Building Together: Our 2025 Reflection & 2026 Vision
An open letter to our customers and partners from Cathy Huang, Avela Product Lead.
The end of the year is our chance to look back at what we've shipped and get intentional about what comes next.
First, I want to say thank you. We're deeply grateful for the feedback, partnership, and support you've given us throughout 2025. More than that, we're humbled by the hard work you do every single day - helping families navigate enrollment and find the right educational opportunities for their students. That work matters, and we're honored to support you in it.
As we move into 2026, we're energized by what's ahead. AI continues to evolve rapidly, and we're approaching it thoughtfully, carefully evaluating where it can genuinely help you and where it doesn't make sense. We're also committed to supporting more of your workflows and reducing friction for both families and staff, making your jobs easier and clearer at every turn.
Personally, I feel incredibly lucky to work on this mission alongside an amazing team and partners like you.
Here's what you taught us
Visibility into what matters most. You showed us that having the right view of your work matters. Whether that's applications that need attention, waitlist priorities, or family communication history, easy access to that view changes everything. It's not just about having the data; it's about seeing exactly what you need, when you need it, in a way that makes sense for how you work.
Flexibility without complexity. You needed more control over forms, tagging rules, and workflows, but you didn't want that control to come with a steep learning curve. The balance you taught us: powerful enough to handle your unique processes, simple enough that you can configure it yourself without waiting on us.
Time is your scarcest resource. This came through in nearly every conversation. Whether it's finding information, taking action on applications, or responding to parents - every second counts.
Where we made progress in 2025
In 2025, our biggest mission was to tackle inefficiencies in our systems and make it simple to complete tasks and save time for your staff. Here's what we shipped that made a real difference:
So much more flexibility in your forms—and the ability to do it yourself. We invested heavily in giving you control over your forms. You can now edit and archive questions, set up flexible visibility logic, and curate exactly the experience families need.
Saved Views. This one was pivotal. It lets each administrator create the views that support their daily workflows—and in many cases, share them with teammates to help everyone work more efficiently. It's a small feature that's had an outsized impact on how you organize and prioritize your work.
Rules for Tagging. Tagging plays a huge role in so many of your workflows, especially when it comes to prioritizing waitlist students. Putting this power in your hands—so you can configure tagging rules exactly as you need them—gave you the flexibility to match your unique processes.
Data Interoperability. We continued investing in how you get data in and out of Avela. We added more endpoints to our API, improved export capabilities (including direct exports to Google Sheets with extra customization options), and introduced new integration capabilities with systems like HubSpot. Your data should work for you, wherever you need it.
Where we're going in 2026
2026 is just beginning, and we're excited to continue this work with you—helping families find the right fit and helping administrators manage enrollment with confidence.
We’re continuing to make enrollment accessible to families. We're extending translations to our messaging capabilities so you can communicate with families in the languages they speak and developing ways to surface the right form for the action families want to complete - whether that’s applying or reenrolling.
We’re making it easier for you to track where families are at with overviews of your capacities, giving you more control and clarity.
We're doubling down on providing the best experience for families and administrators across all enrollment workflows. No matter which workflow you're managing, our goal is simple: make it easy to get every child into the right seat as quickly as possible.
Finally, we're also dedicating significant time to automation and AI specifically in the places where you're spending manual effort today. We're improving our rules engine and working to reduce manual tasks so enrollment becomes more seamless. The vision - your staff stays at the center of decision-making, but the manual work disappears.
How We Build Better, Together
Your partnership means everything to us as we head into 2026. Throughout last year, we heard so many examples of places where we can help you save time and provide better experiences for families. We're inviting you to keep that conversation going.
We’re listening! Please reach out with ideas, challenges, or feedback.
Stay in the loop through our webinars where we share what's coming and answer your questions.
Join our mailing list for regular enrollment insights.
Volunteer for Avela Labs features. Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing opportunities to beta features with us. You get early access, and we get feedback. Chat with your client services representatives about these opportunities.
Bring your ideas to us - your insights directly shape what we build. Continue to share with your client services representative or share directly here.
2026 is a big year in a changing education landscape. We're staying committed to helping all families find the best education for their kids and helping education institutions highlight what makes them special.
We can do this together. Let's make it happen.
To request a personal demo of Avela’s suite of enrollment tools, click here.
