The 10 Most Innovative EdTech Solution Providers 2019

Volume 08 | Issue 08 | 2019 

10 

Most Innovative 

The 

EdTech 

Solution Providers 2019 

FEATURING 

Matthew Buscher 

CEO 

LAPTOPS 

ANYTIME

E 

Learners in Progress 

he significance of education in one’s life cannot be neglected. It cannot be denied that education is the groundwork to 

Tmost of the developments taking place in the human mankind and across the globe. Until the last few years, the 

education system was unchanged for decades. Even after getting done with schooling, learners were found to be 

struggling to read and write and thus, were lacking the skills too. But this is not the case anymore. 

With the confluence of emerging technologies in education sector, a new form of learning architecture has seen to be occurred 

in the educational arena. Not only the fundamental issues of learning and teaching have been improved and resulted in 

increased efficiency, but also the level of education has been ascended among the global population. This learning 

architecture is been able to deliver personalized learning experiences, which can be adjusted according to 

individual’s competence. 

EdTech is shaping the future of learning and is changing the way one learns, teaches, and connects. The access of digital 

technology through a laptop, tablet, or other internet-connected device to learners has enabled them to learn as per their level 

of understanding, learn at their own place, connect with subject matter experts from around the world, collaborate with their 

peers using shared online platforms, and create and publish original works. 

After recognizing the need to provide a quality education to learners regardless of where they live or study, their financial 

background, many businesses have undertaken a range of efforts to integrate EdTech into the contemporary education 

systems, schools, and classrooms. Insights Success has curated a list of "The 10 Most Innovative EdTech Solution 

Providers 2019" with an intent to acknowledge and admire the novel approaches of these businesses.

Innovate education today to 

“ create the better tomorrow. 

“ 

Hitesh Dhamani 

A North-Texas based company, LaptopsAnytime features as the cover story of this edition. The company was founded in 

2008 with the vision of giving back to the community via convenient on-demand access to full-function laptop computers 

(which has now been extended to tablets as well). Piggybacking on already present Broadband, the company dispenses 

devices per ATM-style technology plus employ security protocols (ID card and/or badge / phone home software) and custom 

software integration with ILS, Student and Other Database Systems to minimize liabilities and make things as easy as 

possible for facility administrators to do their jobs right. 

Alongside, this magazine also features BocaVox, a company that provides academic institutions with a superior software 

solution to support school administrators and other stakeholders while empowering students to succeed; codeSpark, the 

creator of educational software and games for children ages 4-12; dominKnow Learning Systems, the creator of 

dominKnow | ONE, a web-based platform for authoring eLearning and all kinds of other learning content; Microsoft, the 

organization that is using evolutionary methods to educate and empower both students and teachers; TechSmith, a company 

that is helping individuals and businesses create and share engaging visuals that simplify knowledge sharing; Unit4, the 

company that specializes in software products for services organizations, where people make the difference, 

since the early 1980s. 

Also, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading 

industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector. 

Happy reading!

Contents 

Cover Story 

18 

EduTalks 

Leveraging the Potential 

of Gaming into Education 

Articles 

40 

Learn & Grow 

Integrating Technology 

into the Educational 

Environment 

24 

Infrastructure Transformation 

AI Moving Towards 

Transformation of Industries 

34 

Virtual Future 

Virtual Assistants (VA): Professional 

Assistance, Virtual Guidance 

08 

LAPTOPS 

ANYTIME

14 

BocaVox LLC 

Providing Academic Institutions 

with a Superior Software Solution 

codeSpark 

Turning Programming 

into Play! 

20 

28 

dominKnow Learning 

Systems 

All-In-One eLearning 

Authoring Platform 

Microsoft 

Empowering Every Student 

to Achieve More 

32 

38 

TechSmith 

Enabling Effective 

Communication through Visuals 

Unit4 

Highly Customizable 

and Configurable Software 

42

Editor-in-Chief 

Pooja M. Bansal 

Managing Editor 

Anish Miller 

Executive Editor 

Hitesh Dhmani 

Assistant Editors 

Jenny Fernandes 

Rohit Chaturvedi 

Visualizer 

David King 

Art & Design Director 

Amol Kamble 

Associate Designer 

Iresh Mathapati 

Co-designer 

Karan Gaikwad 

Senior Sales Manager Co-designer 

Kshitij S 

Business Development Manager 

Peter Collins 

Marketing Manager 

John Matthew 

Sales Executives 

David, Kevin, Mark, Manish 

Technical Head 

Jacob Smile 

Business Development Executives 

Steve, Joe, Alan, Vishal 

Technical Specialist 

Aditya 

Digital Marketing Manager 

Marry D'Souza 

SME-SMO Executive 

Prashant Chevale 

Research Analyst 

Frank Adams 

Circulation Manager 

Database Management Technology Consultant 

Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes 

sales@insightssuccess.com 

August, 2019 

Follow us on : www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/ www.twitter.com/insightssuccess 

We are also available on : 

Copyright © 2019 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any 

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success. 

Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

Cover Story 

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BocaVox LLC 

Providing Academic Institutions with a Superior Software Solution 

Today, the present system of 

education focuses on the 

implementation of learning 

platforms that are driven by the latest 

technologies. BocaVox provides 

academic institutions with a superior 

software solution to support school 

administrators and other stakeholders 

while empowering students to succeed. 

BocaVox CEO, Sue Diseker, is a 

former educator dedicated to creating 

technology to reduce the bureaucratic 

tasks which burden educators and 

administrators. 

Maestro as the Central Software 

BocaVox is the developer of Maestro 

Student Information System, a 

software (SIS) that consolidates the 

many moving parts to managing an 

educational institution into a single, 

centralized platform to manage the 

student lifecycle, from registration to 

alumni. Maestro has an API to connect 

to other third party systems such as 

Learning Management Systems 

(LMS), payment gateways, or HR 

platforms, etc. Maestro SIS gives 

educators and administrations the data 

they need to help students succeed. 

Everyone who works at BocaVox is 

passionate about Maestro SIS. As one 

customer put it, Maestro SIS runs 

schools! It serves as the central 

repository, or backbone of a school’s 

infrastructure, automating management 

of a students’ entire academic journey 

from lead and registration, 

communications, demographics, and 

academic history, including grades, 

attendance, disciplinary actions, and 

progress toward graduation to final 

transcript. Maestro SIS provides 

hundreds of reports and a custom 

report builder, as well an easy way to 

query the grids for data. Reports can be 

viewed as analytics, on role-based 

dashboards. 

Maestro’s high notes are the vast 

reporting capabilities, the various 

communication options, and the Plan 

of Study, or Graduation Plan feature, 

which tremendously facilitates the job 

of the registrar, as well as encouraging 

students and parents to keep track of 

their progress toward graduation. 

When an institution chooses Maestro 

as the central software that runs their 

school, they are not only purchasing a 

software tool, but they are entering into 

a partnership with a company that they 

can depend on to be available when 

they need assistance. With BocaVox, 

clients get far more than what they pay 

for. 

