Views & Opinion
How MATs can extract the best value from their tech spending
Comment by SARAH HAYTHORNTHWAITE, Growth Director, RM Technology
Introducing technology into classrooms has always been a challenge for Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). Schools often operate using disparate solutions, which can be difficult to manage and in recent years, many are operating with funding deficits (av. £44,000 in 2023). This often pushes technology spending to the bottom of their agendas. “It’s like managing enterprise-grade IT on a small business budget,” one trust IT manager recently told us.
Yet, MATs can no longer put off digital transformation. New guidance published by the Department for Education (DfE) has set radical new standards for British schools to work towards, including the appointment of executive leaders to direct their technology strategies. It is not compulsory to meet the new standards. But the message is clear: MATs must now, as best as they can, ensure that they offer their students the best technological experiences.
Collaborating with channel partners is crucial to this process, especially for those who cannot afford specialist consultants or experienced CTOs. MATs retain complete control over the partners they choose to work with, and can also benefit from the ability to negotiate as groups. Despite this, many often find themselves stuck with solutions that are either inadequate or too expensive. To address this problem, they must change the way they think about procurement.
Transition to long-term relationships that dig beneath surface- level requirements
MATs have, until now, predominantly approached channel partnerships as short-term, point-sale transactions. They seek to negotiate a good initial deal, which is then closed until they require upgrades or new sets of equipment. While this allows them to solve specific problems at specific moments in time, it lacks any sense of a longer-term partnership that helps them to develop gradually over time. For this reason, digital transformation can often seem daunting.
MATs must seek to build relationships that involve longer-term investment from both sides. Digital transformation is a journey, a continuously evolving process, and MATs need to work with channel partners that can act as guides. This is part of the reason why the DfE’s recent guidance suggested the appointment of leaders to direct their digital strategies. These leaders are supposed to manage how MATs transform over the long term, instead of focussing on individual purchases.
MATs must also seek to develop relationships with channel partners that delve deeper beneath the surface of their requirements. At the moment, they typically approach partners with lists of specific problems, which the partners then seek to solve with targeted technology. But do the partners ask deeper questions about the schools’ longer-term aims: how can we ensure that our educational experiences engage students in one, five, and 10 years from now? What will our operations look like in five years? And how can we prepare for that? I suggest that a good partner will be assisting with answering those questions too, but it relies on quality of that partner relationship rather that the most commonplace transactional supplier relationship.
Both MATs and their partners need to be asking these questions. 20
www.education-today.co.uk May 2024
Fortunately, many school leaders are already considering this requirement for deeper relationships with partners. In an article for The Headteacher in 2022, one wrote that schools were motivated to develop their technology beyond basic solutions, to encompass advanced technology and progressive means of education. “It may well be time we ventured into the digital unknown,” she wrote. MATs must find suitable partners to fulfil these ambitions with.
Find suitable channel partners to guide their transformation Finding suitable, trustworthy channel partners can be a difficult process for MATs, but British Education Suppliers Association (
BESA.org.uk) offers a good place to start. MAT technology leaders can search through this register for products and services. Alternatively MAT membership bodies like the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) offer advice and have selected partners, like RM Technology, who are committed to working in partnership with MAT leaders.
For higher-value contracts, MAT leaders can use existing, approved procurement framework agreements. Suppliers available through these agreements have already gone through the tender process and been selected for price, quality, and service. Using these frameworks can save schools time and effort in finding suitable suppliers, either by choosing from a list, or running their own pitching process.
Another more personal, although perhaps alternative approach is to find partners by visiting conferences and attending events. In this way, MAT leaders can meet potential suppliers the ‘old school’ way: face- to-face. This can also offer the chance to understand how the supplier approaches its relationships with partner trusts and schools. There will often be multiple suppliers in attendance at industry events, and so this also offers the opportunity to meet several within a short period of time, reducing the tedium of the search.
Use government support and standards for guidance The procurement process is nevertheless time-consuming and daunting for MATs to go through. It’s also no secret that they’re under increasing financial pressure. Over 45% of trusts now have in-year revenue deficits, up from 26% in 2022 and 19% in 2021. The most common challenges they face are teaching costs, energy prices, and depleted financial reserves, which offer little wiggle room to change. This means that there’s less money going around to spend on technology, despite its clear importance to modern education. The government must, therefore, find ways to help MATs through this process.
The DfE’s publication of new technology guidelines was a good place to start. This has, at the least, offered MATs a basic set of standards to aim for. Funding programmes and grants have also made a significant difference. Initiatives like ‘Connect the Classroom’, which has funded wireless infrastructure upgrades at over 600 schools across the UK, have been excellent in improving connectivity across schools and offering them strong foundations from which to build. More schemes like these would help MATs meet government guidelines for technology. MATs are under increasing pressure to offer their students better educational experiences with technology, which is putting them in a difficult position. To navigate their way out of it, they must recognise the need for a new approach to technology procurement that focuses on long-term relationships with trusted partners. Combined with adequate government support, this will allow them to get the most out of their tech spending and enable their students to thrive at school.
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