Via Helps Global Company Wake Up from “Administrative Nightmare”
Brett Windsor has been involved with Eduglobal since its inception in 2006. The nonprofit health education management company places students in U.S.-based Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs with clinical experiences in European host facilities. But when Brett took over as company president in late 2020, he quickly learned about the limitations of the company’s archaic paper system.
Brett Windsor, President at Eduglobal.
“It was all email and spreadsheets,” he says of the system he inherited. “It was an administrative nightmare.”
Last year, while attending the Forum on Education Abroad conference in Seattle, WA, Brett discovered Via. He knew instantly he had found the software solution his company badly needed.
“I’m essentially a sole practitioner on this side. I don’t have any help,” Brett says. “I have to be able to communicate quickly and accurately, keep track of things and not make mistakes. What I recognized immediately is Via’s system would allow me to have everything in one place. I can facilitate the entire process inside one system.”
Eduglobal signed on quickly with Via. While Via’s training was “fantastic,” Brett says it almost wasn’t necessary.
“Via is very intuitive,” he says. “It’s not complicated. It works the way it should work.”
Via’s a “Game Changer” for Eduglobal
The Eduglobal team getting ready to meet interested students!
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, Eduglobal was sending about 100 U.S. students to Europe each year. In the height of the pandemic, that fell to zero and is now back up into the 70s. The company’s long-term goal is to send a couple hundred students each year.
“There’s no way I could send 200 students a year without Via,” Brett says. “It’s impossible without a dedicated system. Via is a game changer. The biggest challenge I have is getting students to communicate within Via rather than emailing me outside of the system.”
Via Reduces Stress for Eduglobal’s President
When asked what he likes most about Via, Brett points to Via’s “ease of use.”
“The user interface is fantastic,” he says. “It’s modern. It looks good. It’s fast. It has the ability to customize the information so it looks like my program. I don’t feel forced to compromise my program to fit the way Via has to present things. But the main thing is just the ease of use. If I had to train someone, I could do it quickly.”
Overall, Via has made his workday easier, Brett says. While it used to take him an hour to create an event and get the word out, he can do it within Via in about five minutes—and replicate it in the future.
“That’s a big stress reliever,” he says. “Via has also taken away the stress of worrying that I’m missing things. I’ve got everything contained in one system and all the information is there. I can communicate within the system. If I pull up a traveler in Via, I can see every communication we’ve ever had over time. It just decreases the potential for me to miss things and make mistakes.”
Students participating in DPT programs pose for a group photo!
Brett says Via is meeting all of his needs today—and believes it’s capable of meeting his future needs as he grows Eduglobal.
“Over my career, I’ve dealt with a lot of tech companies and Via is the best experience I’ve had. Via is what it says it is. It works the way it says it would work.”
Brett knows first-hand the value of the global experiences he’s providing students through Eduglobal. He came to the United States in 1994 after graduating as a physiotherapist from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. He’s been in the U.S. ever since and now lives in Florida.
“When you don’t speak the language of a country you’re in, you have to be quiet and really listen. That’s such a big part of being a physical therapist—being quiet and watching and listening and taking things in. I know it’s had a powerful influence on not just my ability as a PT, but my ability as a manager and a leader and a business owner.”
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Like Eduglobal’s Brett Windsor, Via believes global experiences will change our world. That’s why we created traveler relationship management and travel risk management software, which helps universities and study abroad program providers to empower global experiences. If you want a true education abroad partner, turn to Via.