This year has been another year of growth and development here at iSAMS by IRIS. We released some existing new products, features, and enhancements – and attended many global events to meet with even more schools as the education industry grows
We are excited to see what 2025 will bring for both our schools and our ever-evolving platform. However, it’s always important to reflect. We’re keen to take a look back at 2024 and our iSAMS highlights from an exciting 12 months of work.
iSAMS began its journey in 2005 as our founders worked to build a solution that supported our first two schools; Rugby School and Warwick school. As both our team and our software grew over the following four years, we made the decision to progress internationally in 2009. We announced our first iSAMS international schools in Singapore and Qatar.
As we expanded across the UK and globally, we identified the need for further support for our schools. That’s why we opened our Sydney support centre in 2018, enabling schools to get swifter responses to tickets and work with a team in a much more accessible time zone for those based furthest from the UK.
Supported our acquisition by IRIS Software Group in 2020, we are fortunate enough to have continued growing our community of schools year on year and are thrilled to be supporting schools in more than 90 countries across the globe. In 2024, we welcomed our 1,600th school to our growing client base. We’d like to thank every single one of our schools for helping us to achieve this milestone, and we look forward to continuing to work together to meet your goals in 2025!
In December, iSAMS was pleased to launch its enhanced Parent Cloud Portal. The solution has been completely redesigned from the previous parent portal offering, with the goal of enhancing the end user experience and improving school-parent communication.
With this release, parents can stay up to date on, and engaged with, their child’s progress through the platform. The Parent Cloud Portal offers parents a host of self-service features for more efficient absence requests, monitoring of student progress, paying relevant fees, accessing key documents, and more.
Built as a progressive web app, and accessible according to WCAG 2.1 standards, the new portal is flexible and ensures that all users have the same experience, no matter the device.
If you’d like to learn more about the Parent Cloud Portal or to schedule a demonstration, get in touch here: https://www.isams.com/platform/portals/parent-portal/
iSAMS won the ‘Best EdTech Product – School Management Solutions (SMS)’ category at the 2024 Global EdTech Awards for its International Management Information System (MIS).
The annual Global EdTech Awards celebrate educators and organisations making a significant contribution to the field of education with their technology. This particular category recognises SMS providers that help schools to boost efficiencies and improve student outcomes, strengthening overall school performance.
We also achieved an exceptional Net Promoter Score in 2023, with 85% of customers reporting that they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the service they received, demonstrating our strong commitment to the overall customer experience.
If you’d like to learn more about the award winning iSAMS school management system, you can find details and a demonstration here:
In November, we were proud to be awarded BSI’s ISO 27001 (ISO/IEC 27001:2022) and ISO 9001:2015 certifications.
We completed achieving the latest ISO 27001 accreditation (ISO/IEC 27001:2022) in 2024 in recognition of the importance of maintaining the security of our clients’ information.
ISO 27001 is a specification for an information security management system and, according to its documentation, was developed to “provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an information security management system.”
We always seek improve the performance of Independent and International schools with a full cloud-based school management information solution that empowers learning, supports frontline teaching and improves student outcomes, through a variety of bespoke modules, portals and apps. We were thrilled to be recognised for our dedication to our client school’s data management.
You can read more and download the iSAMS ISO Certificates here: https://www.isams.com/company/press/isams-awarded-the-iso-27001-and-iso-9001-accreditation/
iSAMS Central was released in September 2023 and has since been adopted by over 100 schools worldwide. The platform was created to empower schools to harness their available MIS data. Driven by Microsoft Power BI and API technology, schools can use the platform to understand their performance with intuitive data visualisations and make informed decisions to drive school performance.
This new functionality update enables users to leverage the latest natural language AI technology to build dedicated reports within their Central dashboards.
The Q&A visualisation functions in the same way as many other generative and natural language AI tools that users may be familiar with. Simply select the ‘Q&A’ report type within the Central platform and type in a prompt according to your needs. Central will then generate a report based on this prompt, which can be customised as needed.
To learn more about the power of iSAMS Central or request a demonstration of the system and its AI functionality, click below:
The Reports Designer tool was launched in May 2024 as the latest addition to our extensive software. This solution is designed to offer a new level of customisation for schools utilising the iSAMS platform.
