Overview of Childcare Software Market
The childcare software industry is on the cusp of new transitions that potential investors and entrepreneurs should keep an eye on. It’s a relatively new industry where exciting market players are capitalizing on untapped opportunities.
Childcare management software is also referred to as childcare administrative software and daycare software. The software facilitates pre-school and daycare centers to efficiently complete daily operational activities. The underlying purpose of the tool is to bring childcare facilities and parents on the same page, and also to allow administrative authorities to regulate new tasks for employees.
Although the popularity of the software is rampant throughout the world, most of the major market players are from North America. In fact, the usage of childcare management software is higher in the U.S. than in any other country.
The annualrevenue of the childcare software industry is expected to top $57 billion in 2019. With market growth, the new players are seeking better profit margins. As of now, the market is swarming with 692,722 new businesses. Furthermore, the annual growth rate of 4% is expected to continue until 2024. In addition, the childcare industry provided 1,627,464 jobs in 2019 alone.
The implementation of childcare software revolves around cloud-based and on-premises segmentation throughout North America. However, on-premise has the most significant market share. The majority of the population utilizes the software to have complete control over the activities. Besides, there’s practically no breach or hacking risk attached to the software, which makes it even more ideal.
The cloud-based childcare software, on the other hand, has somewhat different segmentation and market potential. It is expected that the cloud-based approach will take over most of the market in the foreseeable future. Today, the childcare management software market consists of cloud, SaaS, web, mobile, android native, and iOS devices. In terms of revenue growth, North America is projected to have the highest global market share. However, the growth is interconnected with constant technological developments in the region. Additionally, the reliance on smartphones is another crucial factor.
With better integration of mobile devices, the childcare industry will continue to see exciting trends. Contemporarily, the application systems are based on native apps that can be utilized for administrative reasons for better connectivity with parents. And this is where the tracking mechanism of the software takes center stage. Most of the software tools, for instance, offer tracking visibility of children. As a result, parents can check-in and out via smartphone in the blink of an eye.
The customer segmentation of the childcare management software consists of parents, daycare centers, and pre-schools.
The most significant factor that companies can leverage for growth is the trust and over-dependency of individual staff.And that’s because these folks often have two jobs and in dire need of a system that can handle toddlers with attentiveness.
Apart from engaging parents, school administrators lean towards the all-in-one applications that cater to their needs. Naturally, head of the schools want the freedom to use software to educate and empower their staff. Administrative officials can create different tuition plans and receive payments from parents. The process to collect payments is also streamlined to avoid errors or duplication of payments.
As security concerns begin to vanish in the minds of the parents, more usage of childcare management software is expected that ensures the utmost confidentiality. The shift pattern of the market also depends on the restrictiveness and applicability of the software. The economic position of women in today’s economy makes childcare management software invaluable.
The concept of the childcare system hasn’t been changed. Instead, the tools are now focusing on those values through new technological advancements. This process is gradually becoming a standard for parents to monitor the daily activities of their children without hassle.
Kangrootime was founded in 2015 and has raised $5.5M venture funding. The accessibility of the software is arguably its best component. It can help businesses communicate and bridge the gap between educators and parents. Also, the tool is relatively more affordable for end-users than other market competitors. The clean enterprise dashboard and classroom automation allow parents to form a new level of connectivity.
Brightwheel is one of the newest software platforms for childcare, daycare, and pre-schools. The app is targeted towards administrative authorities that run midsize and small childcare centers. Brightwheel has an excellent attendance tracking mechanism, spontaneous daily reports, and paperless billing. The company is based in San Francisco and raised its Series-B of $21 million in 2018.
EZCarepioneered child care management software more than 30 years ago, and it is one of the industry leaders. The company provides cloud-based childcare management software that adds better functionality for billing, scheduling, and parents’ connectivity. The software allows parents to make online payments and upgrade a child’s information via mobile or in-person easily. Apart from a multitude of features, EZCare runs an online forum that is highly beneficial for small businesses.
Employed single fathers and mothers, for instance, can’t properly take care of their children and ultimately would need childcare service software to fill that gap during the workday. The market players can also capitalize on the low unemployment rate.
Just like social services require job training, childcare apps need to explore more possibilities to support the administrative officials. And since the federal budget in the U.S. is likely to decrease in 2020, it can threaten the growth of the industry as a whole.
Although market saturation of the childcare software industry is plausible, it can create confusion among parents because the majority of the companies offer similar products and services. The changing tide of the market competitiveness may alter the behavior of the parents to avail the services of childcare software.
Software providers should reach for the dominance of a product feature. There is still room to improve mobile integration and improve the functional response of the tools. Cloud-based software will eventually render on-premise software obsolete. Investors in this industry should focus on the growth rate and ability of the childcare management industry to evolve as a whole.
The software has paved the way for better reporting, billing, payment, and scheduling system to boost efficiency & productivity and reduce operational costs. Though the childcare software market might have new regulatory guidelines, there is no doubt that the next generation of software will bring better monitoring and management features for different customers.
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