Childcare providers and preschool programs face numerous challenges in managing their internal operations and effectively communicating with parents. Best childcare management software has revolutionized the industry by offering comprehensive attendance tracking, scheduling, invoicing, and communication solutions. These software platforms, delivered as a service over the Internet, have simplified and optimized childcare processes, providing a single integrated solution for managing various childcare operations.
This article aims to explore the concept of childcare software and highlight the key factors differentiating different software solutions in the market. Additionally, it presents an overview of the best childcare management system options available in 2023, focusing on their features, functionalities, and suitability for different types of childcare institutions.
What is childcare software?
Childcare software controls the internal operations of childcare providers and preschool programs, such as attendance, scheduling, and invoicing. In addition, the software promotes communication (feedback, messages, notifications, and alerts) between parents and instructors. Modern childcare solutions simplify and optimize childcare processes with a single software-as-a-service (SaaS) application that is delivered over the Internet.
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The SaaS portal will enable you to monitor and administer all the tasks involved in the development of the children. Furthermore, you can streamline your backend operations, manage the volume of the paperwork and stay on top of billing and finances. With the proper Internet-based controls and a diverse set of tools provided, childcare management platforms enable you to have total control over your business. Lastly, the barrier to entry is not high, the platforms are mostly user-friendly, do not incur high training costs, and are moderately priced.
Benefits of using online registration and childcare software
Childcare and daycare management software platforms offer a range of features designed to meet the needs of both childcare providers and parents. From an administrative standpoint, these platforms provide user-friendly interfaces that make it easy for staff members to navigate and use the software efficiently. The ease of administration is crucial to ensure that employees can quickly adapt to the software without extensive training, thereby minimizing costs and maximizing productivity.
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Key factors to choose the best childcare management software solution
The top six characteristics that distinguish childcare platforms from each other are the following:
- Ease of use for parents: Convenience is the key, provide your clients with a simple, feature-rich, and user-friendly platform. If your end users struggle with the software and cannot figure out how to quickly move from one screen to another, they will get frustrated and will not use the system. Not only will you not gain any return on investment (ROI) on your expenditure, you will increase your churn rate and lose traction with your most important capital, your user base.
- Ease of administration: Your employees are the lifeblood of your business, do not expose them to programs that are complicated to learn and use. You will certainly need to allocate time to train your staff, but the amount of training needs to be reasonable, or the cost of ownership shoots up.
- Features and ecosystem: Ensure the platform offers all the gadgets and tools that you need to run your business. You need back-office tools to take enrollments, manage attendance, pull rosters, transfer kids between programs, invoice and collect payments. Communication features are essential as you need to constantly stay in touch with parents. Last, but not least, ensure the platform provides business marketing tools, campaign management, email, and text marketing.
- Product quality and security: Running a daycare program is demanding and you therefore need to rely on the software to be up and running all the time. What would you do if you needed to pull the roster to ensure all the children are accounted for and the system is down? Do not invest in a childcare system that has questionable quality just because of the price point. Read the reviews, some good sources are Capterra (www.capterra.com), G2 (www.g2.com), and SourceForge (www.sourceforge.net).
- Price point: Most childcare management systems are moderately priced. However, make sure you understand the entire cost of the ownership and the hidden costs. The providers usually charge a flat monthly fee, which is easy to understand. However, they might also charge a service fee, which is a percentage of the transaction. For example, if you sell a class for $100, and the service fee is 1%, then they will deduct $1 from the proceeds. On top of the service fee, you need to pay the credit card processing fees. For example, Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents to process credit cards. Continuing with our example, for the $100 class that you sold, you pay Stripe $2.9 plus 40 cents, a total of $3.2. You also paid $1 for the service fee. Your total costs for this transaction are $4.2, and out of the $100 gross revenue, you will only net $95.8. It is also important to understand the cost factors when a parent cancels an enrollment and you need to issue a refund. Find out if you can recoup any portion of the fees you paid. To make matters worse, some providers not only do not refund the processing fees, but they will also levy an additional charge for processing the refund. Payment gateways dictate the credit card processing fees and you do not have much control over the rates. However, ask the childcare provider if there is a way you can pass the fees to your users. Jumbula (www.jumbula.com), for example, offers an option called the Convenience Fee feature, which allows you to pass on the fees to the parents.
