The March update to our core SIMS offering will contain some 20 improvements – all entirely driven by what you – our customer community – have told us you need.
We are super-charging the pace and scale of improvements we can offer schools by working in collaboration with you, our users. Our aim is to bridge the gap between those who use our products every day and the teams hard at work developing new SIMS functionality.
How are we putting users at the heart of our process?
I am lucky enough to work in the SIMS product team – a job that fulfils an ambition I have held since my early roles many years ago on our service desk. Though my day-to-day work is different, my passion is still exactly the same: solving problems for customers and making your lives easier. What I know from my hundreds, or even thousands of interactions with you is that your passion is for delivering better outcomes for learners – and we are here to do everything we can to make sure SIMS supports you to do that.
Over the course of 2021 we have been creating a number of mechanisms to open up conversations with you and involve you directly in our development process.
We began a regular customer survey which is designed for all users of SIMS7, whether in a school or support environment. The survey is an avenue for you to share your experiences of our product, and feedback to us what improvements you would like to see. Already we have used the data from this survey to prioritise our work for the spring release. As of spring this year, we will be building the survey into our software giving it mass exposure and the potential for us to gather a far larger dataset, giving us even more information to fuel customer-focused improvements.
We have also opened the (virtual) door to our SIMS Ideas Portal – a place for you to come to raise ideas you have for our software, view the ideas others are suggesting, and vote for those you like. We’re using the portal ourselves to give status updates reflecting our progress and follow up on the ideas raised. It’s a genuine community and a concept we want to build on in the future.
Beyond that, we continue to run regular workshops and one to one feedback sessions with schools.
How can you stay in the loop on all the latest SIMS improvements?
Of course, all the good work we’re doing behind the scenes to improve and update SIMS is only worthwhile if you’re aware of it. We’re making it as easy as possible for you to learn about our updates and how they will benefit you. Short, easy to watch product demonstrations are available on our website, and here on our YouTube channel. You can get the inside track on what’s going in the product team here on my dedicated SIMS7 Product Blog.
Look out for our spring update – and make your voice heard in the future
It’s only weeks now until you’ll have the full benefit of our spring update. You can already find information on some of the improvements coming down the track on our product videos including changes we have made to simplify and enhance ‘Reporting’ – which we have undertaken with the perspectives and needs of a variety of user types in mind.
We’re looking forward to hearing how these improvements make a difference for you in your role.
We’re putting users at the heart of everything we do – so do make your voice heard and let us know what you need from SIMS in the future. Visit the Ideas Portal and tell us what you want to see in the next update.