Safety razors by Gillette and vacuum cleaners by Hoover are proof of what first-mover advantage offers, irrespective of the industry. Early dominance in a high-demand industry, like edtech, yields longevity of success and lasting brand value in the market. The edtech market is projected to reach $288.4 billion at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2021 to 2031. It is undoubtedly a huge opportunity for businesses offering comprehensive edtech solutions.
Did you know that the share of the top 5 market vendors is expected to be around a whopping 35%? The key to accelerating time-to-market at reduced costs, especially in the online learning industry, is module integration. This comparative study of in-house versus integration-based modular learning platform development throws more light on the subject.
Benefits of Modular Integration Over In-House Development
There are several benefits of using pre-built modules over reinventing the wheel and attempting to build an online learning solution from scratch.
Accelerated Launch
Software product development is a tedious process. It involves multiple steps – from conceptualization to team onboarding, design, development, testing, and ongoing maintenance. A business must invest in people, processes, technology, and infrastructure. Hiring experienced industry experts is a time- and cost-intensive task. Moreover, team acquisition has to be followed by collaborative development and testing. The hiring part can take months, stretch project budgets and derail project timelines.
The easier and faster solution is using pre-built modules, ready for integration. The integration enables businesses to leverage existing talent from technology providers and customize the products according to their business requirements and growth plan. No need to test the product at every stage of development, then test to see the viability of the completed module before launching it in the market. The integrative approach uses pre-built modules that can be plugged in, ready for the market. The efficacy of these modules has already been proven by the technology provider. They can significantly cut your go-to-market time.
Higher Reliability
Modular eLearning solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing digital ecosystems are developed by skilled and experienced teams. Be it content distribution platforms, lesson development tools, online publishing solutions, or rostering plug-ins, all modules have dedicated teams that work to deliver a competitive solution.
Additionally, these modules go through extensive quality checks and are tested across diverse standards, including TinCan API, QTI, oAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and LTI. Standardization eases integration and allows you to penetrate new markets seamlessly. It helps deliver a unified experience, especially when modules are customizable to your brand identity.
Standardization reduces failure rate and downtime, improving user experience and the overall performance of the digital learning platform. It supports the effortless addition of training modules, learner management systems, analytics, and assessments. In addition, single sign-on facilities improve ease of use, eliminating the need to remember multiple passwords with separate user identities and profiles.
Reduced Costs
The price point is always a crucial consideration in product adoption. Adding modules as and when required can help you offer cost-effective solutions, enhancing the adoption rate. This is because the cost to launch modular integrated solutions is much lower than in-house solutions. Further, integrable solutions work with standard CSV templates and Rest APIs, making them usable across learning environments while reducing integration cost and time. No-code and low-code solutions ease integration and the need for technically skilled professionals, accelerating growth and improving business efficiency.
Improved Business Reporting
Report generation tools, CRMs, sales trackers, and other non-student-centric modules, which are crucial to analyze and improve business performance, can be integrated effortlessly. They collate millions of data points from disparate systems to generate actionable insights across the entire value chain. Such collation also removes redundancy and helps maintain data integrity across the system by identifying and highlighting inconsistencies. For instance, they can merge data from multiple tools like SIS, LMS, identity management subsystem, and LDAPS to provide a comprehensive system view.
Stay on Top of the Evolutionary Ladder
Modular integrations are easier to modify and scale. Creating a product from scratch will require the entire product development and maintenance cycle to be reiterated every time a new update is needed or a regulation changes. Compliance is critical in the edtech domain, especially in the K-12 segment. White-label integrable solutions allow edtech businesses to quickly switch to newer versions that are compliant and compatible with the latest and most popular universal tools. They enable edtech support with diverse tools like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, Clever, ClassLink, and OneRoster to facilitate cross-platform operation and global applicability. Additionally, modularity offers the flexibility of scaling up or down effortlessly.
The success of the module integration approach lies in the technology partner you choose. MagicSync by MagicBox is a market-leading integration solution that helps clients become market ready, with compliance and integrations, on time and within budget. If you wish to learn more about module integration or need to discuss how it fits your business needs, contact the MagicBox team today.
