The education market is an opportunity to expand your Microsoft 365 sales into a new vertical, adding new products to your practice. You can help students change the world while making educators’ jobs easier and faster. In the process, you’ll build long-term customer relationships.
How does building an education practice with Microsoft 365 Education and SYNNEX support a better future? Microsoft designed these tools to promote diversity and inclusion by helping all students realize their potential, and also partnered with schools to learn how to better support educators’ goals. The result is an extensive suite of assistive technology built into Microsoft 365 Education.
These are just a few of the benefits of expanding your practice to sell Microsoft 365 Education with SYNNEX—and they’re backed by a Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) report for Microsoft Accessibility and Assistive Technologies for Education.
Tools that encourage better learning outcomes for all
Microsoft 365 Education is designed with students in mind, with personalization and accessibility features to help make STEM learning easier. Accessibility features support hearing and cognition with tools like Immersive Reader, a read-aloud tool that works in apps like Minecraft: Education Edition, plus options to help with reading comprehension. Specialized tools like Enhanced Dictation make writing and in-class note-taking easier and more efficient.
Because these technologies are available standard to all students, there is no stigma of using a special tool—instead, everyone benefits. The outcome, according to the Forrester report:
“We have found that if we give these tools only to students who needed them, we had a 20% improvement in reading and writing. When we gave it to the whole class, we saw a 30% to 40% improvement. More people using them creates a strong support network. A student can turn to their neighbor and ask for help.” — Assistive Technology Specialist, Public K–12
Technologies that support educators
Success isn’t limited to the students. The Forrester report also reveals that with Microsoft 365 Education, schools reduce total cost of ownership by $50 per student per year. One interviewee in the study added, “We were able to get rid of one solution that was costing $500 per student.”
When teachers have tools to better engage students and collaborate with colleagues, they have more time for teaching and professional development. Savings is still part of the equation: for its TEI study, Forrester examined a composite organization, based on 60,000 students, of whom 9,000 are special education students. Within this organization, 750 special education teachers save a total of 72,750 hours per year in training, assigning work to students, and assisting students. The total savings over three years is $5.4 million.
A partner you can trust
Just as you can count on Microsoft 365 Education to provide tools that will drive better learning outcomes, you can also count on SYNNEX. We’re here to help you build a profitable education practice that will grow at the pace you want.
Whether you need product recommendations, sales team trainings, or advice on current and future solutions, our team of technology experts and former educators is here to help. Count on our expertise to help you identify real solutions and assist in accurately assessing educational needs. We can also assist with solution development, device selection, connection with OEMs, bid proposals, and more.
To learn more about the education opportunity, read the full Forrester TEI report: Microsoft Accessibility And Assistive Technologies For Education: A Total Economic Impact Analysis.
