Top VARs Q&A: John Baskerville, RM Education

MD of 17th-ranked Top VAR RM’s tech arm on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for edtech suppliers

This Q&A features in CRN Top VARs 2020, which you can read here. Alternatively, you can read the individual profiles here.

RM Education generated £71.6m of RM's £223.8m revenues in 2019. Do you expect to be up or down on that in 2020?

As a listed company, you will understand why I cannot provide guidance on our financial performance, but it is fair to say that the revenue trend from 2019 to 2020 has not been a "normal" one. Although our UK schools' business has proven to be the most resilient part of our company - with revenues reported in our interim results as broadly flat - the pandemic has limited our ability to convert as much of our sales pipeline as we would have liked. That said, we have enhanced our relationship with many schools during this period, reinforcing the important role that we play in supporting schools through whatever future challenges come their way.

What KPIs are you focusing on the most for 2021?

As a business, we need to ensure that potential customers know who we are and what we do, existing customers need to be willing to endorse our work - increasing their spend with us wherever possible - and new customers need to have reasons to select RM as their technology partner. We must do all of this in a consistent and cost effective way, via a workforce who are committed to the vision and purpose that we believe is relevant today. These drivers are represented within the KPIs that we manage our business against.

What's the biggest opportunity facing edTech suppliers?

Covid has created unprecedented disruption, but it has thrown up opportunities that most schools that I speak with believe are here to stay - not least in how technology can aid an educational system that has "blended learning" at its heart - with students learning at home and in the classroom. Coupled with this is a revisiting of how assessment is undertaken in our education system - the days of written examinations in a school hall may be behind us.