Zing to lead Royal Irish Academy of Music on a journey of digital transformation

Zing Technology, leader in digital transformation design, implementation and support, today announced a deal with the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) to digitally transform the Local Centre exam booking application process. This initial phase is valued at €116,000.

Zing will undertake the modernisation of RIAM’s Local Centre exam booking application process, which handles over 40,000 students annually, and its migration to the Microsoft Azure cloud. Local Centre exams can currently be booked online but the technology is old and not well integrated with other systems. This means that whilst the online booking looks like it is fully automated from an applicant’s perspective, there is a lot of manual activity required behind the scenes to complete the booking.

There are a number of legacy, on-premise systems connected to the current Local Centre exam system and Zing will insure that this integration is maintained both during and after the upgrade. This first phase also includes the support of these existing legacy applications until they too are transitioned to the Azure cloud.

“The RIAM is an institution that has been at the forefront of music education since our foundation in 1848,” said Deborah Kelleher, Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. “As a leader and innovator in music education, it is fitting that we would ally with a forward- looking company like Zing to assist us in serving future generations of young musicians.”

“Zing Technology will be guiding us along what will undoubtedly be a period of challenge and change when it comes to implementation of technology,” added Theresa Doyle, Head of IT, RIAM. “We believe the flexibility that we will need for the future lies firmly in the cloud and working with a local partner like Zing helps us achieve the digital transformation we need and our customers demand.”

Once the Local Centre exam booking application suite is migrated, Zing will focus on using the Academy’s new cloud platform to deliver additional capabilities. This includes the modernisation of its 3rd-level student registration and management systems and the delivery of teacher and examiner applications.

“We are very proud to be partnering with such a prestigious conservatoire as the RIAM,” commented Naoise Ó Muirí, CEO, Zing Technology. “Our practical experience of implementing Microsoft Azure Platform-as-as-Service combined with their well-recognised domain expertise will deliver easy to use online booking facilities for teachers and students.”