#11 Current Challenges in The SIS Marketplace from The Lens of a SaaS CEO - Jason Duggan

**Jason Duggan** (0:00)
Whether you think the SIST is a student thing or not, in the end, it is, it's where they go, and it's about their involvement at the institution. It's always gonna be about the student.

**Chris Harrison** (0:11)
Well, hello everybody. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Chris Tech Chat, which will be focused on higher education and the ed tech sector. I am Chris Harrison, founder and CEO of Talents is Global. We're a BPO and top neoshore outsourcing provider of tech talent software solutions with deep expertise in higher ed and the ed tech sector. I will start with a quote that I think will resonate with everyone watching this podcast and should give a good segue into the topic that will be discussed today. As enrollment times and budgets shrink, the institutions that survive won't be the ones with more systems, but the ones with fewer smarter ones. Today we're joined by Jason Duggan. He is the CEO of Thesis Elements, a modern student information system SaaS provider built for small and mid-sized colleges. With over a decade in higher ed technology, Jason has been on the front line of legacy SIS replacements, enrollment pressure, and institutional transformation. He's known for unknow nonsense, outcome-first approach to technology, focused on what actually moves the needle for colleges, not just for what looks good on IIT Roma. With a CFO background, Jason has been successful at articulating how the internal process of these challenges impacts decisions and needs across campuses. Today, we're diving into why the student information system has become a strategic necessity in higher education, and how institutions can adapt a demographic shift, Operation Stein, consolidation solutions take place, expectations accelerate, and many other integral topics that are relevant in higher education today. So, with this in mind, Jason, welcome to the podcast.

**Jason Duggan** (2:02)
Thanks, Chris. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

**Chris Harrison** (2:05)
Absolutely, absolutely. We're excited to have you here. Great. So, I think we got a few questions and ideas we want to run by you. From my lens, from your lens, as the CEO of Thesis Elements, you know, knowing that you have a strong background and higher ed and ed tech and CFO perspective, but I want to get started right away with the first thought of night and really question for you. And this has to do with student information systems, which we know today it has become a very hot topic.
So, from your perspective, Jason, why is the SIS, the student information system, such a hot topic right now?

**Jason Duggan** (2:44)
We can spend all 45, 50 minutes on this one alone, but you know, the SIS is, it gets explained often, is kind of the heartbeat of the institution. So if you want to replace your SIS, it's like open heart surgery, which unfortunately is required. So there's a lot of factors going in, Chris. So in January, Clearing House came out with their updated enrollment report, and it showed a 1% growth in enrollments across the sector, which is good. We've definitely seen declines in the past. It's smaller than last year in 2024, but the dynamics within that are changing. So less international students, public four-year was up, grad was flat, slightly down, but privates are down further. And so what this is doing is it's putting more pressure on these institutions. Like you kind of had just said, enrollments are tighter, budgets are constrained, staffing levels are less and lean. And so what happens then when your CIS is the center of that ecosystem of the operations, it gets more scrutinized and it's much more closely identified to the institution of their needs. The other thing, you know, just to talk about real quick, and we'll probably touch on this or I've got more thoughts on this later is, there are market dynamics happening right now with acquisition as well, that are putting people on notice. And so when you look at those combinations of legacy CIS solutions, on-premise security risks, needing to move to a modernized cloud, less staff at the institutions, lots of complexity within the organization than a tech stack. It is right for the opportunity to do something, to make a move, to not be behind the curve, but in front of the curve. And so that's what we really are seeing a lot in the market right now, of why the CIS is such a hot topic. And it's a big enterprise solution. It's not just a point, hey, I've got this problem, go get that. Ask ChatGPT that. It can't do that. It's connected to the admissions, recruitment, Bursar, financial aid, all that. So it's a big core thing that institutions are talking about now.