Why Universities and Colleges Should Opt for a B2B Model in the Digital Age

In the last decade, education has had a significant transformation to increase engagement and offer a better learning experience to students. But lifelong learning has always been crucial to colleges and universities.

With the advent of digitalization and the IT revolution, academic institutions are gradually moving from conventional B2C to modern B2B model. But in order to transition to the B2B model, educators will have to re-skill personnel to keep up with the changing dynamics of the workplace.

The Role of Technology to Adopt and Embrace B2B Model

When it comes to the betterment of higher education, it is hard to overstate the crucial role of technology. More colleges and universities no longer want to rely on the mercy of traditional protocols to take care of manual administrative tasks. But whether it’s automation or eLearning, technology will continue to play an integral role and help educational institutions adopt the B2B model. In fact, colleges and universities now can leverage a wide range of tech tools and applications to improve engagement with students.

The truth is that digital technologies have the power to personalize the learning journey and speed up the development of students. For starters, colleges and universities can use analytics to measure the progress and decide the next learning objectives. Regional universities and community colleges can embed new digital tools to provide a continuous learning experience. In fact, modern tech advancements can turn traditional-style classrooms into dynamic and smart classrooms. Not just big academic players, but regional universities and community colleges can also collaborate better through digital data insights and online tools.

What Does it Take to Move from B2C to B2B Model?

Before educational institutions pivot from the B2C model to the B2B model, they have to establish key disruptors. It is no secret that EdTech tools have managed to shake up the foundation of higher education. So, universities and colleges must build a more robust and innovative ecosystem.Ultimately, it boils down to a series of decisions about various digital technologies. Since the B2C approach has started to become out-of-date, educational institutions need to move on to the B2B realm. This adoption would serve as arguably the biggest move for universities and colleges.

It is crucial to understand that the educational ecosystem is evolving. There is more than enough time for universities and colleges to learn about the B2B model. Through this model, educational institutions can create a more participant and open ecosystem. All the trends suggest that the switch to the B2B model is inevitable for universities and colleges. The question is “how” academic institutions respond to the shift and take up the charge. The switch to the B2B model will help academic institutions function more like corporations. It would also become a differentiator factor for progressive universities and colleges across the U.S.

B2B Model: The Role of Regional Universities and Community Colleges

The fact of the matter is that the digital approach will educational institutions move forward. After all, students can’t even get jobs without this digital paradigm. But the new digital frontier may be different than most universities and colleges realize. In any case, academic institutions will have more than enough opportunities to utilize digital technologies. For instance, universities and colleges can create digital-based apprenticeship programs to pool the best talent on the campus.

It’s a combination of learning and working for students to achieve career goals and help academic institutions at the same time. Universities and colleges can also take a step further and make apprenticeship participants lifelong learners. However, academic institutions will have to combine the tech and corporate world to ensure the success of this type of initiative.

In the end, the focus of interest should be on initiatives that can empower students of regional universities and community colleges. But educational institutions have to operate under the B2B model to implement these initiatives.

B2B Model: The Need to Change the Perception

Yes, there will be more adoption of technology in the education sector in the coming years. But So long as universities and colleges are open to change, no digital disruption can hamper the momentum of modern academic institutions.

It couldn’t be more obvious that universities and colleges are thinking about shifting to the B2B model. At first, the high cost to make such a significant change may lead to internal resistance, but academic institutions will be able to garner high ROI.  With the rise of open source and cloud platforms, it is a perfect moment for educational institutions to drive more growth through B2B adoption.

B2B Model and the Role of Millennials and Gen Z

If academic institutions want to move on B2B model successfully, the center of attention will have to be millennials and Gen Z. In fact, it would be fair to state that millennials and Gen Z will play a crucial role in the future transformation of universities and colleges.Technology may have had a bold disruption, but younger generations don’t view disruptors as barriers. The best course of action for universities and colleges would be to make education more learning.  And that means learning initiatives should cater to the needs of the millennials and Gen Z.

This type of exclusive projection would also help educational institutions prepare for more digital disruption. For instance, universities and colleges have to provide modular and micro-sized content rather than an overwhelming amount of information.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to the adoption of the B2B model, universities and colleges will have to democratize their learning process. Besides, gone are the days of inclusive information. Schools and universities are now moving on to unified access to information. Of course, innovation will be the key to “how” universities and colleges move to the B2B model. Through this model, educational institutions can assign learning initiatives that would complement emerging trends.

In terms of learning, technology will be able to level the competitive field across the globe. Diverse innovation matters and academic institutions should view the B2B model as a unique opportunity to develop an advanced ecosystem of learning.

REFERENCES:

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucielapovsky/2018/02/06/the-changing-business-model-for-colleges-and-universities/?sh=311e93db5ed5

2. https://www.b2bmarketingzone.com/education/

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4. https://blog.wisoftsolutions.com/why-is-higher-education-a-lot-like-b2b-marketing

5. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-the-digital-era-is-nudging-universities-to-adopt-a-b2b-model/

6. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5000-what-is-b2b.html

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