Mom and Dad not home? Get your homework help 24/7 with Tutor.com. As the leading provider of one-to-one learning and information services, Tutor.com’s innovative technology and suite of services allow students of all ages to connect online for real-time help from professional subject experts and librarians. Its flagship service, Live Homework Help, is offered at more than 1,200 locations in 40 states and internationally. Students get one-to-one help when they need it and where they need it — help that prevents today’s homework problems from becoming larger challenges in the future.
A Business-to-Consumer Opportunity
Tutor.com needed to provide a solution that would offer greater productivity than the face-to-face tutoring provided, along with extreme quality control, including rigorous teacher certifications, background checks, and high levels of scalability. The company also wanted to significantly expand its target market of libraries and educational organizations by selling services directly to students and families — an expansion that required capacity far beyond what their initial classroom technology was able to support.
To that end, Tutor.com started their Microsoft partnership as a Registered Partner making use of the Empower Program. Using the Microsoft® .NET Framework gave Tutor.com increased software development speed with fewer defects throughout the development process.
The new Microsoft-enabled solution allows Tutor.com to pursue a business-to-consumer opportunity, which is believed to be a $100 million–plus revenue opportunity. Tutor.com also witnessed a 150 percent improvement in development time by leveraging the .NET Framework over the technologies previously used. Faster time to market enables Tutor.com to pilot new products, new markets, and new licensing and reseller opportunities.
Online Homework Sessions
One Tutor.com customer is the Harrison Regional Library System, based in Alabama, which has a long history of employing innovative strategies to serve their community via its 11-library system. Harrison has been offering Live Homework Help since 2003. What started out as a small program in Shelby, Alabama, has now grown into a statewide initiative called Homework Alabama, launched in July 2005 and supported by the state librarian and governor. In just one semester, the state delivered more than 50,000 homework sessions online.
“Live Homework Help bridges the gap between the public libraries and public schools. It has really leveled the playing field and allowed all students, and especially children who come from disadvantaged homes, to get the academic assistance they need to achieve great things in school and in life,” says Barbara Roberts, director of the Harrison Regional Library System.
Microsoft Partnership
The most valuable aspect of the Microsoft partnership was access to the Microsoft Premier Scalability Lab. Tutor.com needed to support approximately three times the number of concurrent online homework help sessions per night. Tutor.com used the Microsoft Premier Scalability Lab to test scalability and was given access to expert Microsoft consultants who provided guidance on performance issues. “By the end of the lab session, we realized our goal of conducting three times the number of concurrent online homework help sessions, and we expect to scale well beyond that. In fact, we experienced a 300 percent improvement in scalability,” remarked George Cigale, CEO, Tutor.com.
According to Sang W. Ahn, principal of Dawntreader Ventures, an investor and board member of Tutor.com, “While the Microsoft partnership did not impact our initial investment decision, it did impact our decision to provide follow-on financing recently. The number of customers and simultaneous Internet transactions increased to the point of pushing the limits of our technology. Scalability became a growing concern within the company and at the board level.”
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