- Reliable support team: Last but not least, ensure that the provider has a strong onboarding and support team. This is tricky because you would not normally engage the support team until after you have purchased the software. You can do your due diligence by reading up on the reviews. You can also ask the provider to disclose their service-level agreement (SLA). Note that some providers offer priority support on their higher-tier pricing packages.
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Best childcare management software overview
This part will cover the best childcare management software solutions in 2023. Jumbula, Brightwheel, EZCare, HiMama, Regpack, iClassPro, KidKare, Famly, Kangarootime, and ProCare Solutions are our choice.
Jumbula; Best choice in childcare management software
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2013, Jumbula is a market leader in the childcare management space and assists organizations globally in managing their business needs. We provide a cutting-edge platform with a friendly user experience and a complete ecosystem to streamline back-office processes. The ecosystem includes integrated payment processing, enrollment services, invoicing, automated billing, communication tools, marketing promotional services, site design, and SEO services.
Jumbula platform is ideal for institutions of any size that work with children, such as schools, daycare facilities, learning centers, and after-school programs. Furthermore, from within the same platform, you can offer camps, classes, events, and seminars.
Top Features:
- Enrollment services: Jumbula provides a complete ecosystem to manage enrollments, including registrations, cancellations, transfers, and refunds.
- Reports and insights: We provide a variety of canned reports, such as rosters, attendance, cancellations, capacities, waitlists, and financials. Furthermore, you can define customized reports, pull any data field from the system and export out to Excel.
- Live activity reminders: Set up professional-looking notifications and send alerts to users for tasks, deadlines, appointments, and important events.
- Secure payment processing: Jumbula offers an integrated payment system and handles credit cards, debit cards, and eChecks (ACH). A number of popular payment gateways, such as Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.Net, and Worldline, are supported. We also provide offline payment methods such as cash, check, and scholarships. T
- Discounts, coupons, and waitlist management: You can customize the platform and define how you want to apply the sibling discounts, multi-program discounts, and coupons. Effective waitlist management is important to the success of your business; you can accommodate last-minute cancellations and fill up the classes to their capacity using the waitlists.
If you are uncertain about using this platform you can use the following link to get 14 days of free trial and also 30 min demo.
Brightwheel
Brightwheel is an online management software solution for daycares, preschools, and childcare centers. The software is specially made to simplify the work carried out by directors, managers, and teachers at mid-capacity to high-capacity facilities. Additionally, Brightwheel offers a variety of enrollment and communication tools for parents and guardians.
Top Features:
- Online Calendar: Planned events and activities are listed online and are accessible to both attendees and members.
- Parent/Student Portal: Parents and children can access information online and communicate with teachers through this portal.
- Facility Management: This feature allows the staff to schedule the facilities and manage the related operations.
- Financial Management: Brightwheel provides a number of reports for a breakdown of the business’s finances, sales, and expenses.
EZCare
EZCare is an online childcare software built for today’s childcare professionals that simplifies invoicing, scheduling, and registrations. Online registration, a parent portal with contactless payments, student check-in, and the EZSmiles family engagement app are all included with EZCare.
According to Capterra, EZCare online platform is suitable for childcare services, after-school activities, school districts, religious institutions, Montessori institutions, colleges and universities, healthcare centers, employer-based offices, and eldercare.
Top Features:
- Billing & Invoicing: Create and control financial transactions between parties.
- Calendar Management: Create, control, and distribute several calendars at the same time.
- Communications Management: Maintain a record of all important internal and external communications.
- Member Database: Information about members can be added, stored, and accessed.
- Parent Portal: Access and modification of children’s personal information by parents via an online portal are available.
HiMama
A childcare software that helps institutions become paperless. HiMama offers a simple approach to detect and share children’s activities, from entertaining and joyful moments to learning and growth, in order to involve parents and enhance learning for kids. For directors, the software also includes robust reporting and staff management functions.