Helping Partner Institutions Expand 

BocaVox rebuilt Maestro as a SAAS 

solution in 2010 so it could scale – 

giving it the ability to adapt quickly to 

governmental compliance, and pass 

along new features and patches to all 

its clients. Over the years, BocaVox 

developed various tools for its 

customers such as dashboard analytics; 

an individualized graduation plan; a 

reportable forms manager for surveys, 

registration forms, individualized 

learning plans (ILP), or state reporting 

documents; and a number of other 

features to support large, multi-faceted 

EMO’s (Education Management 

Organizations). These features have 

enabled many of its partner institutions 

to expand their organizations 

exponentially. The last Maestro SIS 

release included a rebuild of the user 

interface to be ADA compliant and 

mobile ready. The upcoming release 

includes support of competency 

grading for a statewide virtual school 

that communicates with the 

competency features in the Canvas 

LMS platform. 

The BocaVox team built an engine that 

can generate the core code base in a 

few hours, and a number of tools and 

processes that enable it to add new 

features and configurations within 

minutes, in lieu of days, saving its time 

and its customers’ money. BocaVox 

provides tremendous support and step 

by step requirements during 

implementation to guide new partner 

institutions through the process of 

documenting their specifications in 

detail, for seamless onboarding. 

Maestro has tremendous flexibility, 

with over 350 optional parameters that 

can be set depending on the 

institution’s needs, and for large 

institutions that manage hundreds or 

thousands of schools or colleges in 

over 100 countries, Maestro SIS 

enables them to manage different 

schools and/or programs with different 

business rules. One of the clients of 

BocaVox manages over 2000 affiliate 

programs – including both public & 

private schools, and a prison education 

initiative - all in a single Maestro SIS 

database. 


“ 

Maestro SIS: the Hub of 

the Learning Universe. 

“ 

Sue Diseker 

CEO 

Software Serving All Learning Models 

BocaVox has partner institutions in a number of different 

markets – from large K12 charter groups to colleges, 

universities, and state virtual schools, etc. 

The company was founded in 2003 by CTO Jose Sabat, 

PhD. BocaVox’s CTO and CEO are actively involved in the 

company, and are committed to mentoring the rest of the 

team. 

BocaVox’s CEO, Sue Diseker, a former educator, 

spearheaded the effort of rebuilding Maestro SIS from a 

standalone to a SAAS solution, and ultimately a 

comprehensive, enterprise management system to serve all 

learning models - online, classroom and blended 

learning - noting the trend of every institution to offer at 

least a part-time virtual option. Dr. Sabat and Ms. Diseker 

are the sole owners of BocaVox. 

Team Committed to Innovation 

BocaVox communicates often with its partners, who give it 

great insights about their needs, and make frequent 

enhancements to existing features or build new ones based 

on their input. BocaVox team is committed to innovation. 

Two members of the team works full time to update the 

knowledge base to keep it current for its users, while others 

spends the first hour of their day reading industry news, to 

stay in the know about education and make sure Maestro 

SIS has the tools to stay on the cutting edge of industry 

trends. BocaVox’s model works so that it is incentivized to 

do all it can to enable its partners to grow. 

Future Aspirations 

In the future, BocaVox envisions merging with a strategic 

partner - perhaps a very large school or group of schools 

trying to get free of the cost and responsibilities of 

maintaining an in-house dev team. Its goal is to build the 

most powerful and intuitive SIS available, going above and 

beyond to serve its administrators, teachers and students - to 

help increase learning outcomes. As the organization 

expands, it is gradually branching its development team 

into a new features team, and a team dedicated to existing 

client needs. 

BocaVox sees Maestro SIS as the product of the future, 

which will outlive and surpass all others. Its future goal is 

to continue on our upward trend of sustainable growth. 

Grateful Clients 

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you 

for helping us out tonight. You guys are a Rockstar team 

and a great partner! Thank you a million times over!” 

– Amy Junge, Edmentum 

“At some point soon, I will reach out as I always enjoy 

chatting and ensuring we are all on the same page. Sue, 

thanks for your support and working so closely with our 

team (Maria); we truly appreciate it.” 

– Kip Pygman, Director, Illinois Virtual School 


August 2019 

| 15

EduTalks 

“ Go outside!” “Read a book!” “Go to bed!” These 

were some of the common phrases from my 

childhood, because I had discovered video games, 

a portal into an amazing dimension where I could explore 

and use magical powers! As an adult game designer, I 

thought to myself -- how can I leverage this natural 

tendency for play to actually teach something useful? 

We started with mathematics, because it felt easy to turn 

elementary math concepts like addition and fractions into 

game mechanics. Many kids will tell you that they HATE 

math, but, when looked at from the right angle, 

mathematics is downright beautiful and fun to learn. 

Edward Frenkel, a famous mathematician from UC 

Berkeley, is known for saying that if art was taught like 

math, we’d be told to paint a fence red 1000 times until we 

got it right. Would it be any surprise if people thought they 

hated art because it was taught this way? 

But, this is exactly how math is taught! It doesn’t have to be 

this way. Leveraging my many years of gaming--ahem, 

market research--as a child, I worked with my co-founders 

to build a game that measured up to the experiences I was 

used to. You don’t play Starcraft, Half-Life, and Diablo 

without learning a thing or two about fun engagement. And 

so, Mathbreakers.com, and later SuperMathWorld.com was 

born. The idea behind these games is simple: Starting from 

solid, fun mechanics, build a game on top of a solid 

foundation of math, so that the emergent gameplay is 

naturally mathematical in nature, while retaining a 

playfulness that allows you to jump right in without feeling 

like you’re being tested. 

In this, we were extremely successful. We actually have 

many of our customers (parents and teachers) telling us 

their kids play the game for fun; one parent even 

commented that their kids would rush through morning 

chores in order to get more time on the game. Now that’s 

product success! If you have a kid aged 8 - 12, I encourage 

you to check out Mathbreakers.com and 

SuperMathWorld.com -- there are free trials and you may 

see their attitude change from “math sucks/is boring” to 

“this is amazing and fun” in a matter of minutes (it’s 

happened many times before). 


However, that’s not the end of 

the story. It turns out that making 

a successful business is more than 

just making an awesome product that 

your end users love. The remainder of 

this article will focus on the extreme 

challenges facing the ed-tech market 

today. 

1. Schools are slow. You won’t see hockeystick 

style growth with a product in schools, 

because the sales cycle can be up to a year. 

Furthermore, they’re slow to adopt -- in the curve 

of user adoption, schools tend to lump towards the 

“late adopters” side. Not good for startup sales. 

2. Schools are SLOW. Even after multiple playtests on site 

that had kids literally screaming about how awesome the 

experience was, and even after clearly learning fractions 

from our game, it wasn’t enough. At one playtest an 8-year 

old boy was using a sword to chop numbers. Half, Fourth -- 

easy! Just chop the numbers up until you get the right 

amount. Until he got to 7/8ths -- that was a tricky one. He 

thinks aloud to himself -- what’s 7/8? It’s.....3 and a half 

4ths! Yes, Billy, it is, and congratulations, you’ve achieved 

a solid understanding of fraction composition. Jo Boaler 

would be proud. 

It didn’t matter. Communicating these kinds of results to 

schools is like trying to talk to a whale about global 

warming. It’s critical information, but whales are huge and 

don’t speak your language. 

3. Parents are difficult to reach. Every other math app out 

there -- and there are *thousands* -- claims to be as fun and 

engaging as ours. I’ve seen enough side-by-side playtests to 

tell you they’re flat out wrong, and can’t hold a candle to 

our game. I don’t mind saying it, because it’s really true. 

But it doesn’t matter. To a parent looking at marketing 

material, it all seems the same. Standing out is an expensive 

proposition, one that requires investor backing (or possibly 

some luck and skill that we missed). But even if you get 

that part right, there’s even more bad news. 

