Faces of Technology
Streamlining
School Dismissal
To what lengths should an organization go to save more than 5,000 hours of employee time , plus more than $ 50,000 ? Since the invention of PikMyKid , schools around the world have been asking this very question .
“ We ’ ve designed a comprehensive dismissal solution ,” explained PikMyKid ’ s chief technical officer , Jonathan Elliott . “ It allows parents to make changes to the children ’ s dismissal schedule given certain parameters from the school . There ’ s also the other component that the schools use … essentially , when somebody makes a change anywhere , you see it propagate on all the other devices .”
Elliott has led the development of PikMyKid ’ s cloud-based solution , which streamlines the school dismissal process , shortening the houror-more wait many parents are accustomed to when picking up their student . Parents are notified if there are any schedule changes and if their student has been picked up .
“ The net effect is that we ’ re eliminating old systems that weren ’ t necessarily efficient … if you ever drive around a school during dismissal time , you ’ ll see that there are a lot of traffic and congestion problems ,” said Elliott .
PikMyKid integrates seamlessly with the technology many schools and parents already have . With just a computer , mobile device and Wi-Fi connection , schools can update schedules and send messages in real time that parents can view in the PikMyKid mobile application .
Elliott looks forward to improving and enhancing PikMyKid ’ s technology as it continues to grow .
“ I like building things from scratch ,” he said . “ By staying in startups , it allows you to stay in that initial 18- to 24-month period where things are exciting and they ’ re growing … it ’ s a different lifestyle .”
This isn ’ t the first time Elliott has experienced the excitement of entrepreneurship . Persuaded by his interests in video games and software
Jonathan Elliott
Chief Technology Officer PikMyKid | www . pikmykid . com
Education : B . Com in Economics , Computer Science and Information Systems , Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
B . Com ( Honors ) in Computer Science and Information Systems , Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Company : PikMyKid provides cloud-based solutions to schools to simplify the student dismissal process , reduce chaos , increase teacher efficiency and student security while reducing traffic in the school neighborhoods .
development to study technology , Elliott graduated with a degree in computer science and information systems from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa . In 2003 , he visited the U . S . for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation , but became a permanent move . By chance , the only American he knew lived in St . Petersburg , Florida . That ’ s where Elliott found his first job and has been “ startup hopping ” ever since .
“[ Florida ] may not have what the West Coast has in terms of concentration of talent due to the big software companies , but we have good , quality startups here and we ’ re building real products that are going to be in real people ’ s hands .”
A partner of the University of South Florida Student Innovation Incubator and participant in the Tampa Bay WaVE Accelerator , PikMyKid has already secured nearly $ 2 million in seed funding from Florida Angel Nexus and other investors . The service debuted in a Tampa school this year and is expected to be in nearly 100 schools around the world by 2017 . florida . HIGH . TECH 2017 17