Skoodat Exodus offers enterprise tools to manage education data at up to 50% cost savings — a major departure from old-school IT.
June 28, 2010 — Denver, CO — Today Skoodat, a Chattanooga-based education technology company, announced the release of Skoodat Exodus, a comprehensive suite of cloud-based apps for managing school, district and statewide performance data. The Skoodat Exodus suite is built on the Force.com platform, the only proven enterprise platform for building and running mission-critical applications in the cloud. The announcement was made at the TIE/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp held at the 2010 ISTE Conference in Denver, Colorado.
The name for the suite of apps speaks to its purpose — a major departure from “old school” data systems. Skoodat Exodus apps leverage massive-scale cloud computing to make education data useful for everyone in real time.
“Being data-driven should be a given,” stated Skoodat CEO, Ken McElrath. “We track all kinds of metrics about athletes, but closed software, expensive hardware and complicated data tools keep many teachers, parents and administrators in the dark when it comes to tracking the metrics of learning. Skoodat Exodus will help unlock data and make it useful and instantly available. Education data will be used more effectively, empowering decisions in the classroom, the home, and the front office. Because Skoodat’s Exodus apps and toolkit are built in the cloud on the rock-solid Force.com infrastructure, the data can be delivered to the right people at the right time without compromising security or privacy. Schools can stop spending precious resources on building IT infrastructure and refocus those dollars and efforts in the classroom.”
McElrath isn’t the only one touting the benefits of cloud computing on Force.com. Both IDC and Forrester Research recently released studies demonstrating that solutions built on the Force.com platform can save organizations more than 50% on IT deployments. The U.S. Department of Education has recommended cloud computing in its national education technology plan, and a recent Horizon Report on K–12 education predicts that most schools will be using some form of cloud computing within the year.
“Schools need useful, real-time data to innovate their way out of the current education crisis,” says McElrath. “The stakes are too high to mess around with old school solutions that simply cost too much to buy, integrate, manage, upgrade, power and eventually throw away. Slim education budgets can’t handle that kind of fiscal waste. Our landfills can’t handle the toxic waste of old servers. And our students’ learning opportunities should not be wasted by inefficient, antiquated data systems. By providing cloud-based apps on a cloud Education Performance Platform, schools can deliver exponential learning performance gains, preserve resources and cut IT costs. It’s a true win-win-win.”
How are Skoodat Exodus apps unique?
Currently, schools enter, store and push data in many different ways and formats to many different places. Skoodat provides a complete, integrated system in the cloud, with tools for teachers and systems for superintendents. Because everyone enters and shares data in the same system, duplication of effort is eliminated, and all stakeholders see information instantly from anywhere with an Internet connection.
“Most states and districts are swimming in data,” says McElrath. “But too few have an efficient, effective way to gather and use that data to make an immediate difference for students and their teachers in the classroom. Skoodat Exodus apps are all linked in the cloud, making it possible to see comprehensive, easy-to-understand snapshots of student, school, district and state performance. When everyone has useful data to make education decisions, the education system can deliver change that’s real, substantive, sustainable and scalable.”
Skoodat’s open, web-based Education Performance Platform delivers longitudinal data management with real-time dashboards, snapshots and reports. All data is shared across each application and a sophisticated security architecture protects student privacy. Skoodat Exodus apps are completely customizable and can either run alongside of a school»s existing applications or replace older software as desired. Skoodat Exodus apps can also be integrated seamlessly with other cloud applications, such as Google Apps for Education.
about Skoodat
Skoodat makes education data useful, for everyone, in real time. Part learning application engine, part secure, stable and flexible platform, Skoodat offers simple, customizable education performance apps for students, parents, teachers, principals, school systems and policy makers. No more bending education to the limits of technology. With Skoodat, technology serves learning for all.
As a visionary social and environmental entrepreneur, Skoodat serves the entire education ecosystem by creating accountability and saving time and resources for today and tomorrow. Skoodat is proud to be a salesforce.com Power of Us partner and a certified B Corporation, demonstrating our commitment to social and environmental stewardship.
For more information about Skoodat, visit: skoodat.com
about the Force.com platform
Force.com is the only proven enterprise platform for building and running business applications in the cloud. The Force.com platform powers the Salesforce CRM applications, more than 800 ISV partner applications like those from CODA and Fujitsu, and more than 85,000 custom applications used by salesforce.com’s 51,800 customers such as Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE and Sprint Nextel.
Force.com is the fastest platform for building and deploying complex business applications. Unlike a stack of disparate client-server hardware and software products, Force.com unifies the development and deployment model from the database to the device, allowing developers to easily assemble applications with clicks, components and code, and then instantly deploy them on salesforce.com’s trusted global infrastructure.
For more information about Force.com, visit: http://www.salesforce.com/platform/
about the TIE/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp
The TIE Colorado/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp is an event designed to build understanding, facilitate conversations, and develop a framework for change. Leaders from all levels (school and district administrators, IT professionals, classroom teachers, librarians, district coordinators, and others) engage in a day of learning and thinking that will lead to developing a working plan for improving communication and collaboration practices in their school or district.
For more information about TIE/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp, visit: http://sites.google.com/site/leadershipbootcamp/
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