Education software specialists see growth despite COVID-19 challenges

A North East technology firm has won a clutch of new contracts despite the COVID-19 crisis, reflecting strong national and international demand for its specialist online education software.

Sunderland-based Mesma, which is planning to create several new jobs later this year, has won an undisclosed six figure worth of new orders for its subscription-based insightQ technology. This helps government agencies, colleges and training providers coordinate and learn from their quality assurance in order to make improvements.

The contracts, which include consultancy work, cover working with the National Training Fund, established by Royal Decree in Oman to oversee the national growth of high quality technical and vocational education.

Elsewhere, Mesma has secured a contract with a government agency to provide the software platform to underpin the quality assurance processes for hundreds of apprenticeship and employability providers in the country in which they operate.

One of only a handful of all-female led technology firms in the North East, Mesma has seen a rapid take up of its products since being established in 2013 by training providers, colleges, universities and government agencies, looking to simplify complex quality management processes and better target resources to support learner experiences.

The news comes as the firm, which has sustained a resilient performance in the face of uncertainties caused by the pandemic, continues to build on growth plans that will see its annual turnover increase to £500,000 in the next 24 months.

The company is also on track to recruit for new product development and customer services roles later this summer as it invests further in resources and expertise to support customers, bringing its current workforce to nine people.

Director Louise Doyle says quality assurance remains paramount for education organisations despite COVID-19, which is driving demand for readily accessible subscription-based software and consultancy solutions.

She said: “It continues to be a challenging time for skills and learning providers around the world; and we have been careful to ensure we respond to our clients’ priorities as they have adapted to the changes around them. Digital solutions like ours can help to manage the complexity and costs of processes far better than paper-based systems.

“While this understandably may not have been at the forefront of their minds at the outset of the pandemic, we have noticed a shift in recent weeks to reconsider how best to assure themselves that education is still being delivered to a high quality; whether delivered face to face or remotely.

“We will continue to invest to support our growth ambitions, ensuring that we are well-placed to provide our customers with the effective products they need as things return to some sense of normality and start to ramp-up. We’re looking forward to progressing some innovative projects over the next 12 months with like-minded north east businesses.”

Mesma developed the insightQ platform to support clients Implement effective quality assurance and improvement processes, reducing complexity and cost. Their software and consultancy help an increasing number of training providers, colleges, universities, schools and government agencies simplify their approach, gather management information and target resources where most needed to continuously improve.