GABRIEL MARCEL DEUTOU, PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AT ICD BUSINESS SCHOOL

INTRODUCE YOURSELF!

My name is Gabriel Deutou and I teach at ICD Business School. I am the founder of Deutou Teaching Network (DTN Education), which provides on-demand education services to higher education institutions. I have 15 years of education expertise from K-12 and a passion for cross-functional operations applied to education in a changing world.

I spent 12 years building my track record and mastering the higher education service for its on-demand (faculty) staffing needs. I also hold a PhD in International Relations, an MPA in development international and a double MBA in finance and marketing.

WHAT IS YOUR RESEARCH SUBJECT? WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE SUBJECT ACCORDING TO YOU?

My research topic is "The automation of on-demand staffing in higher education."
Definition: Operational design of a system as a solution (SaaS) of on-demand teaching hours in private higher education.

WHY THIS TOPIC? WHAT IS THE TRIGGER?

I am currently working on converting my company into a one-stop commercial SaaS solution for on-demand staffing in education that will create an institute-specific staffing ecosystem. The goal is to automate service delivery operations, including booking, teacher attendance, grade submissions, payments, and collecting student feedback.

I have noticed, earlier as a teacher and later as an entrepreneur, that there is a lack of cross-operational efficiency between the assistant faculty and the campus director, in other words , teachers struggle to gain exposure and increase their portfolio of client institutes, while schools face day-to-day challenges such as last-minute class cancellations, shortage of contractors available for a specific subject and ad hoc planning of their academic program portfolio. So I decided to create DTN, similar to a sports agent agency that will manage a teacher's career while maximizing their visibility and revenue stream for service fees collected directly from schools per teaching hour purchased.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES ? THE REALITY IN 2022?

Thanks to digitalization and similar case studies such as UBER for the private transport sector, the higher education industry also faces operational challenges such as managing their existing contractors or contracts to short term, including teachers, academic staff, juries or supervisors. The main problem remains to find the best available and qualified human resource for a given academic task without access to an appropriate and efficient corporate information system, which can operate in real time.

Following the Covid-19 crisis and the launch of several new campuses in the provinces, the search, recruitment and planning of the participation of on-demand professors has become a key process towards the operational efficiency of the company. Similar to a system project in the sports industry, suppliers and buyers need access to better information, leading to greater operational flexibility that requires big data. Since the quality of a teacher's skills and knowledge will impact student perception and later on the brand image or reputation of the school, this is a challenge that no higher education institution can afford to avoid.

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ARE THE WAYS FOR IMPROVEMENT? WHAT ARE WE PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE?

A web-based SaaS solution for higher education institutions will be able to improve on-demand faculty management with a separate, recurring, high-volume administrative process with credentialing needs; while enabling the process with speed, efficiency or completeness.