Digital Transformation on Education System

Putera Sampoerna Foundation since the beginning had been founded with four pillars: Education, Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship and Compassionate Relief. However, in 2015, Putera Sampoerna Foundation recognized the importance of education in molding the minds of the next generation. With education as the sole pillar, Putera Sampoerna Foundation realized that its contribution to the nation could be maximized by making quality international education available to every Indonesian youth. With education now as the primary focus, Putera Sampoerna Foundation launched the integrated education system in Indonesia, the Sampoerna Schools System, a seamless pathway from Pre-Kindergarten through to University education.

"Since the focus now is on education, our users are mainly teachers/lecturers, students and parents. Our online application infrastructure from the front-end to the back-end started to migrate into cloud infrastructure; primarily from the websites, admissions, academic systems, learning management, until alumni management "said Sampoerna Schools System.

For the 'Academic Systems' service itself, Sampoerna Schools System differentiated the Academy and the University users. Sampoerna University is a service mainly for lecturers and students, while Sampoerna Academy is for teachers and student parents.

Sampoerna Schools System carries the digital transformation on multiple aspects to gain more on effectiveness and efficiency.

Adopting cloud computing

"We previously used on-premise infrastructure and public IP to run these services. However, from the financial standpoint the cost of maintenance and management were very high."

With only a few manpower in the IT Department allocated for keeping the organization IT security system, we began to shift the existing services into the cloud. Compared to the on-premises, Sampoerna School System service now is way easier to operate and maintain. Everything now works as it should be, despite the initial process that required thorough migration planning. We have migrated almost every application into the cloud, where currently our on-premise infrastructure is allocated only for running the ERP system.

The migration process from on-premise to the cloud according to Sampoerna Schools System was swift and convenient. Using the cloud computing means we are provided with reliability, where the system now works more effectively and efficiently from the economic standpoint to run day to day operations.

Determining the right partner

Sampoerna Schools System was not only demanded an efficient budget management, but more on overcoming the issue of concurrent traffic spike at certain moment during the school academic period, such as the moment where students filled out their Study Planning Form (KRS) on the new semester, and during academic report handouts by the end of semester. After considering several existing cloud service providers, the company decided to choose Biznet Gio Cloud.

"Previously, I had received several quotations from some providers located abroad. Undoubtedly, they provided cheaper price, however they couldn’t provide the support as we expect. After evaluating the scope of work, price, and services elements, we finally decided to use Biznet Gio Cloud."

Sampoerna Schools System IT Department demanded 'Business Continuity', or reliable with high availability on the infrastructure level to run their services. Biznet Gio Cloud architecture fulfills the expected SLA (Service Level Agreement), and most importantly is the aspect of 24/7 support to provide assistance to customers at any time.

Sampoerna Schools System team moreover explained whenever their website was down, it was restored to run normally by less than 24 hours after being assisted by the Biznet Gio Cloud support team.

"We always get prompt responses from the support team even when we sent emails during the nighttime, the follow-up was sound and swift. In terms of price points, Biznet Gio Cloud might be similar or a little bit higher, but it always comes with the quality. "

Together with Biznet Gio Cloud, the Sampoerna Schools System carries digital transformation in the education system into practical way and being easier to use. The secure and reliable system enables Sampoerna Schools System to focus more on learning and teaching activities effectively and efficiently.