How a global tech transformation upgraded students’ education 

With a mission to “unlock the power of education,” a global learning organization spent 20+ years acquiring educational institutions around the world — many of which were operating as separate entities with dramatically different IT capabilities and practices.

As one of the largest private education companies on the planet, this organization needed an IT transformation that could achieve consistency across campuses and drive efficiencies throughout its many school systems. This multibillion-dollar company with universities scattered over five continents was spending 8.5% of revenue on IT systems, compared to an industry average of 6.2%. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the organization’s focus on digital transformation.

To keep up with evolving education trends, this learning institution needed a new global technology baseline that redefined its IT operating model and transitioned its operations to world-class managed services. 

This education powerhouse collaborated with the EY team and alliance partner ServiceNow to transform its technology systems and processes from a globally distributed, heterogeneous network to a unified, cloud-enabled collection of core functions.

The EY team helped standardize security and compliance functions and establish centralized call centers to replace local help-desk operations. IT inquiries that previously took days are now resolved within hours. 

The technology transformation blended capabilities from EY technology strategy, cloud, infrastructure, IT service management, architecture, risk,  and compliance teams. With a new, shared global technology delivery platform, the institution is now better equipped to help its campuses offer high-quality and easily accessible educational opportunities for all students.

“The EY team served as a strategic collaborator throughout this multiyear technology transformation,” said Mazen Baroudi, EY Americas Technology Strategy Leader. “This global learning organization trusted us to implement a flexible technology strategy that could adapt to changes in their business model and shift focus to making education more accessible.”

Bringing cross-functional, country-specific knowledge, the EY team helped a leading learning organization centralize and streamline processes and systems across 50+ disparate institutions. The EY teams’ solution ultimately reduced the organization’s IT spend, putting the company in a strong position for future opportunities. 

Standardized IT systems for security and compliance functions, coupled with new central call centers that replaced local help-desk operations, achieved an 80% reduction in time and effort previously dedicated to manual processes. Now, as a more cohesive operation, the learning organization is able to serve its students more effectively and focus on innovative ways to deliver quality education regardless of geographic location.