Meet the founders: the story behind EMS360
We didn’t start EMS360 as a software company. We started it as two educators who had done the jobs, felt the frustrations, and kept asking each other the same question: how can we make the job easier?
In the first episode of our Founder Series, our co-founders Gerald Gierer and Russell Elliott sit down to talk about where they came from, how they met, and why they built EMS360.
Two teachers first
Gerald grew up in Geelong, studied science, maths and physics, and then went into teaching. In ten years in schools he covered a lot of the roles that keep a school running, from VCE coordination to daily organiser. “So I’m really aware of those jobs that need to be done, and need to be done really well, within the school.”
Russell grew up in Melbourne, started out in accountancy, and soon moved into teaching. Over more than 35 years in education he worked through the key middle leadership roles and into the principal class, and spent nearly eight years as principal of a large secondary school.
What they both loved about teaching hasn’t changed. Russell describes the moment “the child has put it together”. Gerald still enjoys helping people “understand difficult concepts”, now with our own team.
It started with tennis
“We first met and it was around tennis,” Russell remembers. Gerald was the new, young and fit player at midweek tennis, and over time the conversations moved from the court to the school: what it’s like to lead a large school, and how technology could take some of the load.
A paper-based trail
As a principal, Russell saw the problem first-hand. Staff reviews ran on paper. Towards the end of the year he would find out that some people hadn’t taken part, other staff knew it, and that unhappiness spread through the staffroom. Building a system that made it easy for everyone to participate became, in Russell’s words, “the underpin for EMS360”.
Tools > Staff reviews
Starting with Staff PD
Our first product was called Staff PD. It began with two modules, professional development and staff reviews, and working with a school at the time soon showed the two were linked. Teachers need to keep track of their professional learning for registration. If every activity is recorded as it happens, whether it’s a school-based event or something external, with their own feedback and reflection alongside it, “you’re not wondering what you’ve done”.
Tools > Professional learning · School based training · Accreditations · Self assessments
In the cloud before it was a buzzword
Gerald had come back from five years overseas working on large global IT projects, so when Russell described what schools needed, his answer was simple: “Hey, we can build something to do this, and we can build something really good.” EMS360 was cloud-based software as a service from the start, at a time when, as Gerald puts it, “many people wouldn’t have had any idea what cloud was”. Today Gerald leads Gieman IT Solutions, the software company that builds EMS360.
Built with schools
The early days were a small, close-knit team trying lots of ideas. “We worked together. We failed together too.” The real turning point was working with schools that gave honest feedback. Moving paper-based processes online meant staff could log on in the evening or on a weekend and just catch up. “It’s just a game changer.”
That’s still how we work. Schools tell us what they need, and EMS360 grows from there.
Watch the full episode
Watch Founder Series Ep 1: Background & origins: how EMS360 began on YouTube and subscribe to @emssoftware for the next episode, What is EMS360?
See EMS360 at your school
Have a look at all of our tools, or get in touch to book a free demo. We’d love to show you how it works.