Charlie Van Norman 

Co-founder 

Mathbreakers 

4. The market is tiny. Math apps in the US are valued at 

about $1.2 billion for parents and teachers. If you don’t 

know anything about market sizes, I’ll give you two 

comparisons. Painting residential interiors is upwards of 

$50 billion. A single metal-scrapping company can be 

worth $1.2 billion alone -- the industry is worth $500 

billion globally. In other words, a $1.2 billion market size 

simply isn’t big enough for most investors to care. 

So what’s the future of games in education? 

There will continue to be innovative and powerful solutions 

in ed-tech, but they will be small and you’ll have to hunt for 

them. The market will continue to be saturated by giants 

fueled by government grants and philanthropy, which 

makes the gems that startups create harder to find. So the 

future of games in education is fuzzy, but if you’re lucky, 

you’ll be able to find the pearls that will make a world of 

difference to the young learners that find them. 



| 19




codeSpark 

Turning Programming into Play 


In today’s technology driven era, 

education companies are 

developing increasingly user 

friendly tools for creating a positive 

impact in classroom. These digital 

initiatives deliver a significant impact 

on kids by offering them highly 

accessible learning platforms. As 

more educational programs turn 

digital, teachers are finding that 

blending technology into the learning 

experience provides a unique and 

innovative classroom experience. 

One of the companies leading this 

new movement is codeSpark, the 

creator of educational software and 

games for children ages 4-12. 

In an interview with Insights 

Success, Grant Hosford, CEO and 

Co-Founder of codeSpark, sheds 

light on the company’s cutting-edge 

solutions which are enriching the 

education sector. Considering these 

innovative and inspiring aspects, 

Insights Success recognizes 

codeSpark as one of the 10 Most 

Innovative EdTech Solution 

Providers 2019. 

Below are highlights from the 

interview conducted between Grant 

and Insights Success: 

Give a brief overview of your 

company. 

codeSpark is the venture backed 

edtech company behind codeSpark 

Academy, the world’s #1 coding 

platform for kids ages 4-10. Using a 

proprietary “no words” interface, 

codeSpark has introduced more than 

30 million kids ages 4 to 10 to 

coding in just four years. codeSpark 

was inspired by co-founder Grant 

Hosford’s young daughters, who 

wanted to know how computers 

work. Kids use codeSpark Academy 

to design and code over 27,000 video 

games and interactive stories every 

day! 

Tell us about your company’s 

products and services. 

codeSpark Academy is the #1 kids 

coding platform in the world and the 

top grossing coding platform of any 

kind on iOS. Kids ages 4-10 use 

codeSpark academy to learn 

fundamental computer science 

concepts. They put those concepts to 

work designing and programming 

their own video games and 

interactive stories. codeSpark is used 

at home and in schools. Over 55,000 

K-5 teachers use codeSpark 

Academy in their classroom to teach 

computer science. The platform is 

free for public schools and libraries 

while home users can purchase full 

access via a subscription. Our 

product team adds new content and 

features to codeSpark Academy 

every 3-4 weeks. Our app has been 

downloaded over 12 million times 

and has been used by 30 million kids 

around the world. We are very proud 

that 53% of codeSpark’s users are 

girls, the highest percentage on any 

coding platform we know of. 

How services offered by your 

company are designed to give 

access to right technology at right 

time? 

Teachers, parents and kids can access 

codeSpark Academy at any time on 

iOS, Android, Amazon Devices and 

the Web. The product has been tested 

with thousands of kids in the 4-10 

age group and has 4.6 stars out of 5 

on iOS. 

What are the innovative 

approaches are adapted by the 

company to improve the quality of 

solutions? 

Our proprietary “no words” interface 

makes our app highly accessible for 

many different types of learners. In 

addition our focus on creativity has 

allowed a generation to understand 


“ 

We teach young kids about 

computer science and give 

them the power to create 

remarkable video games 

and interactive stories. 

“ 

Grant Hosford 

CEO & Co-Founder 

the power of computer science for problem solving. Kids 

learn from and, are inspired by, other kid creators. 

Where does company name see itself in the long run 

and/or what are its future goals? 

codeSpark wants to introduce every child in the world to 

the power of digital creation. We intend to be the digital 

version of LEGO for this generation. 

About the Leader 

Grant Hosford is the Co-founder and had the original 

idea for codeSpark. He is an experienced entrepreneur 

who has spent the last 20 years building successful 

digital businesses in Seattle and Los Angeles. Grant has 

deep expertise in new product launches, has lived on 4 

continents and comes from a family of educators. He’s a 

husband, father of three kids, coaches girls soccer and 

rides bikes often. He thought computer science should be 

taught throughout a child’s K-12 career, just like English 

and Math. He and Co-founder Joe Shochet have also 

focused on letting kids be creative with code. They 

believe deeply that computer science is a tool for 

problem solving and creative expression and wanted to 

allow young kids to experience the thrill of creating 

something from your imagination. Grant speaks 

regularly about closing access gaps in STEM education 

for girls. 

Testimonials from codeSpark Clients 

“I love CodeSpark! I’ve used it for two years now, and it 

has definitely helped my students think about problems 

chronologically, and has helped them visualize much 

more than before. They understand trial and error and 

can plan ahead. Thank you, CodeSpark!.” - Becky M., 

K-5 STEM Teacher, Illinois 

“My students absolutely love Codespark. This year after 

using Codespark I could see a huge improvement in my 

students’ understanding of basic programming skills, 

problem solving skills and their use of computer science 

vocabulary.”- Amanda Cox, First Grade Teacher, KY 

“I’m 8 years old and I’ve been using this app for 8 

months. This is the best game ever!! I like to make 

games!! I think you will too!!” - Dana H, kid 

“My 6 year old absolutely LOVES The Foos and as a 

programmer, I am impressed with how well it’s showing 

her the rudiments of procedural problem solving in the 

most fun possible way!.” - Justin, parent 



| 21

Infrastructure Transformation 

AI 

Moving Towards 

Transformation of Industries 

n the recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has 

Itransformed various industries and helped to perform 

better and achieve success in their respective arena. An 

ideal amalgamation of human intelligence and machines has 

proven that it can create wonders in the businesses. This 

attachment of human intellect with the machine assists 

businesses, to automate their day-to-day activities, to 

understand customer behaviors, to decrease work 

expenditures and to create occurrences on an individual level. 

Therefore, business individuals need to keep a close eye on 

the latest developments occurring in AI industry. This 

information can be vital as they can utilize AI in areas where it 

can create profit for them. 

There are various industries that are already utilizing AI in 

their respective business functions and are getting benefited. 

Following are some of the leading industries that have utilized 

AI as an instrument to optimize their operations: 

1. Healthcare 

Healthcare sector has shown a positive response to assimilate 

AI in its field. That is the reason; Healthcare has received 

enormous funding to develop and execute AI. The modern 

day machine intelligence is assisting healthcare sector to 

examine medical data extracted from X-rays, CT scans and 

various other tests. 

Segregation of this information is important as doctors go 

through the patient’s history to check and diagnose illness. 

Healthcare experts are dependent on their years of experience 

and prefabricated algorithms to acknowledge the symptoms 

of an illness. However, sometimes they overlook and make 

mistakes unconsciously. A BBC report titled ‘AI Early 

Diagnosis Could Save Heart and Cancer Patient’ stated that 


nearly 20% of experienced doctors make mistakes while 

diagnosing patient's illness. Therefore, this arduous as well as 

daunting task is certainly made easier by AI. 

