April 2026

After more than 1,000 conversations at Ellucian Live 2026 with institutions, partners, vendors, and higher education technology teams, two modernization themes stood out more than anything else: customizations and integrations.

That was the strongest signal we heard. As institutions plan their move to Ellucian Student, they want to understand what will happen to the logic they have built over the years and how to redesign the systems connected around Banner and Colleague. These two areas are where modernization risk, budget uncertainty, and delivery planning become most visible.

Those were not the only questions we heard. Many other modernization topics came up as well, and we captured the bigger picture in a new blog post. It covers the seven concerns institutions raised most often at Ellucian Live 2026 and shares practical ABCloudz answers based on our modernization experience across the Ellucian ecosystem.

Top 7 Ellucian Student modernization concerns we heard after 1,000 talks

Customizations were the top concern

Many institutions have years of custom logic around Banner or Colleague. Some of it still supports critical work. Some of it needs to be redesigned. Some can be replaced. Some should be retired.

The hard part is knowing which is which before the modernization plan is approved.

This is where ABCloudz brings practical modernization experience, not just advice. Our team has repeatedly helped institutions analyze legacy logic, preserve the business outcome, and rebuild the technical path for Ellucian SaaS.

The best way to understand how this applies to your own environment is to talk through your specific case with our team. As a starting point, here are several examples from our portfolio that show how we approach customization modernization in practice:

These are only a few examples from our full portfolio in this area.

Integrations came next

Banner and Colleague rarely stand alone. They are connected to third-party systems, file exchanges, jobs, scripts, reports, and processes that have grown over time. That complexity affects timeline, budget, support, and the confidence of the overall move to Ellucian Student.

When institutions move toward Ellucian Student, those connections need to be redesigned for SaaS. In many cases, that means moving from legacy access patterns to supported approaches with Ellucian Data Connect and Ethos APIs.

ABCloudz has delivered many Banner and Colleague integration modernization projects across the Ellucian ecosystem. That experience helps us look at each integration through the right lens: what business outcome it supports, what should change in SaaS, and how to rebuild the flow in a cleaner, governed, supportable way. Below are some of our most-read integration modernization case studies:

This is far from the full list of Banner and Colleague integration projects we have delivered and documented.

A faster way to modernize integrations

One reason integration modernization is so difficult is that teams often have to rediscover the same information from scratch.

Integration Knowledge Hub was created to address that problem. It grew out of our experience across hundreds of real integration modernization projects in the Ellucian ecosystem. The solution uses AI-powered discovery to organize knowledge across sources and make it reusable across projects, teams, and institutions. It helps teams start with more context, reduce repeated research, and understand integration scope earlier.

Let’s discuss your Ellucian SaaS path

If your team is working through questions about customizations, integrations, discovery, or the broader move to Ellucian Student, ABCloudz would be glad to help you think through the next step.

We can help you look at where your environment is today, what modernization may touch, and what kind of discovery or roadmap would make the path clearer.

Let’s just talk it through. Send us a note and we’ll find a time that works.

Send us a note