How to make technology your ally in supporting student success

Further Education (FE) institutions face an uneven playing field in their higher education provision, with more restrictions and compliance, and less funding and resources. Technology can be a great enabler in overcoming operational challenges and improving student engagement, but is often pushed down the priority list, due to funding and budget constraints.

The IT environment colleges operate in is complex, with most users studying part time, and a significant number only studying short courses – from a day to a few months in length. IT teams and budgets in further education are often a fraction of those in universities, even though they provide very similar services, with similar demands for technology adoption, seamless user experience and flexibility of learning.

Now more than ever, college leaders need support from their external partners to leverage existing technologies and use their limited resources more effectively. Software delivery is one of the key areas where institutions are starting to see efficiencies, particularly through cloud computing.

Cloud solutions are often perceived as expensive or unattainable, but the landscape has changed significantly in the last few years. Through software platforms such as AppsAnywhere, institutions can outsource a lot of heavy lifting that is involved in delivering applications to student devices, allowing IT teams to focus on other strategic priorities. Newer technologies such as Cloud Delivery offer many benefits to resource-poor institutions, as it removes repetitive and admin-heavy tasks such as packaging, reimaging computers or security patches and updates.

How AppsAnywhere supports FE institutions

AppsAnywhere provides education institutions with a platform to make it easier to access and deliver software applications to students and staff, helping to address many of their IT challenges:

1. Enhancing digital accessibility: Our cloud-based software delivery ensures students can access the tools they need anytime, anywhere, on any device, addressing issues like limited device access and connectivity problems.
2. Reducing IT costs: By streamlining application delivery, we help institutions maximise their budgets and reduce the need for costly infrastructure investments. We work with what you have and deliver significant value from day 1.
3. Strengthening cybersecurity: AppsAnywhere supports secure access to software and data, reducing the risk of cyber threats while ensuring compliance with GDPR and other regulations. We help with Cyber Essentials Plus certification and compliance, as applications accessed through AppsAnywhere are isolated in virtual or cloud environments. Thanks to Analytics, it’s easier to identify, isolate and rectify any vulnerabilities or breaches.
4. Supporting hybrid learning: With seamless remote access, students and staff can continue their learning and work from any location, supporting the 40% of learners who prefer a blended approach to education. With cost and unavailability of transport, and work or family commitments alongside their studies, your students can study from anywhere.
5. Easing IT management: Our platform simplifies software deployment, reducing the burden on IT teams and freeing up resources for other critical tasks.
6. Facilitating technology adoption: We enable institutions to integrate new technologies like AI, AR, VR, and cloud computing without disrupting existing workflows.
7. Boosting staff productivity: Staff can easily work across campuses, accessing all their files, software and work in progress across any location, including from home. Less time is wasted logging into multiple systems and applications – with AppsAnywhere your staff can pick up their work where they left it without wasting precious time.

“As a college and particular within finance we use AppsAnywhere for logging into our finance system, authorising orders and invoices which we can do across our 3 campuses and also when we work from home. I love the easy access to my dashboards, HR systems and finance software, and I can save my work in one location and continue it on a different campus the next day” – Gita Gorman, Director of Finance, Solihull College.

‍A technology partner you can trust

Over the last 15 years, AppsAnywhere has been a trusted partner to over 300 institutions, delivering seamless digital experiences to over 3 million students.

Our people have a deep understanding of the education sector, where we work exclusively. We are application delivery specialists, motivated by making a difference to students, staff and IT teams. We simplify software deployment for a unified and seamless experience and reduce complexity and workloads for IT teams.

We constantly innovate and evolve our product and services with feedback from our customers. We challenge the idea that software delivery must be complex and expensive, and we make it our mission to remove barriers to student success.

‍