A Case Study: CDW Education Services Amplify the Google for Education Experience
Our specialists have enabled academic organizations like Education First to get the most out of Google Workspace for Education.
Once a school adopts Google Workspace for Education, they are only at the beginning of their journey to improving communication, collaboration, and productivity. Our specialists have enabled academic organizations like Education First get the most out of Google Workspace for Education through leveraging the benefits of CDW Education’s Support Stacks.
Overview
Client: EF Academy - Education First
Solution: Support Stacks (Google Tune-Up & 2-Step Verification)
About EF Academy: EF Academy is a network of private international high schools in the US and UK, and is part of Education First, which itself is a large academic organization of schools, exchange programs, and travel tours that have served over 200,000 students.
Client
Education First (EF) is an international company based in Switzerland that focuses on experiential learning as a way to extend a student’s reach beyond the classroom and around the world. It has been a customer of CDW Education for years and has outfitted their campuses with our offered devices, AV equipment and Amplified Services for their Google Workspace for Education environment.
Business Driver
EF Academy is in the process of launching a new high school campus in Pasadena, California, and its main focus is to ensure the buildings and stakeholders are equipped with the technology they need to be successful. They wanted Google Workspace for Education features for teaching and learning to expand cross-campus adoption, and stronger security measures against cyber-attacks through 2-Step Verification but required expert guidance to do so.
“Once you know what you’re missing, it’s your responsibility to put in the work that will make things better for your organization,” said John Squiler, Director of Educational Technology. “Schools definitely need to explore what CDW Education offers.”
Working with CDW
After an upgrade to Google Workspace for Education Plus, CDW Education provided EF Academy with technical support to maximize the capabilities of its digital infrastructure to be utilized as a VLE. Our Google IT Specialists offered staff a way to keep up with Google for Education updates, reconfigure the Google Admin console, and execute password authentication.
Solution
As a large client for devices, EF sought additional technical support through our Support Stacks. The organization selected the Google Tune-Up Stack because there were components of the Google Workspace for Education upgrade that IT staff were not familiar with and did not know how to utilize. Google IT Specialists caught them up on Google for Education changes and updates and configured their Google Admin console to EDU best practices.
Additionally, EF Academy selected the 2-Step Verification Stacks. IT staff had previously tried to implement tools that validate logins but were not successful, so our Google IT Specialists guided them through activating it and even developing an account recovery process.
What it Means for EF Academy
“We’re decreasing cognitive load by increasing automaticity,” John Squier said. “I want technology to work as expected and fully integrate into the workflows, so our teachers don’t have to think about it.”
The seamless delivery of the Support Stacks services enabled EF Academy to prepare for the opening of the campus more effectively in September 2022 with transformative technology that will make communication, collaboration, and productivity easier for administrators, teachers, and students.
The Future for EF Academy
EF Academy hopes to continue leaning on the expertise of CDW Education to enhance how they use technology in their schools.