There are famous examples of utilization of AI in healthcare 

sector. The Babylon AI doctor app avails speech recognition 

to interact with patients cross-examines carefully against its 

database and provides necessary treatment. Another 

interesting healthcare AI, Molly by Sense.ly -virtual nurse 

app- links patients to scientific recommendations and help, 

with the assistance of proprietary categorization engine pays 

attention to the patients and replies appropriate response to 

them. Microsoft’s Hanover project utilizes machine 

comprehension with natural language processing to forecast 

productive cancer drug compatible to the patient. 

2. Automobile and Logistics 

Automobile industry is witnessing crucial shifts such as 

autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and divided 

mobility. It is anticipated that the automobile industry will 

experience rise in economic growth by shifting from 

conventional to disruptive technologies and unconventional 

business models. 

On October 14 2015, Tesla announced that it is going to 

launch an autopilot car i.e. a car with self-driving capability. 

The car is expected to drive itself from coast-to-coast with the 

help of autonomous navigation. Other car makers are aiming 

to implant AI services like Amazon’s Alexa. This will 

authorize passengers to self-command car technologies with 

the help of natural language voice orders. 

German premium car maker Mercedes-Benz has deployed 

voice command personal assistant in CES show 2018 held in 

Las Vegas. Its arch business rival BMW followed the 

footsteps and decided to adopt Alexa and its assimilation into 

its handpicked BMW and mini automobiles. KIA Motors has 

also proclaimed that it is thinking about assimilating Google 

assistant in its cars. 

It is the need of the hour for any business to perform better in 

its services and increase profit as much as possible. It is 

expected that machine learning (ML) will empower systems 

to an extent that they will comprehend the data and utilize it to 

increase their performance. This is where AI comes into the 

picture. The association between AI and ML can create 

wonders in logistics, where time is a paramount entity. 

The logistics sector gathers extensive data from diverse 

sources such as websites, smartphones and various telematics 

tools. Predictive analytics not only rearranges delivery 

schedule but also predicts subsequent orders which gives 

logistics sector an advantage to utilize its resources 

effectively. 



| 25

Interestingly, AI does not stop there. It assists in semiautonomous 

driver assistance, autonomous fleets for ride 

sharing, engine overseer and forecasting maintenance for 

automobiles. 

Also, AI has been assisting logistics sector to construct supply 

chains beforehand with the help of advanced systems. This 

computer assistance in automobiles delivers goods in the 

efficient manner which is essential for the success of a 

logistics company. The forecasting helps logistics to avoid 

disastrous calamities such as difficult weather situations, 

traffic delays and many unexpected occurrences. 

3. Marketing and Advertising 

Marketing sector has changed drastically over the years. 

Customers anticipate for a personal experience and it is the 

need of the hour for marketing sector to change itself and 

adjust accordingly. They are required to leave the 

conventional methods of marketing and concentrate on 

enhancing their communication, execute demands as well as 

aspiration. This adaptation of AI is vital for marketing sector 

as reluctance to implement this new technology can lead to 

loss of business for the company. 

Virtual Assistants such as Amazon Echo as well as Google 

Home incorporates ‘Routines'’ attributes which allow these 

Virtual Assistants to carry out many tasks on a single 

command given by the user. This means a user can create a 

'Routine' command which will instruct the Virtual Assistant to 

start multiple tasks it supposed to execute. 

Industries are constantly trying to update themselves by 

adapting new technologies. AI is transforming industries and 

helping them to grow their businesses. It is going to advance 

into more sectors. It will help human beings to operate risky 

tasks, decode universal issues and take care of various human 

tasks. We can definitely anticipate a future where AI will be 

the new normal. 

AI assists marketers to find and forecast customer attitudes. 

This precious information allows marketers to carry out 

impactful keywords and communicate with consumers on a 

more personal level. Moreover, chatbots also help to execute 

this communication in a less expensive, effective and in a 

persistent way. 

On top of it, AI generates ideas which are subdivided into 

many sub ideas. This way the risk of catering a sole idea is 

eliminated and various ideas can be catered according to 

customers and their preferences. Brands have started to 

acclimatize on this useful technology and are focusing on 

selected customers. Startups have also begun to apply AI with 

the help of AI automated personalization and compelling 

video content. 

4. Virtual Assistant 

A Virtual Assistant can help you to handle smart home 

devices. This feature will allow you to administer door locks, 

lights, appliances and many smart home devices. There are 

Virtual Assistants available in the market, which show the 

capacity to function as an intercom. A user needs to place 

Virtual Assistants in every room to communicate with others. 

Amazon Echo’s ‘Drop In’ feature enables users to interact 

with each other from different rooms. 

Users can also utilize Virtual Assistants to shut down and start 

TV sets on compatible television models. In addition, a 

Virtual Assistant in the kitchen can also be utilized to handle 

kitchen machines. 






dominKnow Learning Systems 

All-In-One eLearning Authoring Platform 

In an Interview with Insights 

Success, Luke Hickey, CEO of 

dominKnow Learning Systems 

shares the journey of the organization 

and its contribution in the education 

and training sectors. For more than a 

decade dominKnow has been creating 

eLearning authoring tools and software 

for large teams. dominKnow offers a 

web-based, collaborative authoring and 

content management solution designed 

for creating, managing, and delivering 

high-impact, multi-device learning. 

Below are the highlights of the 

interview between Luke Hickey and 

Insights Success. 


company. 

dominKnow Learning Systems is the 

creator of dominKnow | ONE, a 

web-based platform for authoring 

eLearning and all kinds of other 

learning content. 

dominKnow is one of the longestserving 

providers of authoring tools for 

eLearning, reaching back to our first 

commercial product release in 2002. 

And our company history actually 

reaches back to our founding in 1997. 

We have clients using dominKnow | 

ONE across the globe, from enterpriselevel 

organizations with content teams 

on multiple continents to specialized, 

custom content teams making some the 

most innovative eLearning projects 

imaginable for their own clients. 



dominKnow | ONE is our flagship 

product. It’s a web-based authoring 

platform for creating learning content. 

An organization’s authors log in to the 

ONE site and create eLearning courses 

as well as a wide range of other webbased 

learning content like searchable 

knowledge bases, job aids, 

infographics and product manuals. And 

they can re-use content across any of 

these types of projects, so one 

authoring effort can help create content 

for both formal learning as well as 

informal, on-the-job learning. 

dominKnow | ONE has two authoring 

options. Claro is the “traditional” 

eLearning option – it’s similar to 

working in PowerPoint is and is great 

for making slides-based eLearning 

courses. Flow is our true responsive 

option. Responsive design is the basis 

of pretty much all web sites these days, 

and Flow helps authors create modern 

web design content for eLearning 

courses as well as other learning 

experiences like infographics or a 

knowledge base. Both options publish 

HTML5-based content, so both work 

on mobile devices as well as laptops 

and desktop computers. And in either 

option you can use our Capture feature 

to create software lessons to use as 

Show Me, Try Me or Guided Steps 

lessons. 

Everything made in dominKnow | 

ONE can be published many ways, 

including SCORM, AICC, and xAPI 

packages as well as standalone web 

packages that don’t need to be 

launched from an LMS. 

