Technology innovator Discover by Xplor leads educators into the future with Playground

AUCKLAND, NZ – July 21, 2022 – Discover by Xplor, New Zealand’s leading all-in-one student management and parent engagement software platform, has today announced the launch of Playground, a technology-based tool for early childhood teachers.

Playground provides convenient and efficient planning, observations, and parent management capabilities for Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers. It also seamlessly integrates with Discover’s existing Home app, enabling parents’ greater involvement in their child’s day. Daily reporting and one-to-one communication features are available within a simple interface that connects the parent to their child, and to the child’s teacher.

Designed in New Zealand, Discover was founded in 2016 to remove the often-complex administrative task load found within the ECE sector. Market research shows that ECE  administration contributes a substantial portion of staffing overheads and creates areas of risk due to changing compliance requirements. Discover helps to reduce this cost by allowing teachers to focus on providing active early learning, and quality care to each child.

Richard North, Chief Commercial Officer for Discover at Xplor Technologies said, “Discover has proven itself as an essential tool for the ECE industry in New Zealand. The launch of Playground enables  us to say that we are truly an all-in-one software solution, built to fit the modern landscape of ECE administration and communication needs. Across the last two years we have seen customers across Australia and New Zealand faced with unprecedented challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic. Low attendance, reduced fees, demand for higher wages, paired with changing working patterns and remote working – these all put immense pressure on a business’ ability to not only survive, but also thrive.

We have customers who have reduced their time spent on administration by over 50% through using Discover. This means less strain on business owners and more resources for kaiako and centres, enabling them to provide a better learning experience to the tamariki. During the pandemic lockdowns, Discover became an essential communication tool for kaiako to stay in touch with tamariki and support whānau in home-based learning. This enabled tamariki to retain their sense of belonging, which is something we’re really proud of.”

Discover is currently working with the Ministry of Education to encourage greater uptake in new technology and streamline digital education processes across New Zealand. The student management software includes all the systems, reporting and data that ECE businesses need to succeed and grow at scale, along with links to the Ministry of Education for greater access to funding and support.

“We’re making people’s lives easier by digitising “everyday life” businesses. And by working directly with the Ministry of Education we can help to drive change in policy and make the compliance process easier for the ECE community,” concluded North.

Emma Norrie, General Manager of Auckland-based ECE provider My Kindy, is an existing Discover by Xplor customer. Said Norrie, “We have two locations that cater to 220 kids and 30-35 staff. Discover has become a critical tool to our business administration and parent-teacher relationship management. Trust is crucial between a parent and childcare provider. Every parent feels guilt at one time or another dropping their child at childcare. Discover has enabled us to give parents more involvement, without creating additional administration for them.

Ultimately, children have a more connected ecosystem built on trust, transparency, and communication. They know that their parents are highly involved, they know their teachers are maintaining that connection with their home and it’s giving them a secure, enriched learning experience.”

Discover was acquired by Xplor Technologies in September 2021. Since then, Xplor has invested in Discover by integrating its suite of globally renowned ECE student management software apps like Home and Playground into the platform, building on their success in ‘student management technology made simple’.

About Discover

Discover is a modern, cloud-based childcare administration management product that makes childcare simple by providing smarter, easy-to-use systems that eliminate wasted administration time. Managing inquiries and marketing, enrolments, waitlists, room transitions, rosters and ratios, visitor tracking, HR, tablet-based attendance, payments from bank feeds, invoicing, and all other aspects of day-to-day childcare administration – Discover is also certified by the Ministry of Education for the New Zealand market. Discover was acquired by Xplor Technologies in 2021. To learn more visit: https://www.discoverchildcare.co.nz/

About Xplor Childcare & Education

Xplor Childcare & Education serves 10,000+ childcare services across Australia and New Zealand through its Xplor, QikKids and Discover brands. To learn more visit https://www.ourxplor.com/

About Xplor Technologies

Xplor Technologies is a global platform combining SaaS solutions with embedded payments and Commerce Accelerating Technologies. Xplor provides enterprise-grade SaaS solutions for SMBs in “everyday life” verticals: Childcare & Education, Fitness & Wellbeing, Field Services and Personal Services – and a global, cloud-based payment processing platform.

With operations across North America, Australasia, Europe, and the United Kingdom, Xplor serves over 78,000 businesses that processed over $31 billion in payments, operating across 140 countries in 2021.

To learn more visit: https://www.xplortechnologies.com/