Industry: Education

About the company

School Specialty Inc. (Figure 8.5) is a leading provider of educational products, services, and solutions that cater to the needs of educators, students, and schools across the United States. With a rich history dating back to its founding in 1959, School Specialty has evolved into a comprehensive resource for K-12 educational materials, classroom supplies, furniture, curriculum solutions, and more. The company’s commitment to enhancing the learning environment and supporting educators has made it a trusted partner for schools seeking to create effective and engaging educational experiences.

Figure 8.5: School Specialty Logo (https://www.schoolspecialty.com/, copyright ©2023 School Specialty, LLC)

One of School Specialty’s strengths lies in its diverse portfolio of offerings that encompass a wide range of subjects, teaching methodologies, and learning needs. From art and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) supplies to literacy resources and special education tools, the company provides educators with the tools they need to foster a dynamic and supportive learning environment. By collaborating closely with educators, administrators, and curriculum specialists, School Specialty develops tailored solutions that align with evolving educational trends and standards. Through its vast product range and dedication to innovation, School Specialty plays a pivotal role in shaping the educational landscape and empowering both teachers and students to succeed.

School Specialty operates in a B2B2C space where the products and solutions are bought by schools and institutions, but the end users are the students. To get feedback and improve their products, they not only need to collaborate with educators and curriculum specialists but also the students. Since they are dealing with student data, privacy, and security concerns are paramount. School Specialty must adhere to the best practices when it comes to ensuring data privacy and security.

Challenges

School Specialty aims to transform the learning environment with a single source of truth. To fulfill their goals, they had to overcome the following challenges:

• Data was collected and stored across different systems. Part of the data was offline. The first challenge was to collect, consolidate and unify the data from more than 13 data sources to create customer profiles.
• They were not able to offer personalization at scale based on customers’ interests and preferences.
• Customer data should be connected across the Salesforce ecosystem.