Skyward software helps schools soar

By: Kari Noll
Central Wisconsin Business Magazine

February 27, 2009

The sky has been the limit for Stevens Point-based Skyward Inc., though it took some time for the company to build its upward momentum.

Formerly known as Jim King & Associates and later School Administration Software, Inc., Skyward was founded in 1980 by Jim King with the help of his brother Cliff and Greg Wykhuis.

The company originally performed custom software and system design services on a consulting basis but soon delved into the K-12 market by producing a personnel/salary negotiations software package for Merrill Public Schools in 1981.

That year, it invited many other local school districts to a presentation that introduced the new software, but representatives of only three school districts attended. The meager turnout was no indication of the company’s future success, however. All the districts in attendance purchased the software, and by 1985 Skyward had expanded its business to 50 school districts.

Today, Skyward employs 304 people, including 74 software developers, and has 10 branch offices in seven states. It provides K-12 administrative software to more than 1,300 school districts in 17 states, and 80 percent of the school districts in Wisconsin are using Skyward’s projects, said Scott Glinski, company president.

“Our very first customer still continues to be one of our customers,” he said. “I think that says a lot about our product and services. We’ve maintained 98.5 percent of our customers over the course of the company history.”

A conference in Athens, Greece, helped take Skyward international. A teacher who had used the company’s products spread the word to a group from New Delhi, and after hosting several online presentations and meetings, Skyward in 2006 secured its first international customer: the American Embassy School in New Delhi. Since then, the company has expanded its services in schools in Greece, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Lebanon.

“We weren’t looking to go international – it just sort of happened,” Glinski said. “A lot of the sales we’ve gotten since New Delhi have been from word of mouth.”

Glinski, who has been with Skyward for 21 years, said the company is currently focusing on expanding into new states.

“Our goal is to get into two new states per year. Any time we get into a state and see significant growth, we like to set up branch offices,” he said.

Skyward develops and supports powerful student, finance, and human resources administrative software exclusively for public and private K-12 schools. Following the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, Skyward made a fast move to develop two separate products – EduTrack and Lesson Plans – that allowed schools to track data required of them by law.

“One of the keys is the fact that we listen to what our customers have to say before we delve in and develop new products,” Glinski said. “We have very active steering committees in each of the states we do business in, and our customers communicate through them, telling what changes need to be made.

“We allocate hours back to the customer. They can identify the changes they’d like to see in the software, and we’ll make the changes.”

Skyward’s Student Management Suite has been influential in the company’s growth, Glinski said. The software allows schools to efficiently keep track of attendance, grades, scheduling, health records and other data.

Recently integrated modules for the Suite include Skylert Emergency Notification and Family/Student Access.

“Skylert allows schools to communicate with parents instantly in case of an emergency or school closing,” Glinski said. “The system can reach up to 10,000 parents by phone, text and/or email in less than 3 minutes.”

The family access package allows parents to check their child’s grades and attendance and to choose the method by which they prefer to receive the information.

“In this day and age, this kind of communication between parents and teachers is necessary,” Glinski said.

One of Skyward’s recent programs is Online Assignments. By using the software, schools can reduce their printing costs and time spent on grading, because the program allows assignments to be scored automatically. The online feature also allows for instant communication with parents.

“It’s part of our ‘going green’ initiative. Instead of printing off homework and tests, they’re posted electronically,” Glinski said. “As a parent myself, I know that my kids are studying one night for a test. I quiz them and work with them, and after they take it, I can go online and check it out and talk about it with them when I get home from work.”

Skyward works with school districts to provide cost-effective methods for its software use, and it prices its products based on the number of students in a district, keeping the software affordable for smaller school districts.

“We offer our product in a hosted environment where school districts don’t need a server or infrastructure in the school district,” Glinski said. “The software is hosted remotely, so all the schools need is Internet access and a computer. Forty percent of our customers run the program in a hosted environment.”

Another benefit of remote hosting is the ability for teachers and administrators to retrieve necessary information anywhere they have access to the Internet.

Skyward’s ability to make life easier for administrators continues with a school-based activity accounting program. It allows each school in a district to locally manage funds for school activities, such as football, cheerleading or math club, while allowing oversight by district administration.

For a company that had a humble beginning, Skyward has proven to be a leader in innovation and convenience in providing K-12 schools with the latest, most convenient software packages.