Microsoft

CHALLENGE

Even though the Surface range is highly suited to the education sector, Microsoft had been struggling to achieve its targets and to grow market share. There was a general lack of awareness regarding the benefits of the range and reasons for its premium pricing, and many schools were already tied to Apple, other Windows devices, or had an entrenched bring-your-own-device model. Microsoft hoped to maintain YoY growth and achieve sales earlier in the sales cycle.

STRATEGIC SOLUTION

I led an intensive deep-dive into the sector and identified three key problems: a widening gap between what’s being taught and its relevance to the world of work; the decreasing performance of Australian students in comparison to their global peers; and the general failure of schools to impart real-life skills like collaboration, resilience, problem solving and digital literacy.

With these insights, I crafted a structured program focused on teaching school leaders about the role technology can play in learning; the specific features, services and capabilities of the Surface range, and how school leaders and IT staff, teachers and students can benefit by partnering with Microsoft long-term.

When Covid-19 hit the education sector in March 2020, I had to quickly pivot the strategic program recommendations. For many schools, the pandemic highlighted their poor digital capabilities, tools, solutions and resources. So we shifted focus to highlight the importance of upholding learning excellence under any circumstance – how and why some schools made the transition better than others, the risks of not succeeding, and how Microsoft could support them.

OUTCOME

About the work Emily Weight, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft said:

“With our recent Surface campaign, Mel managed to unite and inspire some very experienced Microsoft marketing, product and industry education leaders. The campaign she devised gave us a razor-sharp view of our education customers, the problems they experience, and how we can help. She connected our team internally, enabling us to keep up with our customers as their needs changed, and helped us to get global exposure and support for our local approach here in Australia. As a result, we achieved the highest ever sales of Surface in education for the financial year. Microsoft is now considered to be a trusted partner to our education customers, rather than just a technology vendor.”

This strategy was also implemented by Microsoft UK.