And because dominKnow | ONE is 

web-based, it offers a lot of content 

collaboration and content sharing 

options that a typical desktop tool can’t 

support. Authors can work together in 

real time in the same project, and the 

review process helps you easily get 

feedback from SMEs at any point in 

the development process. It really 

shines as a tool to help teams work 

together, better – as we like to say. 


company are designed to give access 

to right technology at right time? 

One of the core ideas behind 

dominKnow | ONE is the ability to reuse 

content, and not just for formal 

eLearning courses housed in an LMS. 

We feel it’s critical to make sure 

learners have access to content 

whenever they need it, to help them 

solve problems and complete tasks 

without having to leave the flow of 

their work. That’s why dominKnow | 

ONE doesn’t just focus on SCORM 

packages alone. 

There will always be a need for formal 

learning delivered by the LMS, but so 

often companies aren’t able to then 

leverage their content to help learners 

as they begin to apply their learning on 

the job. dominKnow | ONE makes it 

easy to meet both sets of needs. 


“ 

Work 

together, 

better. 

“ 

Luke Hickey 

CEO 

And we’re strong supporters of the xAPI standard, which 

provides a great framework or tracking the use and 

application of content in informal learning, so organizations 

can get insight and data to help them make better decisions 

about content creation. 

What are the innovative approaches are adapted by the 

company to improve the quality of solutions? 

We use our own products to create all the training content 

and support material for our product. 

If you’re looking up information in our product guide – it 

was made in our tool. If you’re working through the 

activities in our training guides – it was made in our tool. 

If you’re searching for lessons in our community site – it 

was made in our tool. 

We do this to make sure dominKnow | ONE meets the realworld 

needs of creating learning content. If it doesn’t work 

for our content team, how can we expect it to work for our 

customers? 

It also helps ensure we keep instructional design at the core 

of what we do in dominKnow | ONE, helping us proof out 

new features and options by meeting actual needs on real 

projects well before we release the features to our clients. 



After 21 years in the elearning space and 16 years providing 

authoring tools, dominKnow has already been in this space 

for the long run. 

We don’t see that changing – we’re still excited by the 

possibilities technology can bring to the power of learning. 

As for what’s in store for our future – well, we can’t give 

away all the secrets, can we? 


I’m not only President and CEO, but also the key founding 

member of dominKnow. 

I was there for the first lines of code in our original 

authoring product, so I know our products’ history 

intimately. I’m passionate about the possibilities of using 

technology to help make a difference in how people learn, 

and I share that passion with everyone at dominKnow. 

Both myself and our senior management team maintain 

close relationships with many people in the eLearning 

industry, listening and learning as well as sharing. Our 

senior team works hard to chare what we’ve learned with 

others in the field, speaking at industry conferences and 

even hosting our own weekly industry-focused podcast, 

Instructional Designers in Offices Drinking Coffee. With 

over 20 years’ experience in the field, we have lots of 

“war stories” to share! 



| 29




Microsoft 

Empowering Every Student to Achieve More 


With the evolvement of 

technology ways of 

learning are changing. So 

both students and teachers should be 

able to tap the potential of technology 

in learning. Microsoft is using 

evolutionary methods to educate and 

empower both students and teachers 

and it is playing great role in 

improving the learning experience and 

improving the outcomes. Mike 

Tholfsen, Principal Product 

Manager of Microsoft shares the 

journey of Microsoft through its 

contribution to the education sector. 


interview between Mike Tholfsen and 

Insights Success: 

Tell us a bit about your company. 

Microsoft Corporation is a company 

that develops, manufactures, licenses, 

supports and sells computer software, 

consumer electronics and personal 

computers and services. On the 

education side, Microsoft creates 

specific products designed specifically 

for education, in addition to the 

existing productivity and cloud 

software we develop. 

Is education technology poised for a 

new wave of innovation and how? 

The area I’m most excited about is 

inclusive technology and accessibility. 

We now have advances in areas such as 

speech, reading, translation, and 

natural language processing that enable 

students to engage in ways like never 

before. Microsoft’s education mission 

is to empower every student on the 

planet to achieve more, and with our 

focus on accessibility and inclusive 

technology, we believe some of the 

most impactful advances will benefit 

the students most in need. 

What is the role of the technology in 

creating the product that will 

improve the learning experience? 

Microsoft Education believes that 

EdTech products should help improve 

student outcomes, and contribute to a 

positive learning experience. On the 

educator side, our goal is to help 

educators save time, be more 

organized, and collaborate more 

effectively, whether that is educator to 

student, or educator to educator. 

Technology should help facilitate the 

learning process and student centered 

learning, and enable educators to teach 

students in new ways that weren’t 

previously possible. Otherwise, in the 

words of Alan November, a device is 

just "A $1000 pencil". 

What’s your plan to get your 

product to your customer base? 

We have a set of education products 

that Microsoft builds, as well as 

mainstream productivity products that 

are used widely in the world. We are 

able to deliver our products in the web, 

but also on PC, Mac, iOS and Android. 

Microsoft’s platforms work on every 

device, and both online or offline in 

most cases. You can visit 

http://www.microsoft.com/education to 

see the full list of education 

experiences we offer. 

How do you train the teachers to use 

the product in the classroom? How 

long does it take for a teacher to 

become proficient? 

There are many ways for a teacher to 

learn about our products. We have the 

online Microsoft Educator Community, 

which is a great source of online 

classes, community learning, and 

engagement. We also offer "Teacher 

Training Packs" to download and use 

in the district. Other avenues include 

Microsoft Innovative Expert Trainers, 

who are located all over the world. 

Finally, many teachers learn from each 

other, including conferences, social 

media, Professional Learning 

Communities (PLCs) and Professional 

Learning Networks (PLN). 

How students benefits from product 

of your company? What is your hook 

to get students to use the tool? Can 

students use this product at home? 

I think the biggest "hook" for using our 

tools is that they can help you succeed 

and improve outcomes. We have 

software that not only helps with 

reading, writing, and math, but also 

21st century skills such as 

collaboration, communication, and 

creativity. Our tools are available at 

school or home, and free. The other 

key aspect is that when our products 

are often used in the world beyond 

school. Students that move in the 

workforce are prepared to use modern 

productivity tools, such as Microsoft 

Office or Teams. 


“ 

Microsoft is dedicated to 

empowering every person 

and organization on the 

planet to achieve more. 

“ 

Mike Tholfsen 

Principal Product Manager 

There are a ton of edtech products being created, why 

would this be a good one for schools to invest in? How 

do you differentiate yourself from your main 

competitors? 

All of our core education offerings are free for schools 

worldwide so at a base level, there isn’t cost. More 

importantly, our products have been designed to help 

improve student outcomes, but also make teacher’s lives 

easier by saving time, and improving collaboration and 

efficiency. Our inclusive technologies help empower 

students of all abilities, and it is built-in, mainstream, and 

non-stigmatizing. We recently commissioned Forrester 

Consulting to do a Total Economic Impact study on 

Microsoft 365 Assistive Technology. The report showed 

that not only did student outcomes improve dramatically, 

but teachers saved an average of 97 hours per year, and IT 

costs were reduced $50 per student per year. Those are 

significant numbers. In addition, our products often 

translate well into the world beyond school, and helping 

prepare students for the future world of work. At an 

education system level, our platforms are safe, secure, and 

compliant, which helps education leaders have peace of 

mind with student data. 

How do you substantiate the learning gains? 

