“Overall Furlong are hard to beat. Genuinely friendly people with a great price for an amazing piece of software and brilliant support. I haven’t had a better dealing with a software company”
- Hampstead Hill School
“Join our family”
It’s a phrase we often use when introducing Furlong and our products such as SchoolBase, Maestro and FeeMaster. The challenge with a phrase like that is it can be hard to live up to the expectations it sets. Equally some organisations find that when they repeat the same words for long enough there’s a chance they become just that - words; expressions and straplines that are only being featured in marketing materials because they’ve been used so many times it becomes second nature.
That’s not the case with Furlong. We say, “Join our family” because that is truly the ethos and commitment that every member of our organisation shares. Whether it’s the professional services team offering unrivalled customer support or the sales team excitedly getting to know everything about a school so that we can build a bespoke offering just for them, we support and look after each other like a family.
And we’ve done so right from the start…
Our family history
“The flexibility and openness of SchoolBase is fantastic, it has features that other MIS’ just do not.”
- Kilgraston School
Furlong was developed by a teacher for a teacher with teachers in mind. In 1989, our founder Howard Langley designed a DOS based database to solve the problem of data collection at the school where his wife was a Deputy Head. The supportive family values we talk about now were there from the beginning! Howard didn’t know it at the time but this labour of love would form the basis of SchoolBase, our flagship product and MIS that was launched and released to the wider market in 2004.
Over the next few years, SchoolBase’s presence in the UK Independent school market grew and in 2008 we acquired our first International School. As we worked with more and more schools, the software developed and evolved. Like any family, we need to learn from each other and the feedback from our schools has been a vital part in shaping SchoolBase into a system with the broadest core functionality of any MIS on the market.
Increasing the functionality and support we can offer continues to be at the heart of the Furlong story, as seen in the acquisition of FeeMaster in 2008 and launch of Maestro in 2019. In 2017 our family had its biggest growth yet when Furlong was acquired by Canadian Software group Volaris, connecting us with over 400 software companies globally and allowing for best practice sharing and development.
We now have over 250 schools using the system across the UK and internationally. Whilst the versatility of our products means that every school works with Furlong in a unique way, they all have one thing in common…
At the heart of our family
“I have yet to be disappointed by the service. Your team is easily the most customer – facing, friendly and supportive I have had the pleasure of contacting”
- Prior Park School
It doesn’t matter how big a school is or where it is based. It doesn’t matter if you are teaching or non-teaching staff. All our schools and the individuals within them have access to features that will change the way they work plus everyone receives unparalleled service and support.
Our Products are built by teachers, so we understand the need for flexibility with your data. Headteachers and teachers have instant and customisable access to the data they specifically want to see. Whether that’s functions such as the calendar and timetable, specific pupil records or assessment and tracking functions for reviewing specific student progress.
Non-teaching staff such as bursars and registrars will appreciate the fee-billing information, online payment portals and prospective pupil portals that give them the opportunity to monitor the progress of each prospective student.
Schools with lower pupil numbers benefit in particular from the way the system integrates so easily with their existing software. For example, we are an approved Sage reseller and support partner and able to offer support on Sage 50, Sage 200 and Sage for Education (S4E).
Joining our family
“I just wanted to thank you for taking your time and helping us. People like yourself are a credit to Furlong. I highly appreciate the service I have received from you and many of your colleagues.”
– St Margaret’s School, Bushey
The first step to becoming part of our family is simple. It’s just a chat. We’d love the opportunity to find out more about your school and the challenges you might be facing. We are confident that we have a solution that could make your life easier and give you the support that can only come from family.
Click here to arrange a time to talk.
You can also find out more about us by visiting our knowledge hub or following us on LinkedIn.