Schools often encounter challenges when tailoring their reports, either through lack of in-house resources or software limitations in customisation capabilities. The iSAMS Reports Designer tool empowers schools to independently customise and update their reports, eliminating barriers. By offering a simple drag and drop interface, the solution enables all users to undertake tasks such as these for the first time, regardless of level of technical ability.
The key functionality of the Reports Designer tool includes the replication and customisation of both built-in and custom reports, updates to reports built by individual schools, and an enhanced, modern, and fresh user interface for seamless navigation and modification.
For inquiries regarding the Reports Designer tool, schools are encouraged to reach out to their dedicated Customer Account Manager.
In May 2024, we released our dedicated guide for school Data Managers. We are extremely grateful to our schools that contributed to the resource and shared their expertise about the state of IT in schools today.
Key insights include advice on enhancing performance and driving growth in schools, how to safeguard your data as EdTech evolves, and how Power BI is shaping reporting.
You can download your free guide for school Data Managers here: https://info.isams.com/guide-for-school-data-managers/
In December 2024, we shared our guide for school accounting departments. Inside, school bursars can learn about how cloud-based software architecture can support your budget management, tips for managing the cost of living, how the iSAMS system supports VAT legislation changes, and more.
You’ll also read about recognising the need for new accountancy software and the available support options that our iFinance schools receive throughout their partnership with iSAMS and iFinance.
Download your free guide for school accountants here: https://info.isams.com/guide-for-school-finance-teams
Click the relevant iCommunity links below to learn about each new product release from 2024!
This year, we hosted two informative webinars discussing key topics that are impacting the Independent and International education community today. You can find full recordings of these sessions below. We’d like to extend our thanks to the variety of experts that contributed to our sessions. We wouldn’t be able to share these important insights without you!
The impact of AI in the classrooms of the future
The evolution of AI technologies has made headlines since the end of 2022, with the introduction of generative AI tech like ChatGPT. AI was once a technology that was reserved for the most advanced tech companies. ChatGPT put the potential of AI in our pockets.
Since then, industries around the globe have found ways to harness everything that generative AI has to offer. It’s only a matter of time, then, until the latest AI tech becomes commonplace in the classroom.
In this webinar, our expert panel will explore the state of AI in schools today and discuss what we can expect as the technology evolves within the education sector.
Hear our panel share their insights on the future of AI in schools, how generative AI tools are being utilised now and the potential benefits they can offer for both teachers and students. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from experienced professionals in the field and discover how AI may be effectively integrated into your school's curriculum.
Changing expectations of HR in Independent schools
In this webinar, our experts discuss strategies for attracting and retaining younger talent, fostering an inclusive workplace culture, and navigating the current staffing challenges and opportunities that Independent schools are facing.
The iSAMS team were joined by two expert speakers. Mandy Coulter founded Talent Architects to transform schools into exceptional workplaces, offering consultancy, coaching, and training. Her book, "Talent Architects," was published in 2018. As Director of People at United Learning from 2012 to 2019, she enhanced HR and talent management for one of the UK's largest school groups. Mandy's leadership earned her top HR accolades and she holds significant roles in governance and education.
Sophie Wade is a work futurist and Workforce Innovation Specialist at Flexcel Network and has reached over 600,000 learners with her LinkedIn courses. Her strategy sessions and workshops empower leaders to excel in modern, digitalised work environments. Author of two Future of Work books, her latest, "Empathy Works," is a must-read. Sophie studied at Oxford and INSEAD.
Hear their important insights into HR in Independent schools and learn more about how iSAMS can support your HR departments in their day-to-day management.
Watch here: https://info.isams.com/hr-webinar-on-demand-sign-up
The iSAMS team took to the road once again to attend a variety of events, network with schools, and begin our latest User Group Roadshow!
We love to attend and host events as they provide us with the unique opportunity to catch up with our schools and enable our community of schools to make connections to encourage further development.
This year, we attended 37 events and hosted 24 iSAMS meetings for our schools across the world! Over 2,850 of you have registered for these and future sessions to catch up with the latest iSAMS developments and provide us with your invaluable feedback.
We can’t wait to get back to visiting schools again in 2025! If you’d like to learn more about our upcoming events or find your nearest upcoming User Group, read here: iCommunity
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We hope the full school community of Independent and International schools had plenty to celebrate in 2024, and we look forward to supporting you in the coming year!
Follow our blog for more insightful updates throughout 2025.