The Microsoft Education team’s goal is to help improve 

student outcomes, and we help fund research to measure 

how our products are able to help. Two examples are 

included below: 

Ÿ Moving the needle on student achievement: Fresno 

Unified School District’s personalized learning initiative 

Ÿ Leveling the Playing Field with Microsoft Learning 

Tools 

In both of these cases, student outcomes improved through 

the use of our technology. 



Microsoft sees itself in the long run for education. 

Education is a core part of our mission statement of 

empowerment and achievement, and our CEO, Satya 

Nadella fully supports our mission in education. Future 

goals are continuing to help improve student outcomes at 

scale, and increasing accessibility and fostering inclusive 

classrooms. 

Client Testimonials 

Learning Tools are a game changer for my special 

education students. 

– Lauren Pittman, special education teacher at Holly 

Springs Elementary School in Georgia. 

OneNote and Learning Tools helped us out of a setback and 

into a transformed classroom. 

– Merlyne Graves, 4th Grade Teacher, Garfield Prep 

Academy, DC Public Schools 



| 33

Expert’s Outlook 

Assistants (VA) 

Professional Assistance, Virtual Guidance 


Nowadays, we all are 

becoming more engage and 

busy in our day-to-day life 

due to professional commitments or 

personal life. In such a situation, we 

always find ways to make our life 

simple and easy. Every human on 

this planet feels lazy at certain 

situations where he/she wants to 

make his/her work or task easier. 

Thus, there are various innovations 

which are carried out with these 

technologies. Those are intensively 

working upon such tools which can 

execute to minimize human 

efficiency and saves time. 

According to the well-known French 

author Jules Renard, “Laziness is 

nothing more than the habit of 

resting before you get tired.” 

To reduce this, there are some virtual 

inventions that create an easy way to 

implement our work. One such major 

device which is widely used is 

known as Virtual Assistant 

generally abbreviated as VA or 

Virtual Office Assistant. It is a unique 

self-employed device which provides 

assistance to clients remotely. It is a 

highly skilled device that recreates 

overall verbal communication 

stronger. VA helps its users to access 

data and information through voice 

assistance with its unique approach 

to signify various fundamental 

activities. 

Hence, VA exclusively synchronizes 

human voice instructions to manage 

various human actions such as music 

playback via voice, emails, to-do 

lists, and calendars with verbal 

commands. Its invention has created 

a reforming approach for doing our 

day to day task easier. The qualities 

that make virtual assistant a power 

tool is its exceptional programming 

and strong process execution. 

Various Forms of Virtual 

Assistants 

In the global market, there are many 

technology giants that have 

introduced their own virtual assistant 

(VA) devices are as follows, 

Amazon Alexa majorly known as 

Alexa is a virtual assistant device 

developed by Amazon. It has two 

devices which reflect its VA 

properties such as Amazon Echo and 

Amazon Echo Dot Smart Speakers. 

Alexa helps you to check the 

weather, latest news, connect to 

music and listen to your favorite 

song on command as its special 

features. Siri by Apple is one of the 

unique virtual assistant devices 

introduced in 2011. Siri answers all 

the questions and updates you with 

sports news as well. Siri also uses to 

set alarm, timer, and scheduling daily 

task manually. With voice request, 

Siri can help you to send text or 

place call just by voice. Siri is 

exclusively available on Apple 

devices like iPhone, iPad, Mac, 

Apple watches etc. 

Cortana is a Microsoft device, 

known as its digital assistant who is 

designed to learn from your 

command and respond to the queries. 

It is very similar to Apple and other 

VA device which can track tasks, 

manage your calendar or follow your 

commands etc. Cortana works on 

following Microsoft devices, 

including Windows phones and 

operating systems. Google Assistant 

a product by Google which is highly 

known for its accessibility. It is easily 

available on various devices like 

your phone, speaker, watch, TV, or in 

your car. It connects smoothly with 

any device and gives an active 

response. Google Assistant is 

available on Google Play Store and 

iTunes App store. 

Last but not the least; we have Bixby 

a smart virtual assistant by Samsung. 

It is one of the most featured and 

unique virtual assistant device used 

globally. It has a unique feature that 

represents your music choices and 

voice commands to identify 

landmarks and other visuals by 

taking a photo. Bixby can translate 

many foreign languages and 

transform them in an easy manner. It 

also recommends you about 

businesses, restaurants to create 

reminders and manage your 

schedule. Bixby is exclusively 

available on Samsung devices like 

Galaxy S series and Note 9. 

Role of Virtual Assistants 

Followed with its overall 

introduction and functionalities, the 

core part that highly approachable 

about virtual assistant is its features 

and roles like, 

1. Responsiveness: A virtual 

assistant is mainly known for its 

extreme responsive nature and 

fundamental structure. The ultimate 

role of any virtual assistant is to 

follow the commands and execute 

the process accordingly. In any 

organization, the basic role is to 

follow the commands and provide 

suitable information at the earliest 

like, quick response to the e-mails, 

requests, and voice commands. 



| 35

2. Discretion: Discretion is nothing but the quality of 

behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing 

offense or revealing confidential information. Hence, the 

virtual assistant helps individuals and organization to 

avoid conflict between confidential information and 

relieving information. 

3.Accuracy: Accuracy is very important and essential. 

Human make mistakes and it will happen but to avoid 

mistakes and false we need perfect and accurate work. 

Hence, virtual assistant provides accuracy that plays a 

crucial role when commands are given to it for 

execution. 

4. Multi-tasking: Probably one of the important feature 

of virtual assistant it its capability to do multiple jobs at 

the same time. A virtual assistant can hold many 

commands and actions with respect to multiple users and 

keep them moving correctly. It benefits organization with 

efficiency, good scheduling, and perfect duty. 

How Virtual Assistant aids Organizations 

Planning and Organizing: Finally, planning and 

organizing is another topmost virtual assistant feature. It 

prominently works to track and analysis top-level view 

of daily tasks and helps to create effective plans and 

methods to meet business goals. 

Promising Future 

As we mentioned earlier, how virtual assistant is 

important in our day-to-day life or in an organization 

process. In businesses, the virtual assistant helps 

organizations to grow fast and efficiently. Virtual 

Assistants are independent experts, who work for its 

users from a remote location. With specific skills, a 

virtual assistant can perform multiple tasks at the same 

time and work on various projects simultaneously. 

Hence, a virtual assistant is becoming one of the major 

parts of organizations overall process and structure for 

opting better growth and their future endeavors. In 

addition, it signifies importance it in our day-to-day lives 

and helps us to make our daily task easier. 

Today, almost every organization is working on its core 

competencies to grow rapidly in the market with 

effective speed and market response. Hence, they are 

building its capabilities with the help of a virtual 

assistant which are as follows, 

Email Management: A good virtual assistant will 

always offer email or inbox management services. 

Virtual assistant organizes various email skills such as 

managing emails into manageable folders, incoming 

emails notifications, prioritizing a list of senders etc. 

Better virtual assistant supports organization for superior 

productivity. 

Marketing Responsibilities: One of the top feature of 

virtual assistant, in which it handles various marketing 

tasks easily, timely and precisely. There are some of the 

respective tasks on which virtual assistant works such as, 

website landing page, blog posts, graphic design, and 

social media marketing etc. It also helps the organization 

more effectively and precisely. 

