How much does parent communication software cost? A comprehensive guide

How much does parent communication software cost - Things to consider

So you’ve scoured the market for the best parent communication software and read how to improve parent teacher communication – what’s the next step? Of course nothing comes for free and as schools important to consider how much something like parent communication software costs, both in terms of the purchase price but also the value gained.

Trends impacting parent communication software costs

The digital landscape is constantly evolving and parent communication software is no different. Digital trends emerge faster than you can say “TikTok” but a few headline items to consider are:

• Data is the key to success - Data is key to anything software related, but increasingly senior leadership teams and parents are scrutinising any sort of reporting tools parent communication software offers. Things like cashless payment modules can help parents manage their own finances while adding value to the school by making sure there is no food wastage. Plus online calendars, low cost messaging and communication portals contribute towards savings by helping schools go paperless. When looking at where to save costs, this data can help illustrate savings to governors and boards.
• Online fatigue and authenticity - Whether parents or teachers, modern life dictates that we end up scrolling on digital platforms more than ever before. As a modern society we are inundated with notifications, messages and endless feeds to scroll through. It’s therefore vitally important to produce content and updates that are authentic and engaging. Parents and teachers alike want to be part of a wider school community with a shared interest of their child’s learning journeys. Understanding how students, parents and staff engage, is essential to getting the most value out of the software.
• Doing more with less - Teaching has always been a demanding profession. Being responsible for the adults of tomorrow and shaping generations to come is no walk in the park. Teachers have always been time-poor and often take the classroom home with them, marking work late into the night, writing reports and communicating with parents well after the school bell rings. In the face of rising costs, teachers are being asked to do more with less, so having one platform that fully manages parent communications, payments, parents evening and much more, all under one roof can help cumbersome school processes become more efficient and save both, valuable time as well as money.

The cost of innovation in parent communication software

Not a week goes by where there isn’t some new technology designed to make our lives easier. The same goes for innovations in parent communication software and there are plenty of them to think about when looking for solutions that provide your school with value for money:

• The rise of AI - AI is coming for our businesses and also our homes whether we like it or not. But instead of viewing this inevitable digital transformation as a threat, there’s plenty of opportunity for it to help your school and community of parents. Software like My School Portal actually integrates with Alexa so busy parents are able to ask questions like “does my child have any homework due today” or “does my child have PE today” while they do other tasks. Parents and guardians have come to expect this kind of sophisticated technology everywhere from ordering groceries to playing music, so to be able to add this functionality to your school communications platform adds additional value.

• Multi-platform content distribution - Parent communication platforms make it easy to disseminate communications to different devices from one central hub. Emails, social media posts, SMS messages, push notifications and more can be issued at the click of a single button to parents, staff and students. Long gone are the days of permissions slips and writing letters to each individual parents, saving huge amounts of time and effort for school staff.
• Keep connected on the cloud - Cloud based software keeps school staff, parents and students online wherever they are, with no requirement to install any software locally. Plus, single-sign-on functionality breaks down barriers to accessing information with busy parents not needing to remember secure user names and passwords. Notifications can help keep parents stay focussed on the things that matter most and visibility of homework deadlines and requirements can help improve a child’s attainment.

Parent Communication Software value – the Impact on Education

Trends and innovations are to be expected from any technology, but what’s important when factoring all this into the cost of parent communication is what sort of impact, both financially and practically this will have on your school. Weighing these two factors up is how to calculate the value and overall cost of such an investment.

• Everything in one place - Bringing all communications and systems within a single platform makes life easier for everyone, reduces administration time and is an environmentally friendly approach to communicating between schools and parents. Cashless payments functionality can even make more money for schools, with the George Spencer Academy in Nottingham claiming that “online payments has really helped us reduce our costs and the amount of time we spend counting cash; we've seen our takings increase by over 20%".
• Integrations aplenty - Seamless integration between your parent communication platform and the school’s MIS system is vital for running schools as smoothly as possible. When scoping out prospective parent communication software it’s worth looking at whether there is a direct API link or if an additional software such is needed, as this will have an additional cost associated. Integrations work by dynamically pulling data from your school’s MIS system to give parents a user-friendly view of reports, attendance records, timetables, exam results and much more – automating manual tasks like this saves lots of time and money.
• Wide reaching and supports scale - Consistency is key when communicating with parents, particularly in this modern age of notifications and “always-on” mentality. If your parent communication platform has its own branded portal and app, it helps ensure you capture parents’ and guardian’s attention when it really matters.
  
  Parent communication platforms should also help support your school scale at whichever stage of the academisation process it’s at, with customisable features and integrations aiding growth whether you’re a LA maintained school, single site or multi-academy trust.

How to budget when costing parent communication software

The approach to budgeting for parent communication software is much like any other software your school is thinking about investing in. We wrote an article on how to build a business case for school finance software and while this addresses specific points around finance software, many of the principles apply to building a business case for any sort of educational software.

Practically speaking, using school budgeting software can be very helpful when looking to invest in parent communication software. Consider things like your paper spend, the cost of sending SMS messages and intake from your school canteen. Making these costs visible and weighing them up using budgeting software can help justify the costs savings of parent communication software. In addition to making life easier for teachers, freeing them up to do more teaching, which adds priceless value to any school.

The Cost Range of Parent Communication Software

The cost of parent communication software can be affected by numerous factors, some of which we will go into shortly. While useful to know ballpark figures for this sort of software, it’s difficult to quantify exact figures for each school as they have such different requirements, so cost ranges can be quite misleading. Instead of looking for a cost range, be led by your school’s individual requirements, budget accordingly and get quotes which are affordable for your school. It makes no difference if one software package is a few more (or less) pounds than another, but it doesn’t do what you want and there are plenty of other value-added things to consider.

Factors Affecting the Cost of Parent Communication Software

As well as the features of parent communication software and the benefits they can bring to your school, it’s important to factor in other elements which will affect the overall cost of parent communication software. Here are a few things to take into account:

• Number of pupils – software is often calculated on a “per pupil” basis – you may get discounts or price breaks at certain levels, but make sure to ask your provider about this
• What kind of school you’re buying for – primary, secondary and independent schools each have different requirements which will have an affect on the overall price point.
• Integrations – do you need to pay a third party to integrate your MIS or is there an API which works directly with your parent communication platform of choice?
• Features – whether you choose to have a system that supports school payments, parents evening booking will have an impact on the overall price. Also think about how many SMS messages you may be sending throughout the academic year and whether these are paid for via a pay as you go system or contract.
• Support package – what level of support you need from your provider will impact the overall cost paid.
• Training and implementation – is this all part of the purchase price or are there additional costs to be factored in?

How to Evaluate the Cost of Parent Communication Software

Taking all the above into account, and with any sort of enterprise software whether for a school or business, it often isn’t as easy as “one size fits all”.

Get together with your senior leadership team, board, governors and even parents to see what kind of features will help improve their experience as well as your own teaching and administrative staff. Value for money will mean different things to different people.

References and case studies can be useful to share amongst stakeholders. Also speak to other schools about their experiences and how they can help you make the right investment – our parent communication software, My School Portal, has increased takings in schools by 20%.