Reflecting on Our 40-Year Journey and Looking Ahead: A Conversation with Aptron’s CEO
This year marks Aptron’s 40th anniversary as a higher education ERP company. As we reflect on this impressive journey, I sat down with Aptron’s CEO, Tom Makosky, to understand his thoughts on what he attributes to his success and where he believes the higher education ERP market is headed.
Read the Q&A below and join us as Tom takes us on a trip that highlights key moments, achievements, and lessons learned.
First, congratulations are in order. Forty years of running a successful ERP business is impressive. To what do you attribute this continued success?
Tom: Thank you. Yes, in a time when many of our competitors have merged or gone out of business, forty years is a significant accomplishment and one that brings me great pride. As I reflect on the journey that brought us here, I am filled with gratitude for our dedicated team, loyal customers, and supportive partners.
As for our success, I attribute it to the fact that we have a talented and driven team whose sole focus is on serving the needs of our higher education customers. We build capable, flexible, adaptable, integrated, and easy-to-use software. But most importantly, we believe product enhancements and customer service have always been more important than maximizing our profit margin.
How and why did you get into the business of serving higher education institutions with ERP and other related technologies?
Tom: I started my career at a smaller university in IT, where I worked my way up to the director of computer services overseeing academic and administrative technologies, including our ERP. From there, I transitioned to working for that ERP company, and when the unique opportunity arose to acquire their ERP product, AIMS, I took it. That was the start of Aptron and what has evolved into our MultiValue ERP solution, Collēgix.
As for the why, I believed and still believe that I could develop an easy-to-use, flexible ERP product, deliver exceptional support, and do so at a cost—hard and soft—that a smaller institution could reasonably support. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.
You mentioned Aptron’s customer service. Aptron customers often remark about Aptron’s impressive support, a rarity in today’s ERP market. Would you share your approach to customer service?
Tom: I started this company because I believed we could do things better—and strong customer service is core to our doing it better. If we listen to our customers, improve our systems through customer-driven enhancements, provide the custom programming they need to meet their unique needs, and provide “and-then-some” support, we will continue to attract and retain customers. I know we’re doing this well when our customers know their team by their first names—and our team knows them—and their feedback is consistently positive. And we don’t limit support to one or two people at the college. We help and support people across all departments and ensure our products work well for each.
But beyond good, responsive, and expert support is integrity. We always have and will always choose integrity and doing things right over taking shortcuts.
When you reflect on these years, which achievements are most important?
Tom: That’s an easy answer—it’s all about the success our customers achieve during our shared journeys—that’s what makes me excited to come to work every day. We work with a college that was once a fledgling school struggling to enroll 400 students. It has since grown into a renowned institution with more than 1,200 students. Another 400-student college morphed into a multi-program university six times its original size. While I’m not suggesting we are the sole reason for their success, we were—and continue to be—a core part of their strategy.
Secondly, I take great pride in our retention rates. Most of our clients have been with us for decades, and some have been with us since the early years. I view this as proof that we serve our clients well.
In your opinion, where is the higher ed ERP industry headed in the next 10+ years?
Tom: Our ERP and SIS space continues to rapidly evolve as student dynamics shift and our client institutions need to transition to more of a proactive model. I expect the traditional student population and the college experience will continue to be the backbone of higher ed. Still, students will increasingly seek more cost-effective programs that they believe will launch their careers. They will likely jump from one school to another in search of their destiny. Degrees may become less important to some. The student population will continue to diversify to include migrants, seniors, career changers, professional athletes, military personnel, those incarcerated, and more. Health professionals and teachers will be in higher demand.
In turn, technology needs to evolve as well. We’ll continue to see a shift from “on-premises” to “Cloud-based” solutions. ERP software must be increasingly configurable and adaptable and accommodate unique needs and new course delivery methods, including micro-credentials, AI-based teaching, one degree from multiple institutions, apprenticeship programs, and programs that blend coursework and internships.
We conclude our question and answer session by expressing our sincere gratitude as we celebrate this milestone anniversary. We invite our readers to join us in this moment of reflection and celebration as we recognize the collective effort and dedication that have brought us to where we are today. We are excited about what lies ahead.
Interested in learning how Aptron can help your institution? You can reach out to us here.
