The Funding Journey for Education Digital Transformation

Education digital transformation is important. Investing in new tech isn’t just a trend affecting enterprises and for-profit organisations. Educational institutions, from primary and secondary schools, to colleges and universities are relying heavily on access to new technology too.

They need the latest tech to help them connect with a growing number of distributed students in the online world, deliver more personalized lesson plans, and even improve productivity and efficiency among faculty. 77% of educators even believe that technology is crucial to student engagement.

In another report, 87% of educational facility leaders said that improving student satisfaction was the number one reason they needed to invest in a digital transformation project.

Unfortunately, while digital transformation can pose challenges for any institution, the roadblocks are often even greater for educational groups. One of the biggest issues these organisations face, is in finding the funding they need to invest in new technology and initiatives.

In fact, 96% of education providers struggle to find solutions that match their budgetary requirements when investing in new technology.

So, how do leaders effectively navigate the funding journey for education digital transformation, when budgets are tighter than ever? We’re sharing our tips, as a company that has helped numerous schools find the funding they need.

Planning for a Digital Transformation Budget

The first step in acquiring the right funding for digital transformation, is determining exactly what your institution needs to invest in. As we’ve seen countless times working with educational groups here at Techgrants, everyone’s goals and requirements are different.

Here are some of the things you’ll need to consider:

Your School’s Digital Transformation Goals

Any digital transformation project should start with clear goals. Some schools investing in new technologies are doing it to actively reduce their operating costs. Moving processes and systems to the cloud can be less expensive than maintaining on-premises equipment and hardware.

Others want to align their teams and ensure they can deliver remote education to distributed students. For instance, Kettering Buccleuch Academy worked with us and Avaya to access a cloud office system that would help centralise their faculty’s communication strategy.

Other schools may simply want to experiment with new forms of educational innovation, from AI-powered assistants for students, to extended reality learning events. Defining your goals will help you to identify which forms of technology are most valuable to your teams.

Technology Requirements

Once you have your goals in mind, the next step is to look at the technology you have, and the solutions you’re going to need. You may already have some existing cloud systems, such as an online learning management platform, as well as some hardware like laptops and tablets.

Think carefully about your requirements in terms of:

• Networking: What kind of networking solutions will you need to enable a digital learning experience? Do you have the routers required to connect students and faculty seamlessly and wirelessly to the internet? Do you have access to cloud platforms where you can store and access crucial data for lessons and curriculums?
• Software: What sort of software will help you achieve your digital transformation goals? Are you looking at UCaaS and collaboration platforms to support internal alignment, and deliver lessons to remote students? Do you need contact center technology to help strengthen relationships with alumni, parents, and community members?
• Hardware: What additional hardware might you need to enable your digital transformation strategy, such as screens and interactive displays, laptops, computers, cameras for video conferencing, and smartphones. Do you need comprehensive meeting room kits, or XR headsets to enable virtual learning?

Additional Considerations

Estimating your funding needs isn’t just about identifying the hardware you’ll need to pay for and the price of software subscriptions, there are other costs you might incur too, for things like:

• Security and governance solutions: If you’re moving your school, or certain processes into the cloud, you’ll need the right security solutions in place to protect your data. You might even need to invest in disaster recovery and business continuity tools.
• Specialist support: If you don’t have access to IT teams in-house, will you need specialist support from vendors and system integrators? Will you have to hire professionals to configure your new systems and get everything set up and working properly?
• Training: Will your team members need any training to take full advantage of the new technology you’re offering? Can this training be offered by your vendor, or does it need to be accessed elsewhere?

Education Digital Transformation: Government Funding Options

Once you’ve identified your requirements, the most common next step will be to look at the funding options and loans you can access from the government. Schools in the UK do get access to a certain level of financial support from government programs. In fact, according to one report, in 2023, the government funding systems for schools reached a record high.

Unfortunately, there are limitations to what you can access. Each year, the government allocates a certain amount of money to state-funded mainstream schools, taking into account various factors, such as the number of pupils a school has, and it’s location.

