Digital Transformation in education and educational business, which had been happening gradually, became the protagonist in schools when in-person classes had to be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for isolation transformed people’s routines and may have caused the rupture of the traditional education model.
The famous sentence ‘get off this computer and study!’ does not make sense anymore. Cell phones, tablets, and notebooks became great allies in the educational process, used to enable and further improve students’ learning and experience in this new scenario. Students and educators have learned to use technology in favor of education, and it is already difficult to imagine the future of educational institutions without this ally.
The 2020 crisis has created opportunities for many companies to reinvent themselves, redesigning and transforming their business models. But the companies that had already positioned themselves as agents of the innovation ecosystem in education were ahead in the process. One example is an educational company, a leader in creating educational content and services in Spain and Latin America, and the owner of admired publishing companies in Brazil.
According to Kelly Moreira, the company’s Digital Products Manager, long before the pandemic, the holding company was already investing in innovation and the connection between education, business, and technology: ‘way beyond technology, our focus is to awaken talents through education, bringing people further with more advanced and cutting-edge educational projects, which connect the new with the traditional and the future with the learnings from the past.’
In this context, with BRQ’s partnership, the company was able to strengthen itself in the market by investing in a new digital channel for educational business, aligned to the product strategy 100% unified and connected to the new brand positioning and values of the holding company. In this case, we will tell you why our client decided to invest in a new channel, how they did it and what results they have already achieved.
What was the company’s challenge?
To increase the synergy of the company’s portfolio, strengthen competitiveness, and optimize investments, to maximize results. The company’s need was to strengthen its brand as an educational business holding company, positioning the company and its brands for their respective personas (ideal customer). Until then, it worked with more than 10 of its brands independently.
What was the developed solution?
Both the client’s and BRQ’s teams developed a new digital channel for educational business, aligned with the strategy of products 100% unified and connected to the new positioning of the brand and values of the holding company. A portal with a modern, dynamic and intuitive layout to present to the group its complete portfolio of solutions, an educational diagnosis simulator, a hub of specialized content, and a relationship channel. With the evolution of the project, the portal has the potential to expand its capacity of use(scalability) and become the leading digital channel to generate opportunities for its sales team.
What was the process of creating the solution?
The solution was to adopt the Lean culture, beginning with the application of the Discovery strategy, a process of discovery that leads product owners and teams to continuously evaluate the value of their products based on the customer’s feedback.
‘We used the Discovery methodology to get to a personalized solution. At this stage of the project, we want to understand the scenario at the client company. Commonly, the client interprets certain situations as problems when it is only a ‘symptom’ originating from something deeper and more complex’ says Fábio Gobbi, Operations Manager at BRQ.
Then we immersed ourselves in the customer experience, going through Brand Awareness surveys until the mapping of the Purchase journey of the director or school owner when he thinks ‘I want to switch the educational solution’ for the first time. The data collected soon becomes valuable insights that will guide the unified product strategy on several fronts and the new digital educational business channel.
Through disciplines such as UX Research, Design Thinking, Lean Inception and Hoshin, software engineering, and data architecture, we can translate insights into an execution roadmap fully aligned with the objectives and strategic results of the product.
‘We centralized everything we considered fundamental to the schools’ decision process in searching for a new partner in the Portal. Everything was designed to meet their needs and materialized in personalized actions which lead them to be our partner’, adds Kelly Moreira.
What were the results of the project?
When analyzing the results, one of the most positive indicators was the number of users, which was 11 times higher than the previous site. Six months after the release, there were more than 1.7 M views.
Besides gains in strengthening the branding, portfolio synergy, competitiveness, and investment optimization, the portal has been used as a sales and relationship channel and as a training tool and source of information for the commercial consultant.
BRQ’s work provided a significant change of mindset in the project. For Gobbi, the significant differential was using Lean and Agile methodologies in the development. ‘We bring the best in the market to our client’s reality. When looking at the process, the biggest change and learning is how today’s team develops with more productivity, short cycles, waste reduction, and quality in delivery.’
How can your company access improvements like this?
Using Lean methodology, BRQ helped its client think about the business differently, understanding its pains and creating a solution based on the real needs of its customers.
This can also be your story! Would you like to implement the improvements we saw in this case in your company? Contact us, learn about our solutions and optimize the performance of your business!
