Acquisitions, consolidations, product realignments, shifting strategies. Higher education institutions are facing new disruptions in the market for student information systems (SIS)—disruptions that can have real, lasting impact on colleges and universities.
For many institutions, the SIS is the backbone of campus operations, powering admissions, enrollment, financial aid, student services, and more. Given the importance of the SIS, why are there such major disruptions in the market? How can institutions prepare for and successfully navigate these changes?
The Ecosystem Effect
Why does the SIS market today feel different than it did 10 years ago? For starters: consolidation. In the past, the industry was rich with start-up technology vendors delivering niche products that addressed specific needs. Today, venture capital funding has dropped, and smaller technology companies are leaving the market due to financial challenges—or they are being acquired. Combined, these factors lead to fewer vendors in the market and an increased presence of interconnected, end-to-end ecosystems.
These consolidations can be seen as both positive and negative. Firstly, not all consolidations are equal; some are real moves to enhance platform capabilities, while others are simply about acquiring more customers. On the plus side, institutions have access to smarter, integrated systems that power informed decision-making and stronger collaboration on campus. On the downside, institutions have fewer options to pick from, and they may find their existing, preferred platform to be unavailable.
The Complex Reality of Consolidation
The biggest contributor to market consolidations comes in the form of acquisitions. When a vendor acquires another student information system, it rarely runs all products indefinitely—or at equal priority. Each platform has its own customer base, technical requirements, and potential viability in an increasingly complex landscape.
Meanwhile, vendors simply may not be able to assign enough resources to either maintain acquired systems or bring them up to speed. Talent is a limited resource in today’s world. As such, vendors may need to concentrate engineering efforts on the system that is viewed—often internally—as the most modern, scalable, or profitable.
Similarly, internal competition at a vendor is inevitable, which can have an impact on end-user institutions. Development or engineering teams may share resources, which can lead to delays. Different product roadmaps or direction compete for attention and approval. Enhancements may slow down due to internal complications or external market challenges. Support teams can change due to staff turnover. While none of these realities are inherently wrong or negative, they can make it feel like progress is harder to come by.
These challenges may encourage vendors to force their customers to migrate to alternative systems. For institutions, these moves can introduce unexpected costs, operational disruptions, and even conflicting internal politics.
What are some of the tell-tale signs of vendor issues?
- Postponed features and updates.
- Increased total cost of ownership.
- Operational workarounds or silos caused by internal attempts to fix unaddressed product gaps.
- Anxieties caused by little to no transparency into technology roadmaps, ownership, or updates.
In some instances, vendor issues may have little to no impact on an institution at first. But over time, colleges and universities may feel that their vendor has deprioritized the product they use (and their institution). To mitigate risk, institutions must be diligent in finding the right technology partner.
Stability Matters
The student information system is such an important technology on a higher education campus. Any source of uncertainty associated with it can impact how an institution thinks about and approaches growth, staffing, and long-term planning. Given the fluctuations of the market, the safe, strategic bet is to lean into stability.
Jenzabar, a privately owned company, is the stable, reliable partner that higher education institutions can rely on when the rest of the market is filled with uncertainty.
What makes Jenzabar so stable?
- Industry Experience: Jenzabar has been a leader in the edtech market for more than 40 years, delivering innovative technologies to institutions of all sizes around the world.
- Partnership Focus: We don’t approach institutions through the lens of vendor-customer engagements; our goal is to be a strategic technology partner. We value personalized relationships, which is why more than 250 institutions have been partnered with Jenzabar for more than 25 years.
- Customer-Led Direction: Jenzabar takes customer feedback directly into account when developing technology. Our mission is to ensure institutions can achieve their mission, which means building and supporting the tools that colleges and universities need.
- Proven Implementation Expertise: We know that any delays in getting up and running on new software can have lasting consequences. That’s why we prioritize implementation; we have a 98% success rate for on-time, on-budget delivery.
- Commitment to Innovation: Jenzabar’s cloud-native SIS gives institutions the scalability, flexibility, and agility they need to compete.
- Superior Support: Jenzabar’s support, customer success, services, and account teams work hand-in-hand to resolve issues quickly and give institutions personal connections that power growth.
- Responsible AI Adoption: Jenzabar Intelligence, our purposeful and ethical approach to AI, enables institutions to leverage AI tools and solutions safely and strategically.
As the technology backbone for many colleges and universities, the student information system is a core component to institutional and student success. As the SIS market continues to evolve due to increased merger and acquisition activity, institutions should look for a stable, resilient, and proven partner to support their SIS goals. Jenzabar is that partner.
