CAMPUSIT, A provider of education management systems, has raised €1.2 million in investment and is to create 14 jobs at its Dublin office.

The funding will support the development, international launch and marketing of CampusIT Interact, a new version of the company’s flagship product that uses cloud computing to make the software available over the web.

The investment comes from the Davy BES fund, which is managed by BDO, and Enterprise Ireland, as well as retained earnings from the business.

CampusIT chief executive Tony Sheridan says the company invests about 20 per cent of its turnover in RD every year.

CampusIT Interact allows universities and colleges to manage back-office administration functions more efficiently. It has been designed so that colleges can quickly set up new online services without needing to know software development. CampusIT Interact can be integrated with existing web applications like Google Maps or Google Calendar.

The platform is intended to make it easier for students to register for a place. Using only paper forms, this could previously have taken up to 12 weeks. By making the service available via the web, students can access it on their laptops or smartphones.

Many third-level institutions are under competitive pressure to attract students and simplify the administration process, which is driving increased investment in IT systems, said Mr Sheridan.

CampusIT is forecasting an increase in sales to more than €5 million by 2013, up from expected revenues of €3.5 million for 2010.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was one of its earliest customers and remains an equity shareholder in the business. That connection also led to deals for the company in Bahrain and Malaysia. NUI Galway is another long-standing customer.

Mr Sheridan says 80 per cent of the business is focused on the British market. It has an agreement with BT Global Services and the companies recently collaborated on a multi-million euro project involving administration for more than 220,000 participants.

Campus IT is also in discussions with companies about potential partnership deals in other European countries.

The CampusIT Interact service is hosted on Amazon Web Services’ cloud computing platform and it is partly built with open source software tools, which in many cases are free.

Mr Sheridan said this meant the company needed to raise less investment than if it had built its own data centre and used proprietary software.

The recruitment drive will bring staff numbers to 45 people. Most of the new jobs will be in technical roles including user interface design, system analysis and data analytics.