36 | August 2019 

www.insightssuccess.com




TechSmith 

Enabling Effective Communication through Visuals 


Most people struggle to 

communicate precisely and 

effectively. TechSmith 

helps individuals and businesses create 

and share engaging visuals that 

simplify knowledge sharing. Best 

known for screen capture, TechSmith 

has spent the last 30 years developing 

industry-leading software that helps 

millions of people easily create highquality 

images and videos for better 

communication. 

Growing Ideas and Pushing 

Boundaries 

Initially, TechSmith set out to make 

software to use internally. As it turned 

out, the ability to capture a computer 

screen and share it with others had a 

wide appeal, and TechSmith continued 

to grow that idea ever since. Listening 

to customers, designing new concepts, 

and pushing the boundaries of what 

screen capture software can do has led 

TechSmith to create tools that are wellloved 

around the world. Significant 

investments in R&D, matched with the 

company’s curious nature and 

customer interactions provided 

TechSmith with a wealth of insights 

and innovation around building tools 

that help others clearly inform, train, 

and educate. Its overall success can be 

attributed to being an ever-learning 

organization. TechSmith has an 

engaged user base to have 

conversations with, which helps 

TechSmith develop exciting ways to 

bring this technology into the next 

iteration of what screen capture and 

recording can do. 

Proven Leadership 

Today, TechSmith is the world’s 

number one source for visual 

communication software. This is the 

result of efforts of its elite team — 

including Tony Dunckel. Before 

joining TechSmith, Tony gained 

experience through software 

development and product management 

roles for Fortune 500 companies EDS 

and Fidelity National Financial. Since 

joining TechSmith in 2002, Tony has 

helped drive growth and direction of 

the organization in several key areas, 

including senior product management 

and P&L roles. Currently, as the VP of 

Product Strategy and Market 

Solutions, he develops TechSmith’s 

enterprise education business and helps 

push the organization to take a broader, 

more holistic view on how TechSmith 

can add value for their customers. 

Enabling Anyone to Create 

Impactful Videos & Images 

TechSmith makes it simple for anyone 

to record what’s on their devices. Its 

award-winning screen recording 

software includes Snagit, Camtasia, 

and Relay. Snagit captures screenshots 

of all types — including specific 

regions, scrolling, and panoramic 

captures — and includes image editing 

features and screen recording 

capability to show and explain exactly 

what’s on screen. Camtasia provides 

powerful screen recording and video 

editing, including quizzing and 

captions functionality to create 

engaging video lessons. Relay is a 

video creation and sharing platform 

that helps maximize student 

engagement in online and blended 

learning courses. With its easy to use 

web-based recorder, Relay lets faculty, 

staff, and students record and watch 

ADA-accessible videos right within the 

LMS, with no additional login. 

Powerful analytics and quizzing enable 

instructors to measure engagement and 

send results automatically to the LMS 

gradebook. Students can watch any 

time, from any computer or mobile 

device for personalized and secure e- 

learning. 

In addition, TechSmith offers two 

mobile applications, TechSmith Fuse 

and TechSmith Capture, which let 

anyone capture real-time footage and 

device screens for flexible teaching and 

learning. 

A Simplified Approach 

TechSmith believes that the best 

software must be easy to use. Snagit 

and Camtasia are well-known for being 

the go-to programs that everyone loves 

to keep on their desktop to easily 

capture images of their screens and 

make instructional videos. Relay has 

the same founding premise — a simple 

yet powerful way to create, organize, 

and share educational videos. Since it 

integrates with learning management 

systems (LMS) and records easily from 


“ 

TechSmith helps anyone 

create professional, 

engaging videos and images 

to share their knowledge for 

teaching and learning. 

“ 

Tony Dunckel 

VP of Product Strategy 

& Market Solutions 

a web browser, it fits in with existing faculty workflows. 

Relay is also quick to learn, so instructors can use it right 

away, without all the sit-down training typically needed to 

learn complicated systems. 

With accessibility a top concern in higher education, more 

institutions are making it a priority to ensure online 

programs meet ADA guidelines. Relay provides multiple 

ways to make sure course videos are accessible. Human 

captioning options with 3Play Media, in-house human 

captioning workflows, and a highly-accurate autocaptioning 

engine help ensure compliance. A WCAG 2.0 

AA compliant video player makes sure the student 

experience is accessible, and audio description track 

support ensures instructors can reach all learners. 

Always Listen to Your Customers 

TechSmith listens to its customers to find out how it can 

best proactively solve their ever-evolving challenges. 

Especially in higher education, the company puts these 

considerations first when building its products, so that the 

resulting solution truly fits their needs. 

TechSmith approaches its customer and user engagement in 

several ways, including customer advisory boards which 

help create two-way communication channels. These 

interactions allow TechSmith to share ideas and plans with 

customers and get feedback. More importantly, they allow 

TechSmith to listen to the challenges customers face, often 

revealing key opportunities to help them achieve their 

educational ambitions. 

TechSmith also listens to customers through its strong 

investment and belief in its customer success model. This 

aligns TechSmith product experts who typically have 

educational backgrounds with its customers. These product 

experts are dedicated to sharing how to use the technology, 

how best to apply the technology, and simultaneously listen 

throughout that process for issues and gaps they recognize. 

In the end, these types of interactions create the two-way 

relationships which TechSmith views as mission critical to 

stay true partners with its customers. 

Outcome-driven Approach 

TechSmith is making significant new investments in both its 

products and services for the education market. In staying 

true to its core values, Relay will continue to offer the most 

user-friendly and effective video platform for increasing 

student engagement. Ultimately, the company is evolving in 

terms of how it understands success for its customers by 

taking a more outcomes-driven approach, and in doing so, 

aiming to help them achieve their most important 

educational goals. 



| 39

Learn & Grow 

Decoding the Future of Education. 

We are in the verge of an exciting change within the field of 

learning and teaching. Rising acceptance of the usage of 

technology as a tool for educational purposes is emerging 

and will eventually lead towards the disruption of education 

in a very fundamental level. The previously well-sealed 

doors of education governance are finally opening up to the 

real life challenges from the classroom. This adds to the 

worldwide connection capability and reachability of 

devices, creating an equation that sets the learning free. 

Our world has changed a lot within the past hundred years. 

The only thing that still remains true to its traditional 

practises is education. Some marginal change within the 

pedagogies used is happening, yet the essence of how 

teaching and learning is constructed lies its base to days 

when we were raising people into doers in industrialised 

workforce. The current day and the future behold so much 

more for its habitants than working in a certain cubicle from 

9-5. Technology is already liberating people from the 

offices to work anywhere with reasonable network 

connection. Next, technology can free students from being 

stuck in one room or building and take blackboard working 

method into 21st century possibilities of learning. 

Little by little companies and startups have taken baby steps 

to create platforms and content for digital education. Still, 

Education Technology remains “in the womb of its mother.” 

Luckily, the change has begun and now it relies on our 

actions to give the future of education the chance and the 

direction it is looking for. Once that snowball gets rolling, 

within the next few years, we will witness the hockey stick 

effect in the amount of different digital learning solutions 

available the market. 

One very fundamental tone I personally wish to see in this 

field of change is the rise of open source material available 

for everyone. When we are able to free ourselves from the 

restrictions of sharing knowledge, it is only then when we 

can truly talk about the freedom of learning. The value of 

some material interfering with the reality of spoken word, 

new data and knowledge arising from human experience, 

violates the academic rights of any student, anywhere in the 

world to learn, teach and participate in the evolution of 

education. 


My truth on some topic can be very different than yours. 

