Silverband: A 'Paradigm' Shift in the Education Technology Sector

The tertiary education sector in Australia has historically been stable, well-regulated and overwhelmingly made up of public institutions. In the past decade, however, the increasing centralisation of student funding and regulation at the Commonwealth level has presented opportunities for many new and existing private education institutions to expand their enrolments and scope of operations. These institutions soon realized the need to upgrade their records management and reporting systems to satisfy the significant increase in government compliance standards. This change in the private tertiary education sector coincided with the foundation of Silverband which was established in 2005 by Lachlan Witham, Managing Director, and Fabian Lane, Technical Director. The business started with a collaborative project by the duo to develop a distributed student management system for an Australian Higher Education provider with a strong focus on government compliance and reporting. Over the years, Silverband has emerged as an agile software developer and a Cloud/Saas hosting provider for a wide range of Australian tertiary education providers. “We strive to be the “knowledge bridge” for our clients in the education space between their business requirements and the technology platform they are working on,” explains Lachlan.

Within the first three years of its inception Silverband became wholly focussed on the Australian private tertiary education market with Paradigm Education Management System (ParadigmEMS) as its core offering.

ParadigmEMS is a hosted internet software application whose primary purpose is the collection, management and reporting of student-related data for Australian tertiary education institutions. Originating from a student management solutions project for an Australian Higher Education provider, ParadigmEMS has evolved into a sophisticated software application that offers support to cross-sector institutions.

The software supports many different requirements across the Australian Higher Education (HE), Vocational Education and Training (VET), English Language and upper Secondary (VCE/HSC) sectors for both domestic and international enrolments. The company provides its clients with a complete range of services around Paradigm EMS with licensing, hosting, maintenance and support offered on a subscription basis. This is complemented by training, consulting and technical services delivered by the company’s experienced staff. Additionally, ParadigmEMS incorporates the most comprehensive set of software and system features that enable flexible business process implementation across multiple education sectors, organizations, enrolment procedures and reporting requirements.

Silverband maintains a singular focus on the interests of its clients along with their business demands and challenges. The company supports its client’s individual needs through effective training, consulting, software configuration and customization as required to fulfill their business requirements. “We realize that, however common the processes and procedures may be across different educational institutions operating in the same industry sector, there are often particular business processes and requirements for a client which allows them to differentiate themselves in their market,” explains Lachlan. Moreover, it’s the profound knowledge of education management requirements and the vast experience in supporting clients with a broad range of operational needs that has enabled the company to carve a niche for itself in the Australian education industry.

Silverband has laid a clear strategy for its future growth. The company plans to leverage its strong reputation at the heart of the private higher education industry to expand its influence in the Australian market. “We have also received several enquiries from institutions in South East Asia and Europe and are currently exploring our opportunities to offer our products and services in those markets as well,” concludes Lachlan.