CEO's New Year Message — 2020

‍Reay Mackay
Managing Director, aXcelerate

2019 was another amazing year for aXcelerate, with strong year-on-year growth, and a record number of new clients.

We saw enhancements to our Online Assessments system, and the release of our new Learner Portal, with a brand new, highly usable design that your clients and students will love. We also started our critical work-based learning (WBL) project, which will support structured work placements, on-the-job training and other forms of WBL. Core elements include a mobile Learner App that works offline (beta testing to commence this month), and a redeveloped mobile aXcelerate app. As you’re an important part of our development process, we welcome your feedback in the Ideas Forum regarding features that you’d like to see in these apps. On that note, we’ll be creating Google and Outlook calendar integrations in the first half of this year, as a result of your valuable suggestions, for which I thank you.

Compliance improvements were a big focus last year. Our new NCVER integration makes AVETMISS data validation even easier, our eCAF integration simplifies student loans, and our upcoming TCSI integration will lighten the transition from HEPCAT, all helping to reduce the stress of VET Student Loans compliance. 

On the financial front, we’re beta testing a number of new integrations to be released this year, including Ezypay, and enhancements to Xero two-way payments. There’s also an upcoming auto-contract reconciliation feature, allowing you to quickly reconcile government-funded payments.

Our development process matured in 2019, with design now critical for all development projects. New aXcelerate features will use standardised libraries of modern, reusable components to create consistency for your users, making the system quicker to learn, and reducing the need for support.

Based on your feedback last year, we now have a library of over 120 Short Hits of Training videos (SHOTs), helping you learn the ins and outs of aXcelerate. These are included in our new aXcelerate Assistant help feature, providing comprehensive, contextual support for whichever feature you’re using at the time. We’ve also introduced dedicated account managers for each of you, who will gain a better understanding of you and your needs, for more effective, personalised support.

We’re excited to strengthen your business in 2020, to be achieved with innovation, a commitment to our H.E.A.R.T values, and not least, your invaluable suggestions on how to build an outstanding student management system, helping to make aXcelerate the best it can be.

Warmest wishes for a prosperous 2020!