According to Capterra, HiMama is suitable for preschools, early learning academies, Montessoris, home daycares, and regional, and national childcare providers.
Top Features:
- Parent Portal: Parents can access and update their children’s personal information online.
- Communication Management: Tracking and monitoring of any pertinent internal and external communications.
- Daily Reports: A list of every activity performed since the previous day is available and can be distributed to all the stakeholders.
- Meal / Nutrition Management: Planning, scheduling, and delivery of meals and snacks.
- Self Check-in/Check-out: This feature controls the checking in and checking out of books.
Regpack
Regpack as one of the best childcare management software enables you to create personalized recurring billing schedules and provide payment options for one-time purchases, all on your website or as part of your product. You can manage and track sales with the help of dynamic payment and product reporting.
Regpack can help businesses that wish to cut costs, get payments fast, and expand enrollment. It also automates the registration and payment processes
Top Features:
- Data Security: This module ensures data security and online privacy.
- Recurring/Subscription Billing: Automation of customers’ payments according to a preset timetable (monthly, quarterly, etc).
- Email Marketing: This feature creates and distributes email campaigns to your subscribers.
iClassPro
Web-based software for managing classes that have been created for school owners and is intended for use in class-based enterprises. The class and camp schedule, enrollment monitoring, communications, accounts receivable, online registration, reporting, and other capabilities are all included in iClassPro.
According to Capterra, businesses that provide recreational classes use iClassPro to simplify everyday tasks, provide online registration, enhance communications, and increase productivity at work.
Top Features:
- Reporting/Analytics: Examination and monitoring of essential metrics.
- Self-Service Portal: Easy gateway that allows people to access the system.
- Online Payments: Online bill-paying platform for customers.
- Calendar Management: Multi-calendar creation, administration, and sharing.
KidKare
You can run your childcare business with KidKare on its mobile-friendly interface. You may simplify the claim procedure while still complying with USDA regulations. KidKare also helps with management tasks and offers an accounting platform.
According to Capterra, KidKare, the childcare management software, is ideal for home daycare sponsors, providers, and institutions. Every system has potential strengths and limitations, but because time is of the greatest priority to us, we simply highlight the most distinctive features of this platform so that you can make an informed decision about your perfect childcare management software platform.
Top Features:
- Calendar Management: Multiple calendars may be made, managed, and shared.
- Member Database: Members’ information may be added, stored, and accessed.
- Registration Management: This module enables you to make a list of participants and register them for an event.
- Self Check-in/Check-out: You can use this feature to organize book check-ins and check-outs.
Famly
Famly is a childcare software that enables school administrators to manage their financial activities, and staff, record observations, and interact with parents. The Famly platform offers straightforward billing and finance, parent communication, effective staffing, and smart administration.
According to Capterra, Famly online system is suitable for directors, managers, workers, and teachers of childcare groups and centers of all sizes, including pre-schools, aftercare clubs, and daycares.
Top Features:
- Member Database
- Daily Reports
- Parent Portal
- Self Check-in/Check-out
Kangarootime
The digital classroom, automated payments and billing, and parent communication tools provided by Kangarootime enable directors to manage their businesses successfully and efficiently.
According to Capterra, this web platform is appropriate for single-site centers, multi-site companies, enterprise franchising models, and corporate delivery models.
Top Features:
- Payment Processing
- Billing & Invoicing
- Meal / Nutrition Management
- Member Database
ProCare Solutions
Procare offers real-time data for making important choices, ensuring compliance with local and state laws, and following industry best practices. According to Capterra, ProCare online system is appropriate for daycares, childcare services, preschools, after-school activities, enrichment activities, and camps of various shapes and sizes.
Top Features:
- Parent Portal
- Member Database
- Daily Reports
- Employee Management
Wrap up
Considering the pivotal role that childcare management software plays in achieving business success, it is crucial for business owners and IT professionals to prioritize investing in the best childcare management software solutions to set their business apart from competitors.
The childcare software industry is highly competitive, offering diverse features and varying price points. Our aim is to share our knowledge, guiding you through the essential factors to consider and research in order to make an informed decision that suits your unique requirements.