Blog
Expert persepectives driving innovation and success in education technology.
Driving the Success of AI Solutions in Education
Chuck Hulan, Vice President & General Manager - Education Segment • Climb CS US
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06-10-2025
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Key Takeaways:
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1) Artificial intelligence (AI) is a significant and growing trend in education, with institutions making real investments. This signals a major business opportunity in Edtech.
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2) Early AI investments are happening now, with vendors using varied go-to-market approaches. Some are leading with a reseller-first approach, and others are prioritizing direct-to-end-user sales, mirroring go-to-market patterns seen with previous waves of emerging technology.
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3) Far from being a passing trend, AI is poised to drive a lasting transformation in education. While it's still in the early stages, specific high value use cases are emerging. As adoption expands, its broader impact will become increasingly clear.
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4) Success in the education market requires embracing the education ecosystem. Leading Edtech vendors will align with the buying cycle, define target cohorts, create strong tailored messaging and use cases, and collaborate with channel partners to drive business growth.
Artificial Intelligent in Education
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzz in many industries, but there are still questions regarding its application to the education sector. While the role of AI in education continues to evolve, institutions have already identified practical areas of utility. For instance, the 2024 Educator Confidence Report found that 77% of educators see generative AI as inevitable, with its use in education increasing fivefold from last year. Additionally, EdTech Digest highlights the importance of preparing students for workforce readiness by aligning their skills with the growing demands of AI in the workplace.
As of June 2024, the Gartner Hype Cycle claims “GenAI has passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations”. What does this mean for education? This means the real-world applications are becoming clearer and inflated ideas of its capabilities are turning towards practical, programmatic use cases. The utility to students and teachers along with the maturation of AI indicates a future standard of implementation in education. Just as the internet became foundational to teaching and learning, AI represents the next major technological evolution in education. ​
The 2025 State of AI in Education report by Carnegie Learning reinforces this evolution, showing a significant increase in educator and administrator adoption.
43% of educators and 58% of administrators now use AI often or always—nearly double the usage rates from 2024.
Engagement has emerged as the most important benefit of AI for students, while time savings tops the list for educators, with 70% citing reduced administrative tasks as the primary advantage. The most common use cases highlight this dual value: teachers rely on AI for creating materials, brainstorming, and written communication, while administrators use it for drafting communications and oral messaging. As adoption increases, so does policy: 40% of districts now have official AI guidelines, up from just 20% a year prior.
Real AI Purchases, Real Business Opportunities
Beyond expectations and projections, there are real initiatives and purchases to support the forecasts. For instance, 25 states have official guidance on AI use in K-12 schools, which indicates official recognition and planning for further strategic implementation of AI. In higher education, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona is launching an AI innovation center and University of Connecticut is likely to receive a portion of a $100 million allocation in state funds for an AI innovation institute. These examples offer a glimpse into the strategic and financial AI implementation across the education sector.
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Pinpointing education spend on AI is complicated by the fact that the biggest tech companies are embedding AI into their existing widely used products, including those used in education. Most of the trackable investments in artificial intelligence by educational institutions have been driven by specialized AI companies. Consequently, the purchases of AI solutions are in smaller pockets and frequently happen directly through the vendors rather than through the channel. Despite this, GovSpend data in 2024-2025, shows that leading AI education companies like Grammarly, SchoolAI, and Magic School secured multiple six-figure deals, with total sales reaching several million dollars. As the market continues to evolve, and AI grows as a business opportunity, vendors are likely to turn to the channel and top resellers for sales initiatives.
There is real investment in AI. For instance, a 2025 AWS report that found that:
45% of IT decision-makers are prioritizing generative AI over traditional security tools in their budgets.​
We have seen the direct application of AI solutions in several of our leading vendors. For example, Adobe has broadly introduced AI components for both higher ed and K-12, including image generation, image editing, rewriting, text to image, auto enhancements, and more. Lumio by SMART Technologies has an AI Assist feature that helps K-12 instructors create questions tailored to specific subjects, grade levels, and state standards. We also see artificial intelligence applied to K-12 and higher ed operations, as the cybersecurity vendor, Sophos, has an AI assistant that offers real time insights, contextualizes threat data, and offers natural language-driven recommendations.
5 Keys to Driving Success of AI in Education
1) Know The Education Buying Cycle: Recognize the education industry has very specific seasonality with 60% of K-12 & higher education technology purchasing occurring between June and September annually. This means budget quotes are typically requested in spring, implementations happen in the fall and add on purchases in winter. This makes the first half of the year essential for driving awareness.
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2) Personalize Education Messaging: Education customers demand content specifically speaking to their uses. Vendors aiming to deliver commercial-facing assets are asking for trouble. To be successful you must speak directly to the nuances of the school or university experience.
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3) Respect Value of the Channel: Although AI companies may be experiencing some sales going direct to end users, early engagement with the channel will provide a significant competitive advantage.
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4) Leverage Reseller Relationships: Apart from early channel integration and proper communication, the depth of reseller knowledge dictates their ability to motivate purchases. Resellers are already having conversations around end user needs and issues. Effective content and resources allow them to introduce new solutions seamlessly to their clients. With proper knowledge of the new AI solutions, they can weave the new technology into their conversations and fuel sales.
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5) Provide Channel Tools: Connecting with proper channel partners facilitates the accurate identification of target customers and direct access to that customer base. To fully leverage the channel partnerships, vendors must effectively describe why education customers need their product, who specifically makes the buying decision, how it is used, and how to sell it alongside other technologies resellers are talking to their connections about.
Turning Strategy into Sales​​
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As a specialized Edtech distributor, our team specifically brings expertise in this area, as we have significant experience with successfully streamlining sales of new educational technologies at scale. For resellers, we continue to aid in awareness of new leading solutions and connecting them with the proper vendors to form strategic partnerships and drive sales. We bring unmatched attention to reseller needs by providing them with leads, deal support, margin enhancing programs, upselling opportunities, and cross-selling promotions matched to the education buying cycle. For vendors, we offer access to a wide network of resellers to implement their solutions at scale. This means increased reach, larger sales teams, and access to markets in the United States and Canada. Please get in touch if you’d like to talk about real world applications or our experience – I welcome the opportunity to discuss the potential of artificial intelligence in education with you.
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