B (3:07)

Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I ever told you this, Ricardo. I've known Ricardo for a few years now. And the motivator for me to start EdTech Connect was getting off our antiquated legacy workflow solution. I was told, go find us a new cloud workflow solution. I'm like, oh, great, no problem, I'll go find it. And this was back in 2019, and I was shocked with how hard it was to find a solution that hired has already vetted and was using. It wasn't that there wasn't enough solutions, it was just too many. And so that was what started me to kind of found Anti Connect. But it was the cloud workflow solution that I was supposed to find and. And I was not successful. Before I left the university, the project didn't quite happen. Can you walk us through the typical before and after of a campus that adopts your solution?

A (3:53)

Yeah, absolutely. So the before picture is one we see often. Right. It can best be described as the chaos document. Chaos specifically. And it's a result of the patchwork of, you know, silos of processes, applications, you know, systems. In these before schools, the information is collected usually via PDFs that have to be filled out, emailed across individuals, sometimes even walked across campus and signed and then returned in the same kind of archaic methods that can't really be traced. And then they're stored in the cloud.

B (4:25)

Right.

A (4:25)

And that can mean anything. A lot of times it's just a folder in a sharepoint somewhere. So it's painful. It's painful for everybody involved. Right? So that's the before, the after. It really is a total transformation. It's streamlined information flowing from the users to the stakeholders, fewer errors, much better user experience across the board, not to mention the cost savings that are achieved by simply consolidating applications to ones with a lower overall cost.

B (4:51)

I lived this life for many years, and I know many campuses still rely heavily on paper or clunky systems. What are the biggest roadblocks to fully going fully digital?

A (5:03)

That usually comes down to two things. I think it's fear and the perception of lack of resources. And the fear is kind of two things there. Right. So the first is just the Fear of failure. The second is the fear of complexity. So, you know, maybe the school has had a bad experience with the vendor or a failed integration project or something. The teams will say, well, you know, our system, our back office systems are big and they're working, so let's not mess with them. We overcome that by proving that it could be done right, you know, it could be done quickly and a reasonable investment. And then the second roadblock is having to do with the belief you need huge IT budgets and staff. And we address that. We take a different approach than most software vendors. All of our solutions are really offered as turnkey services and that means that our clients rely on us for a lot of the heavy lifting. And you know, whether it's during implementation, support, post implementation, whatever, we're like an extension of the team.

B (5:59)

You're also really good at E signatures. Smart forms. How do smart forms E signatures change the game for colleges and universities?

A (6:07)

Yeah, they change the game by shifting from a process centered approach to user experience focus. Right? So talking about forms, forms, you know, they really go from static and just call it quote, unquote dumb documents to interactive intelligent information capture that is part of a flow and it kicks off an automated process. So fillable PDF, which is something we find a lot of schools using, it's really just a digital piece of paper. It's a container. It doesn't care whether information in it is correct. A smart form, on the other hand, is interactive. It's an experience that guides the user through whatever the objective is. If it's multi step flow, it has the logic, the validation, whatever it needs to simplify that process, reduce the errors, and it makes that information flow from the user to the stakeholder as quickly as possible. The second thing you asked about was the E signatures, right? And this is something we see, forms with many, many signatures, right? So it's a crucial step and something that we've seen, which is curious. We often find colleges using the wrong tool for their signatures and their forms. So what I mean by that is like for example, DocuSign, we find a lot of schools trying to model all their forms and all their flows into DocuSign. And as a result, the cost just skyrocket. Right. And this is a great example of where a tool like Forms with workflow tool like what we provide can actually be a better solution because you can move a lot of those forms over to this tool, collect all the signatures you want, and the costs are way lower. So really, as you can see, it transforms the way things are done. In higher education.

B (7:40)

I just recently went to a conference, it was actually Digital Collegium about a month ago. And I watched a presentation about a work, a workflow forms project. And what really struck out to me, you know, hit home to me was the amount of forms the school's dealing with. You emphasize workflow automation. What are the most overlooked workflows that institution should start with? There's so many. Where would they start?

A (8:03)

Yeah, it's a great question. And everybody immediately thinks, okay, you know, the student facing ones like admissions and registration, those are good. But a lot of times those have already kind of been figured out. So what we find is that the biggest ROI is often from overlooked operational areas. So flows in places like hr, operations, facilities, you can really usually find kind of low hanging fruit there. Processes that can be overhauled pretty quickly, you know, and also depending on the appetite for innovation, you may choose something a little more complex. You know, one example is with the school we worked with, you know, recently, we help them automate the entire faculty contracting process. So, you know, everything went from before using spreadsheets and by hand and email to everything from document generation to workflow and signatures is now all automated.

B (8:51)

So do you do a lot of custom work too, customizing workflows for schools?

A (8:55)

I would say more than custom is configuration, because our tools are kind of made to be configured. No two schools are the same, but it's really more about configuring the tools to kind of work right for them.

B (9:06)

Compliance and security are always top of mind. How do you address those concerns in a digital transformation?

