6 Ways Universities Can Benefit from Smart City Management Technology

As summer comes to a close, it’s time for millions of people to prepare to go back to campus.

Whether you’re a student, an instructor, or a member of staff, campus life can feel disconnected and stressful. You have all sorts of different programs you need to learn, whether it’s the program you use to post and manage classroom notes or software that manages student data.

But there is a better way.

By taking the same platforms and principles already in use to manage the flow of data in smart cities, campuses can better utilize and manage the technology they use every day.

Here are 6 ways campuses can benefit from smart city management technology:

Comprehensive System 

All campuses have extensive technology needs.

From managing treasure troves of student data to keeping class schedules and room reservations, there’s not a moment that goes by without something being accessed from the campus cloud.

In many cases, data is kept in different systems based on the type of software necessary and the storage needs. Student data gets its own system, while room reservations have their own software, athletic schedules use a different system, and so on.

This can create soaring costs to budgets and lots of confusion for anyone needing to work in multiple platforms.

With smart city management technology, all the different places that house data can be brought together in one easy-to-use system. This allows everyone on campus to access the data they need, no matter where they are.

And there’s less need for extensive cross-training of employees who work in different departments.

Communication

Even with email, text, and instant messaging systems at everyone’s fingertips all the time, communication is difficult at all levels of a college.

Whether it’s between campus leaders and students, from department to department, or the college with the community, getting information where it needs to go, and quickly, is crucial.

Utilizing a smart city management platform allows anyone who needs access to a campus communications system to login on whatever device is handy, wherever there’s internet. 

No need to worry about having the right phone number or email address, that’s all handled within the software.

It makes communicating in emergency and non-emergency situations easier and faster, keeping relationships from reaching the boiling point.

Organization

With a lot of data comes a need for a solid organizational system.

But when you’ve got information spread around among multiple platforms, you’re bound to have  difficulty locating everything and duplicated data.

Thanks to smart city technology, all campus data can be housed in one location, leading to information that’s better organized and easier to find.

Whether a student is looking up their grade from last semester or an academic department wants to see class enrollment trends for several years, all the information is easy to find, saving time and frustration.

Collaboration

Collaboration is key to a thriving, healthy campus environment.

Everyone, no matter how high or low they are in the chain at the college, wants to be heard.

Thanks to smart city management technology, efficient collaboration is possible with less hassle and fewer scheduling problems.

What once required multiple in-person meetings and lengthy timelines now can be done in a matter of weeks.

Data can be pulled and analyzed, reports can be generated, ideas and messages can be exchanged, and decisions can be made all without anyone having to interrupt their usual schedules.

This creates an environment where change is welcome and swift, and people get the chance to have their ideas heard.

Cost Savings

Having multiple software subscriptions is expensive, especially if you’re forced to purchase separate licenses for every user.

And setting up, utilizing, and training new users on each platform takes a vast amount of time, money, and resources.

Thanks to smart city management technology, everyone can utilize the same software, no matter where they are on campus. Different users can have different permissions, so there’s no worries about someone being able to access data they shouldn’t.

With a cloud-based software option, there aren’t any bloated programs to download on individual computers, saving disc and network space as well as time. 

Connectivity

Just as people need to communicate for effective work, technology needs to be able to quickly and easily communicate.

When you’re using varied, disconnected programs, it’s impossible, or just very difficult for each one to communicate with the other.

This can lead to data needing to be duplicated, sometimes incorrectly, or data that just isn’t where it needs to be. Inefficient access to data can create incorrect reporting, possibly even errors that cost a great deal of time and money.

By using smart city management software, all these various programs can be brought together in one platform, allowing them to communicate back and forth and increasing access to data and efficiencies.

Smart Technology for Modern Needs

At @Assist, it’s our goal to help everyone lead more efficient, better, healthier lives. As part of this effort, we’ve created Tomo, our smart city management software.

This cloud-based platform can be used for a variety of different applications, all with the experience of the end user in mind. Learn more about Tomo today!