A class app keeps schools up to date
A GOLD Coast business has carved out a niche as a leader in the school technology space, acquiring 300 clients across Australia and New Zealand for its products.
Digistorm was founded in 2012 by Tim Oswald, a software engineer who turned to avionics, before, quite by chance, finding himself the first in Australia to produce an app for a school.
Mr Oswald said in 2011 he was working for defence contractor Raytheon and working on IT projects in his spare time, mostly for law firms and start-ups.
He received a request from King’s Christian College in Reedy Creek to build an app and Digistorm was born.
“They wanted the app for parent communication, so they could do away with handwritten notes and printed material. Stuff like newsletters, and whether buses were running on time and so on,” he said.
“I had never built an app before. Pretty much everything I did was software as a service. The app was a fun experience for me because I was able to learn something new. The first version is a little cringe-worthy to look at now but it was good for the time.”
What started as a side project soon gained momentum, and suddenly Mr Oswald found he needed help dealing with marketing and client engagement. “A lot of schools started to get in touch with me to build an app for them, and that was when I got Chris Lang on board,” Mr Oswald said.
“We were just acquaintances at that point. He was the only person I knew that was good at sales and marketing. We sat down and had a beer, and I said I needed someone to take care of client relations.”
That was in 2012.
By the midway point of 2012 sales were strong enough for Mr Oswald to quit his job, and early the next year, for Mr Lang to do the same.
“I was working in sales and doing ad hoc work for Digistorm, calling up schools during my lunchbreak,” Mr Lang said.
“I wanted to do something more exciting with my life.”
Soon after Mr Lang started full time with Digistorm, the business changed its approach, from one-off sales of apps, to a licence model where schools paid an annual fee to keep the app updated.
“Origally schools would buy the app and if they needed to upgrade they would reach out,” Mr Oswald explained.
“So when we moved to the licensed model it gave us more stable revenue, plus the upfront charges were not so much for the schools.”
Digistorm today has 17 staff based at Burleigh Heads, and a client list 300-strong, which includes prestigious schools such as A.B. Paterson College, Coomera Anglican College, and Trinity Lutheran College.
It has also expanded its range of services.
“We have an online enrolment system,” Mr Lang said.
“We have 150 schools using that all over Australia and New Zealand.”
SCHOOLS STARTED TO GET IN TOUCH TO BUILD AN APP, AND THAT WAS WHEN I GOT CHRIS LANG ON BOARD