Phoenix Business Consulting, one of the nation’s leading providers of business consulting services and solutions, has been awarded a contract with Sourcewell, a self-sustaining government organization, to provide digital solutions to public sector organizations, including education institutions.
Under the Public Administration Software Awarded Contract, which comes amid the coronavirus-triggered waves of digital transformation, customers can purchase services directly from Phoenix as a Sourcewell-contracted vendor.
Phoenix will provide enterprise resource planning systems, human resource information systems, travel and expense management systems, procurement and supply chain systems, data analytics and reporting solutions, and contract management systems.
It will also deliver implementation services, project management services, application management support, business process management consulting, public sector best practices consulting, and as-needed IT staffing support.
Image credit: Sourcewell
A strategic SAP Gold Partner, Phoenix specializes in offering implementation, training, production support, and audit review services for the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.
Its innovation has contributed to the efforts of cities, counties, state, and local agencies as well as school districts and universities throughout North America over the past two decades.
The company’s solutions are being used across a broad spectrum of areas, such as energy and natural resources, discrete industries, consumer industries, life sciences, service industries, and professional services.
Special focus on education sector
The contract with Sourcewell, which has been partnering with education, government, and nonprofits for the past 40 years to empower student and community success, will help advance the vision of Phoenix, especially in the field of education—a main focus area of the SAP consulting firm.
Phoenix believes that universities and higher education institutions must evolve to provide the skills, training, and educational curriculum necessary for their students to succeed, as student demographics are transforming from the traditional student model to reflect the changes in the modern society.
“With a large percentage of colleges, universities, and higher education institutions faced with serious financial difficulty, they are also burdened with declining student enrollment, declining high school graduates, and decreasing state funding,” the company says.
Grim statistics
High school graduates are estimated to peak in number across the country at 3.93 million with the class of 2025. However, they are not expected to prevent a steady contraction looming after the middle of the 2020s.
In 2037, the U.S. high school graduating class is forecast to total 3.52 million students—roughly the same size as it was in 2014.
A report on fall enrollment during COVID-19 shows that college enrollments dropped by 2.5% in fall 2020, about twice the rate of enrollment decline reported in fall 2019.
Public college enrollment decreased by 4% or nearly 530,000 students last fall, which is a concerning fact given public institutions enroll seven out of 10 post-secondary students.
There has been a drop of 13.1% or over 327,500 students in freshman enrollment from fall 2019. To cap it all, state funding for higher education remains below pre-recession levels.
Response framework
Phoenix argues that universities and higher education institutions who want to elevate their brands, increase their revenues, and improve their ability to compete for prospective students should develop a roadmap that looks beyond the immediate actions.
The suggested steps include expanding online classes and degrees and utilizing up-to-date technologies to leverage resources and automate business processes.
According to Phoenix President Hanif Sarangi, time and cost-saving SAP software and solutions provide new ways for faculty and students to communicate, interact, and collaborate and help with coordination and integration of facilities and services as well as superior student engagement.
“SAP’s higher education and research solutions also deliver advanced analytics on a flexible in-memory computing platform, ensuring efficient operations and successful outcomes for students, faculty, and academic leaders,” says the premier consulting organization.
With virtual learning poised to be a part of education for the foreseeable future, higher education institutions need to future-proof their institutions for the long term. Solutions like the ones being offered by Phoenix can help smooth the process.
Time and cost-saving SAP software and solutions provide new ways for faculty and students to communicate. Image credit: SAP
Disclaimer: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
