For many families, school photographs come with a well-known routine. Find the order form in your child’s backpack, review the proofs, choose a package and count out the dollars and cents. Then seal everything in an envelope and trust that your child gets it safely back to school.

Ti Sheffield knows that process from the other side. The owner and operator of Both Eyes Open Photography in Whitehorse serves families and schools across the entire territory, including Old Crow. Last year, his business handled approximately 3,500 photo orders for students.

All 3,500 orders first went through the schools, where staff catalogued them before passing them to his business. This created a substantial administrative workload for schools and many opportunities for errors. Every handwritten form and payment envelope also meant information to enter, money to track, and questions to answer. So, Ti developed a custom platform he called Cadence, to make that work easier for everyone involved.

Families can access and order photographs online, with payment options including e transfer, debit and credit card. Parents enter their information directly, reducing handwritten forms and the need to send cash to school. Ti reports that Cadence has almost eliminated the schools’ administrative tasks associated with photo orders, saving hundreds of hours that school staff can now devote to education.

For his team, the time savings are substantial. Cadence automatically sorts uploaded images by school and student, and sends out contact sheets. Ti reports that this process now takes approximately five hours, compared with a week and a half previously. Customer enquiries and editing requests are also organized in one place, helping the team track requests and follow through.

Tech Yukon’s Digital and AI Adoption (TYDA) grant supported improvements to student ID card automation within this broader project. The program offers eligible businesses up to $2,500 toward practical digital improvements, helping local businesses invest in tools that support their work.

The transition is still underway. Some families continue to need alternatives, and early adoption challenges in remote communities highlight the importance of considering connectivity, payment preferences and comfort with technology.

For Both Eyes Open, the investment is creating more capacity to serve Yukon families. For schools, it is freeing up staff time for education. For parents and school staff, it is making a familiar task a little (or a lot) easier.