associated with ERP implementation, schools or colleges are not taking risks or have the funds to justify the implementation of ERP.

Open Source Educational ERP solution such as OpenEduCat offers the much-needed path for the schools who are short on funds as there is no licensing and other associated costs with open source ERP solutions.

India has been the center of attraction for both the market players. The innovation centers, for example, IIT is also taking part in the development of education ERP. Their ERP project is named Advaita, but it is still a long way from getting a mature release.

The benefits of ERP just cannot be ignored and that's why it is necessary for schools to understand and act before other schools take advantage of the ERP solution and beat them in the competition.

How technology is improving Schools?

Technology has evaded our personal and work environment. It is now slowly but steadily penetrating into the educational sector. The digitization factor was always there, but now it is the right time for schools to start accepting the change.

Classrooms will be the number one place where digitization takes place. Video sessions, practical and another use of technology is making the classroom a great place for students to learn and evolve. The time is near when technology can no longer be separated from the classroom and we will witness the change in our life.

Few examples of Educational ERP penetration are OpenEduCat others.

The mantra of digitization is alive and kicking. It will not die anytime soon and the intensity will increase in the near future.

Cloud-based Educational ERP solutions will also have an impact on the educational sector as it offers the right tools for future growth and portability.

Educational ERP solutions such as OpenEduCat, Fedena, and others offers modular based functionality. Main features such as school calendar, hostel, books, etc. are implemented in a modular fashion.

How can educational ERP sector be spiced up? Startups?

India is a land of startups and no one can deny the fact that here are more startups in India than any other place in the world. Educational ERP offers a great platform for startups to experiment.

There are already big players in the Educational ERP sector or ERP sector in general. They are SAP, Oracle, etc. But, they cost a ton of money.

Startups, on the other hand, can easily provide great ERP solution without breaking the school's bank balance.

Prime examples of startups that are making the change in the market are OpenEduCat, which uses Odoo open source ERP solution as its base. The open source tag helps schools to utilize the free licensing terms and hence the reduce cost of implementation.

Other noticeable startups are Applane, and SchoolPad.

Is the road simple? What are the challenges and opportunities?

With opportunities comes challenges. With challenge comes innovation and the cycle keep going. There are major challenges that the startups and other medium scale vendors need to take care of.

The major challenge is school acceptance of ERP. Many don't want to change their daily work schedule or don't want to invest in.

Another challenge is the ERP implementation itself. It is not easy to implement ERP and there are chances of it falling through the roof. To make sure that the ERP is implemented successful, the school needs to prepare a good solid plan, have excellent team management, do a routine inspection on each milestone and always offer to keep up with changes within the educational institutes.

Giving up the traditional way of working is the first big change any school/college can take to make ERP implementation successful. A proper change management can help to create the environment needed for the change.

For schools, it is always a good idea to look for a vendor that have previous experience and is ready to customize the ERP according to the requirement.

For more information on educational ERP, contact us at info@openeducat.org.