Three ways you can use technology to optimise your education business

Imagine running an educational organisation where every process flows seamlessly, from managing courses to engaging with students. That's not just a dream. With the right strategies and tools, it's entirely possible. This blog delves into three dynamic approaches educational organisations can employ with Zoho apps to improve their operations.

1. Manage administrative tasks

From managing money to organising different projects, handling everyday tasks effectively is crucial for running any organisation smoothly. Imagine having one tool that does it all. Take, for instance, The Stella Way, which provides innovative services to help people build online courses that are sustainable and scalable. Founder Kat Sorbello recognised the need for a cohesive solution and turned to Zoho One, a suite of over 50 integrated applications designed to manage and automate business processes across a wide range of organisations.

One of the challenges The Stella Way faced was the time-consuming process of manual data entry and reconciliation. Zoho Books eliminated many tedious tasks and made financial management and invoicing seamless. Meanwhile, Zoho CRM proved invaluable by centralising lead management, contact tracking, and deal management. Zoho Projects was another key tool that tracked important project milestones, allowing the team to monitor tasks, budgets, and timelines efficiently.

By integrating meeting tools like Zoho Meeting with Zoho Bookings, The Stella Way was able to set up meetings easily. Additionally, Zoho Sign made it simple to sign documents online, avoiding delays.

"Compared to the disconnected apps I was using before, I've found Zoho One to be very intuitive and easy to use," said Kat Sorbello. By tapping into the capabilities of Zoho's tools, The Stella Way was able to improve how it managed its tasks, which led to getting more done and enhancing customer experience.

Learn more about how Zoho One empowered The Stella Way.

2. Communication and collaboration

Efficient and clear communication is important when you talk to stakeholders, like students, parents, and faculty members. Before implementing Zoho solutions, Gondwana Choirs relied on a manual, decentralised approach: using separate spreadsheets stored on shared drives to organise contact information and communicating with members and parents via email. This wasn't very efficient, and there was always a risk that important messages would be missed.

Working with a local Zoho Partner to integrate Zoho CRM with the WordPress membership portal proved transformative. It enabled parents to log in to the website and update their child's information, which was pushed directly to Zoho CRM. This made things a lot easier for the staff and made sure members' information was continuously updated. Moreover, they added a donations module within Zoho CRM, which provided useful insights into the organisation's donors and their contributions. Gondwana Choirs can now track donations on a per-family basis and deliver personalised communications to its supporters.

As a result of these improvements, Gondwana Choirs achieved greater transparency and openness in communication. Staff can now send members and parents all the updates they need about rehearsals and events right from the CRM. This helped the organisation build a stronger community, get more people involved, and ensure that they feel satisfied about their participation.

Discover how Gondwana Choirs worked with a local Zoho Partner in Australia to elevate communication and engagement.

3. Analytics and reporting

Institutions need actionable insights to handle challenges and seize opportunities effectively. Let's look at the example of how Australian Sports Camps (ASC) leveraged Zoho Analytics to identify profitable areas within its business.

Zoho Analytics gave ASC easy-to-understand dashboards and charts, both on the web and mobile. This helped the team quickly see important information, such as revenue and event attendance rates, which helped ASC optimise its resource allocation and marketing strategies to take advantage of the best growth opportunities.

"We’ve had a 30-40% increase in participants, and we’re doing it with fewer people and more efficiently," said Scott Taylor, managing director at Australian Sports Camps.

Zoho Analytics integrated with other apps used by ASC, such as Zoho CRM, Office365, and WordPress, ensuring comprehensive data consolidation and analysis. This made sure all data was in one place and easy to access, enabling ASC to spot trends, track performance, and change plans as needed to support the company's expansion.

Read more about how Zoho Analytics helped ASC accelerate growth. 

Wrapping up

Integrating systems like Zoho into your educational organisation isn't just about upgrading your technology—it's about taking a big jump toward efficiency, engagement, and empowerment. Remember, the aim isn't just to keep things running but to run them as well as possible. By optimising your use of technology, your organisation can operate smoothly and create an environment that maximises support for learning and growth.