Yet if we can create a bridge of understanding between our 

perceptions in the same topic, we can learn from each other. 

Most of the conflicts in this uniting world spring from fear 

or misunderstandings. We as human are very keen to stick 

into our inner visions of life, and when that understanding 

is confronted with something different we tend to feel even 

threatened or scared as we don’t feel familiar with the topic. 

The very root of learning demands something that brave 

children are very good at, facing new things every day and 

growing to know them. So the first change that you can or 

rather need to do is to begin within yourself. No matter 

what the topic or issue is, think of it as something which 

you can achieve. You can learn and you can understand, if 

not at that very moment, but later for sure. Thus, let go of 

your fears and have faith both in people and in your own 

capabilities to learn and grow. 

About the Author 

Kirsi Ekberg, Founder of ViLiKe, is 

one of the pioneers in the education 

sector. Boasting years of experience as a 

startup entrepreneur, Kirsi strives to 

harness the potential of technology to 

bring-forward a digital evolution 

beneficial for the people and the world. 

e ICT Management and So ware 

Development graduate, follows a 

simple mantra in life of being brave and 

embracing the change. 



| 41




Unit4 

Highly Customizable and Configurable Software 


In an interview with Insights 

Success, Yujin Evered Lee, 

Regional President APAC of 

Unit4 shares the contribution of Unit4 

to the people through its software 

products. Unit4 is present in 26 

countries. It is headquartered in The 

Netherlands with a regional APAC 

headquarters in Singapore. In Asia 

Pacific, we have offices in Singapore, 

Malaysia, Sydney and Indonesia. We 

work with partners in other regions and 

have customers in almost any countries 

in APAC. 


interview between Yujin Evered Lee 

with Insights Success. 


company. 

Unit4 is in business for people. We’ve 

specialized in software products for 

services organizations, where people 

make the difference, since the 

early 1980s. 

Today, we build the smartest enterprise 

applications on the planet. Our 

technology is central to the 

organizations we serve – it improves 

efficiency and productivity and allows 

people to spend more time on 

meaningful work. Using the latest AI, 

machine learning and digital 

technologies, our customers can make 

more sense of business-critical data 

than ever before. 

Our cloud ERP, financial management, 

corporate performance management 

and localized HRMS software with 

industry-focused solutions, generate 

rapid value in the strategic processes of 

organizations from sectors including 

professional services, higher education, 

public services, not-for-profit and 

others – helping each person to create 

better value for themselves, their 

organization and their customers. 

Some of our Key Products in APAC: 

Ÿ 

Ÿ 

Ÿ 

Ÿ 

Unit4 Business World, our flagship 

ERP suite for mid-sized and large 

services-intensive organizations; 

Unit4 Prosoft HRMS, our awardwinning 

human resource 

management and payroll software. 

Unit4 Prevero, our powerful 


solution 

Unit4 PSA Suite, our professional 

services platform 



Unit4 Business World is a uniquely 

people-centered ERP (Enterprise 

Resource Planning) software solution. 

It delivers a fully integrated suite of 

enterprise applications and 

technologies that improve people’s 

daily work lives by reducing or even 

removing lower-value admin tasks. 

Business World boosts institutional 

effectiveness and promotes financial 

transparency. It is easy to deploy, 

highly adaptable when business-needs 

change, and less expensive to maintain 

than traditional “production-centered” 

ERP systems. 

Unit4 Prosoft HRMS is a seamless 

human resource management solution. 

From hiring to retiring including 

functionalities to enable, reward, 

develop and retain employees, Unit4 

Prosoft helps HR departments to track, 

manage and analyze their talent 

through the entire employee life-cycle. 

Unit4 Prevero is an integrated 


software (CPM) transforms complex 

financial data into clear real-time 

insights for clarity of reporting and 

planning. It allows business teams and 

decision-makers the ability to make 

better, faster business decisions with 

total confidence and clarity. 

Unit4 PSA Suite offers a full 

end-to-end solution for Professional 

Services Organizations or service 

divisions in other sectors. Built on the 

powerful Microsoft Dynamics 365 

platform, it is pre-tailored for a range 

of key industries and enables efficient 

joined-up working across the frontand 

back-office, so your people can 

focus on what really matters to your 

organization and deliver superior 

project management and service to 

your clients. 


company are designed to give access 

to right technology at right time? 

Unit4 Software is built in the 

“People Platform” this means it is 

designed for people and to be easy to 

use and highly customizable and 

configurable. Most of the Unit4 

software functionality can be 

configured without complicated coding 

and internal configurations can be 

easily setup and changed by the admin 

users themselves. This helps our 

customers to consistently reduce the 

TCO and minimize changes post 

implementation. 

What are the innovative approaches 

are adapted by the company to 

improve the quality of solutions? 

Unit4 Digital Assistant: Wanda is the 

world’s first true Enterprise Digital 

Assistant. Wanda works for finance 


“ 

Unit4 Business World is a 

uniquely peoplecentered 

ERP (Enterprise 

Resource Planning) 

software solution. 

“ 

Yujin Evered Lee 

Regional President APAC 

decision makers by keeping all their data and indicators at 

their fingertips, and for consultants through intuitive and 

visual tools including status monitoring and mixed planning 

approaches, gap analysis and strategic initiatives 

Micro-services architecture: The Unit4 Architecture is more 

foundation than platform. It is extensible through offering 

the customer micro-services rather than customising the 

software application itself or even extending the platform. 

This allows Unit4 greater control. It also enables Unit4 

customers and partners to add functionality cleanly without 

the risk of issues during future upgrades of the 

core software. 



Having built its foundation architecture, Unit4 is now 

delivering the extensibility tools for its customers to build 

apps on top of it. We hope to build a compelling marketing 

message that tells more customers of the value that Unit4 

can offer including scalability and flexibility underpinned 

by our strong enterprise solutions. 

This year we’re more committed to customer success than 

ever before, and we’ll continue our mission to help more 

customers generate strategic value through our solutions. 

We continue to invest in our People Platform microservices 

architecture, and at the same time deliver new self-driving 

user experiences with simpler user access to our solutions 

through innovations like Wanda. We have also recently 

extended our HCM offering through the strategic 

acquisition of Intuo. Together our state-of-the-art 

performance management with Unit4 Prevero, we offer a 

strong proposition for services and people-centric 

organizations 

Client Testimonials 

Ÿ Farrer Park Hospital: “Unit4 Prosoft has a user-friendly 

portal…I appreciate the prompt system 

Ÿ updates - especially those on the automatic application 

of (Singapore’s) legislation. Unit4 has proven to be a 

valuable partner and is responsive to our needs.” 

Ÿ Go-Ahead Singapore: “Prosoft HRMS has been a 

fantastic choice. Our HR and finance teams have 

experienced an increase in efficiency and productivity.” 


Yujin Evered was appointed to lead Unit4’s Asia Pacific 

regional operations in 2018. Based in Singapore, she is 

responsible for the company’s regional growth and 

customer success. 

Yujin has spent all of her career in enterprise software, 

including 12 years with Oracle in Korea, Singapore, and 

Australia. During her time with Oracle she worked on many 

transformational and strategic projects and held various 

leadership roles before deciding to permanently relocate to 

Singapore. Since moving back, Yujin held several senior 

positions including at Hewlett-Packard, Dell Software, and 

Software AG. Born in Korea and educated in Canada, 

Yujin speaks English and Korean. 



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The 10 Most Innovative EdTech Solution Providers 2019

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