Education ministries in Africa are looking to follow global trends to centralise and standardise education management using Google Chrome and Google Workspace for Education.

That’s according to Oli Trussell, solutions engineer, Google for Education in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who says that although Google for Education is a proven success worldwide, its transformative benefits remain largely untapped in many parts of Africa. There are, however, signs that interest is picking up. Google is now working to raise awareness and drive uptake in Africa.

Digicloud Africa, Google’s reseller enablement partner in Africa, says numerous education ministries around the world now benefit from centralised deployments of Workspace for Education on Chrome, with Chromebooks having risen to the world’s top-selling device for education.

Gregory MacLennan, CEO of Digicloud Africa, says: “Chrome offers the ideal ecosystem for education. It is trusted by IT and loved by users, it’s easy to use and manage, and it’s efficient and secure, with zero ransomware attacks on ChromeOS and no need for antivirus software. Chromebooks have built-in security features, including automatic updates, verified boot and 256-bit data encryption, with zero successful reported ransomware attacks.

“We are seeing growing interest in Chromebooks and Chrome Workspace in South Africa, with resellers like Incredible Connection coming aboard recently.”

Forrester research found that teachers, students and IT administrators save many hours by using Chromebooks. The devices start fast and stay fast, with automatic updates that don’t interrupt teaching or learning time. This adds up to 18 hours of learning time for students and saves 42 hours per teacher per year.

Saving time and money

The Google Admin console helps IT admins save up to 75% more time by managing thousands of laptops in one place. The report found that Chromebooks also reduce the costs of hardware, peripherals and security tools, offering a 229% return on investment. In a separate Total Economic Impact (TEI) report, Forrester also found that Google Workspace can deliver a 336% return on investment.

Trussell says: “Centralising management offers easy visibility and management at scale. A key benefit of Workspace for Education on Chrome is security – it becomes easy to set baseline protections and policies for the entire user base. In countries like Wales, hundreds of thousands of students use Chromebooks, and it is all managed from a central console by a handful of IT admins. Centralising and standardising using Workspace for Education on Chrome also makes it easier for the authorities to identify trends from the huge volumes of aggregated data. In countries like Malaysia and Japan, this government-level analysis is hugely useful.”

Chrome flexibility

Trussell notes that Chromebooks also work with Microsoft 365 applications and other third-party applications.

To harness the benefits of Workspace for Education on Chrome, schools can easily transform their existing devices into Chromebooks, he adds.

“With ChromeOS Flex, schools can breathe new life into old fleets of devices. ChromeOS Flex is free to schools to deploy. They can install it on most laptops up to 13 years old. With ChromeOS installed, older PCs and Macs become faster and more secure, and their battery life extends.”

About Digicloud Africa
Digicloud Africa is Google’s chosen enablement partner in Africa. Through Digicloud, Google is creating an ecosystem of Google Cloud partners across the continent. Digicloud supports its partner network by providing the necessary training, tools and resources needed to implement cloud solutions and support to their customers successfully. As customer demands for technology intensify, Digicloud is increasing its investment in supporting its partners to achieve sustainable growth. Digicloud’s partner enablement helps organisations build skills around open, advanced technologies to go to market with outcome-based solutions. Find Digicloud Africa on LinkedIn.