A (9:13)

Yeah, top of mind is right. You know, there's really three layers that we always think about. You know, you have the foundational layer, which is, you know, the infrastructure. So things like encryption, geo redundancy, high availability, that's all table stakes. The second is who gets access to the data. And here we work closely with the schools, right, because again, no two schools are the same. So being able to do robust authentication in whatever flavor that comes, whether it's sso, multifactor, authenticators, all that stuff will align to it. And the last thing is make sure that things are auditable. So all of the tools have, you know, event logs, audit trails, all the things that you need to really ensure that you're complying with whatever standard it is that you need to comply with.

B (9:57)

How does it integrate with existing student information systems or LMSs that higher ed is so ingrained in?

A (10:04)

Yeah, no, that's a great question. And again, flexibility is the key word. So that's our philosophy. So to ensure flexibility, we make sure that our tools have robust APIs. Specifically RESTful, which allows for programmatic integration with a wide range of targets and sources. Right. To ensure the flow of information. So the key here is that in addition to just making the API available to the schools and the documentation, we have integration specialists that work with the clients. Right. So we help them integrate, and then we also make sure things are future proof. So if in the future the school changes something in their back office, we can adjust the API to make sure that it continues to be integrated.

B (10:44)

You've talked about the dream of a single digital experience. What does that really look like in practice?

A (10:53)

Yeah, I think breaking down the silos is really what it's all about. You know, if you break those down, you eliminate the friction and the frustration. And, you know, whether it's with students and with staff. So, you know, for example, if today students have to download a PDF, fill it out, walk it around, you know, etc.

B (11:10)

Etc.

A (11:10)

They have to engage in different kind of processes that are not really conducive to a good experience. Single digital experience means one secure location, one place for all those interactions. So at the end of the day, you're kind of removing the technology and enabling the services to shine through.

B (11:30)

And now a word from our sponsor.

A (11:35)

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B (11:58)

How do you help schools manage the change process when you're implementing the platform? That seems like I see a lot of schools get stuck in that phase.

A (12:07)

Again, it comes down to the way we engage. Right. And in our philosophy, change management is about partnership. It's not a solution. It's not just an installation. We don't just hand over the software with documentation. We work with the schools to first identify and start with a few use cases that they can implement, improve the value. Then they build the internal champions, they socialize the success, and the process can then be replicated. One thing we see often is that once that first use case goes live, other departments will see that.

B (12:40)

And.

A (12:40)

And a lot of times they proactively reach out and say, hey, can you guys put up a form that takes a payment? Because we have an event coming up, you know, we have a club, whatever, and yeah, sure. And that's how we start building and expanding the use cases.

B (12:53)

Yeah, got it. Well, let's talk about something exciting coming up here. You know, I want to hear about some success, real world success stories. And we're planning something pretty soon together. Can you talk a little bit about success or feedback from specific campuses?

A (13:10)

Yeah, I'll mention two.

B (13:12)

Right.

A (13:12)

So at Seminole State College in Oklahoma, we came in and helped them simplify and streamline their forms, their content and document management. And that's the one that we did the contract automation that I was talking about. So it was a pretty ambitious project, but we delivered that successfully in just over 12 months, which is, you know, pretty quick. It was really good team effort and the results have been phenomenal. The feedback from their IT team really highlighted how we went above and beyond, you know, whatever it is. If during the course there was curveballs, you know, we would go above and beyond to make sure that we delivered that and meet all the requirements. And that speaks to the partnership model that I mentioned before. This next example is one that, as you mentioned, we're going to be doing a webinar together, and we're really excited about that. And this is on how we help Paris Junior College in Texas digitize their forms, specifically forms that were really complex. And they had specific group of forms that were on paper that were complex. To give you an idea, one had a successful completion rate of just 20%. So the majority of times the students had to start filling it out. They would end up in the office asking about it. The digital versions of that same form, it's much simpler and it has near 100% complete completion. So the feedback from there was like, we were looking for a tool that could handle what we threw at it, and you guys knocked it out of the park. And that's the best kind of feedback you can get from a customer to, you know, both say, hey, you're doing it right and your technology is right too. Yeah.

B (14:44)

Yeah. So the webinar that Ricardo is referring to is going to happen November 19, 11am Pacific. We'll put a link to it in the show notes. It'll be on our website. We're excited to dig into a school. It'll be Paris Junior College.

A (14:58)

Yeah, that's correct.

B (14:59)

That we're going to be talking to some people from there about their project there. So look for that one in the show notes. I'm excited about that. So for institutions with limited IT resources, how do you support implementation and maintenance?

A (15:13)

Yeah, no, this is really kind of our sweet spot. So our approach is designed to alleviate the burden on it, not to add to it. You know, I'll give you an example. Most software vendors, even when it's a SaaS solution, they still kind of limit the scope of services that's included. And in fact, a lot of them will hand you off to a PS company and say, okay, well you need that implemented. Talk to these guys. We don't do that. When we say software as a service, we mean it. You get the software, but you also get what we call concierge level services. And that means that just about anything you need, implementation, configuration, onboarding, integration, everything you need to use our solutions, just call us or email us or chat us up and we're there. Just to give you an example, the Forms product or Lifeforce product, we call it Forms as a service because in addition to the tool, you get all the help that you need to do that.