Schools do have flexibility to decide how to use this funding, but most is used to pay staff, manage repairs, and deal with other operating costs, like energy expenses.

Specific funding for things like education digital transformation is extremely limited. Although one grant was available during the pandemic, this was eliminated in 2023. Now, there are only a handful of grants available, with certain requirements behind them.

For instance, grants of up to £3,000 are available to primary and secondary schools to help with funding STEM projects, but not every institution will be approved.

Additionally, there’s a risk that when you apply for funding from the government, the amount you can access will be limited, based on the amount of financial support already allocated to your school district. One option is to look for deals on the government’s “Deals for Schools” page, but again, there are limitations on how much of an “offer” any company can provide.

Funding Educational Digital Transformation with Techgrants

The complexity involved in actually getting the right amount of funding to support digital transformation is why the team here at Techgrants introduced our Transformation Fund. We know that organisations in all industries need to be able to access the latest technology to thrive, but finding the finances to support that transformation is complex.

Already, we’ve worked with various businesses, and schools, like Grange Primary Academy, to help them implement the technology they need with access to limitless funding.

Here’s our digital transformation funding journey works for schools.

What is the Techgrants Digital Transformation Fund?

Techgrants’s digital transformation fund is a free form of financial support we offer to all companies, organisations, and institutions who work with us on their technology purchasing process. It’s designed to reduce the barriers to innovation, and comes with no cost to our customers.

The fund comes from the commissions and bonuses we receive as a partner of numerous technology companies. As part of the UK referral channel network, we receive payments when our customers purchase products from suppliers we work with, through us. We developed a way to bundle those payments into grants we can share with our customers.

Notably, working with us doesn’t mean you won’t get the same benefits as you would if you work with a partner directly. The UK channel model is built around “price parity”, which means you get the same deals either way, and you can still negotiate with your chosen vendor about costs.

Plus, you’re not limited in what you can spend your funding on. Our clients have used it to reduce the cost of purchasing new hardware, software, and even paying for specialist support. There’s also no limit on the specific amount of funding you receive.

The exact amount of cash we can offer with each grant will be based on the contract you sign with your vendor. However, we do make sure that you’re aware of all your funding options before you go ahead and complete your purchase.

How Can Schools Apply for the Transformation Grant?

Our transformation grant is available to everyone, from new startups and enterprise companies, to schools and non-profit organizations. We don’t ask for anything in return, although we do appreciate it if you can share a case study with us that we can use to highlight the value of the grant to other educational institutions.

To apply, all you need to do is choose your preferred supplier from one of our partners, and contact the Techgrants team. Notably, if you’re already in negotiations with a supplier, you can still reach out to us, and we can apply your funding retroactively before you complete the deal.

Once you’ve chosen the technology you need (we can offer guidance throughout this process from objective experts if necessary), we’ll send you a funding application. This will include insights into how much funding you can expect to receive, and give you options on how to receive your payment.

Once you sign and return this document to us, you’ll receive your fund within 60-90 days of signing your contract, you can then use it for anything you choose, and you never have to pay it back. We can even work with you within UK GOV frameworks, provided at least one of our vendors has access to the required framework relevant to your school.

Making Education Digital Transformation Simple

Investing in new technology for your educational institution can seem like a complex, time-consuming, and expensive process. However, it’s also a necessary part of ensuring you can empower your faculty, and deliver the right experiences to your students and community.

While there is government funding available for schools, and grants out there to apply for, it can be extremely difficult to find the exact level of financial support you need. Since we believe in giving back to our community, the team at Techgrants is doing everything we can to help.

Our transformation fund, combined with our expert support and guidance, can help streamline and simplify your digital transformation project.

If you want to learn more about your digital transformation funding options with Techgrants, contact our team. Alternatively, check out some of our amazing customer success stories, to discover how other educational institutions have evolved with the help of our simple funding solution.