5 Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing Educational Software

The following are 5 mistakes you must avoid when choosing an online software platform and provider for your higher education institution.

1. Not planning integration

Software integration does not happen overnight. It takes time to plan the integration of higher education software. Higher education institutions need to take a software provider’s integration timeline and budget into account when planning for the use of an online learning platform.

2. Prioritizing functionality over the outcome

Many online education software options, from CRMs to LMS and more, may look alike when it comes to functionality. Once you go past the design features that are easily visible at first glance, you’ll need to dig deeper to see if the software program is right for your institution. 

You must talk with your team and establish which are the most important features for your institution. Does it need an AR or VR system? Will you need to use AI? You will need to think about the overall outcome so as to answer these functionality questions. Does your higher education platform need to grant you the ability to collaborate and report capabilities? Should it help you with marketing strategies? 

3. Not setting clear expectations

It can be quite a lengthy process to implement any new higher education software platform, including prior searchers and negotiations made with software providers. Your institution must provide clearly defined expectations when it comes to milestones, timetables, deadlines, as well as responsibilities while discussing options with potential software vendors.

You can't forget to think about the following questions.

- What are the deadlines for critical milestones during the software implementation process? What does the overall timetable look like?

- How much does your higher education team want to be involved in implementation?

- What form of communication will you use with the software provider throughout implementation and beyond?

- What are the software provider’s implementation fees? In what circumstances will additional fees be applied?

4. Launching too soon

Meeting deadlines is important, but rushing the implementation process is not an option. It's of utmost importance to plan ahead of time to avoid this, as rushing an implementation process can result in mistakes that will be difficult to fix later when programs are already live. 

Implementation processes can take anywhere from several weeks to even months. You may even need to go through a soft launch phase in which you can test the system out with a few users in order to make sure everything is up to speed. 

5. Not having access to support after implementation

When searching for the right online software program and provider, you will want to find a partner that you can work with when hitches arise. Glitches and issues ranging from minor to major are more than likely to occur! The idea is to find a software provider that can work hand in hand with your team to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible. Your relationship does not end once implementation wraps up. You will work together and solve any issues that come up along the road.