B (16:01)

A new acronym out there. Fast, we'll call it.

A (16:03)

Yes, that's right, Fast.

B (16:05)

We have Fast.

A (16:06)

That one may be taken, but we'll make. Yeah, right, I'll start using that one.

B (16:11)

Well, it made me think. I was just at this conference and I watched this presentation. Are there certain types of schools that you're seeing are more successful or that are really seeing the value more like larger schools or smaller? Or does it. Is it not too.

A (16:24)

And you know, I mean, we tend to see the schools that have, you know, smaller IT departments, which is really the majority.

B (16:31)

Right.

A (16:32)

Because when you think about the higher ed in the US the majority of the schools are not, you know, they are ones that the majority are kind of, you know, smaller institutions with limited capabilities, limited staff. And that's where we see a lot of benefit from kind of engaging in our, you know, way of doing things.

B (16:47)

Yeah, yeah. Looking forward, in your view, what's the future of workflow automation? Is there any AI you're using or looking at or other emerging tech?

A (16:55)

That's a great point. So, you know, the future is about moving from just digitizing to making intelligent and accessibility. Right. The first wave was just getting rid of the paper. The next wave is creating that rich digital experience that's super simple. So that's where like, you know, the biggest barrier that we see in like E Forms is this final step where you need a little bit of code, whether it's integration, whether it's a logic, et cetera, to make that happen. And in our product we've integrated AI assisted rules, so we've actually plugged in where you can connect your ChatGPT account and you know, for example, ask for a rule that enables parental consent on the form if the student is ages below 18 and the system will come back and give you the snippet of code and put it right into the form. You don't need to be a programmer. And that. That's the future. Right. Putting the power to create these experiences in the hands of the people that run the campus.

B (17:46)

Yeah, I feel like. And this came back for this conference I just got back from was, Higher ed is so stuck in their ways, in so many ways, and that there's so much cognitive overload when you're trying to do things in your job and fill out forms, you know, as a staffer, and we haven't figured out how to, like, you know, what do we need from this form? Just because we've done it all this way for the last 10, 20 years, like, do we really need this? And number two, do we already have this? Why would we ask them the same question? We already have this. So it seems that, like, are those things, like, you kind of really address? It's like, not really down to the product. It's really the governance of, like, yeah, let's really think through what these forms are supposed to be doing.

A (18:27)

That's a great point and a lot. Yeah. The biggest mistake we see is, like, you have a form that's been on paper and you think that, oh, all we have to copy it and make it look exactly the same. No, their approach is really think about what the form is doing, what the experience of the user is supposed to be like, and then build your form. Because it could look a lot simpler, it could flow differently and be optimized, and we help do that. So that's part of the services that I was mentioning before.

B (18:53)

The analogy I'll throw out there is the mother that cooks the ham for the holidays every year and cuts off the ends of the ham. And her daughter asks her mom, why do you cut off the ends of the ham? And she says, well, my mother always did that. That's just how you do it. And so she's. The mom gets curious, and she asks her mom, the daughter's grandma, hey, mom, why? Why do you cut off the edge of the ham? She's like, well, when I was cooking, learning how to cook, the oven was just too small so she could cook the whole ham.

A (19:23)

Absolutely. Yeah. That's a good point.

B (19:25)

So if a campus leader is just getting started on digital transformation, what's the one actionable step they could take right now?

A (19:34)

Don't try to boil the ocean. That's what I would say. You know, the scope for transformation is so huge, it can lead to paralysis. So my advice is find you know one specific painful process and understand it. So like, for example, I would challenge them to identify the single most cumbersome and inefficient form and get the stakeholders in the room, map the journey. Right. Understand it both in usage and cost, time, resources. Once you have that, you can, you know, the business case kind of follows easily. Right. And I would say once you have that, feel free to hit me up. I mean, I'm on LinkedIn. Look me up on LinkedIn, send me a message. Even on the website, send me a message. I'd be happy to provide feedback. There's no commitment. I'll tell you what I think and what our experience has shown and hopefully it's useful.

B (20:18)

Well, I'm going to wrap it up and say thanks for being on the pod, Ricardo. And I'm going to put a link to our webinar coming up in the show notes. And you know, I feel like these solutions, your solution, is often not thought of as the sexiest solution out there. It's behind the scenes. But I swear I've seen presentations that it can be transformational for campuses. So I hope you can dive in and see more when we're presenting it on November 19th. Thanks, Ricardo.

A (20:44)

Absolutely. Thanks, Jeff. We appreciate it and look forward to seeing everybody in the webinar.

B (20:48)

All right, bye.

A (20:48)

Bye.

B (20:49)

As we wrap up this episode, remember EdTech Connect is your trusted companion on your journey to enhance education through technology. Whether you're looking to spark student engagement, refine edtech implementation strategies, or stay ahead of the curve in emerging technologies, EdTech Connect brings you the insights you need. Behavior sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an inspiring and informative episode. And while you're there, please leave us a review. Your feedback fuels us to keep bringing you valuable content. For even more resources and connections, head over to edtechconnect.com your hub for edtech reviews, trends and solutions. Until next time, thanks for tuning in.