Written by Paul Brown | Last updated 17.11.2025 | 13 minute read
In schools, colleges and universities, digital ecosystems have grown organically. A learning management system here, an e-portfolio tool there, a behaviour tracking app, a careers platform, a maths practice site, a safeguarding system, a proctoring tool – all chosen for good reasons, but rarely selected with long-term data interoperability in mind. The result is a patchwork of platforms that do not “speak” to each other, forcing staff to spend time re-keying data, exporting CSV files, or stitching together reports in spreadsheets. This fragmentation puts a hard limit on the impact of digital learning, no matter how impressive each tool is on its own.
Data interoperability is the capability of different systems to exchange, interpret and use information reliably, without manual intervention. When done well, it transforms a set of disconnected systems into a coherent learning environment. Student enrolment details, assessment results, attendance records, wellbeing flags, learning resources and engagement metrics can pass smoothly between platforms. This, in turn, enables more accurate analytics, more personalised learning and a more efficient use of staff time. Yet achieving this state is rarely straightforward, because it touches infrastructure, policy, pedagogy and procurement all at once.
This is where EdTech consultancy becomes pivotal. Consultants sit at the intersection of technology, pedagogy and organisational strategy. They help institutions translate an abstract aspiration – “we want our systems to talk to each other” – into a practical, staged programme of work. Rather than approaching interoperability as a series of one-off integrations, they encourage institutions to see it as a long-term capability, underpinned by standards, governance and clear roles. That change of perspective is often the difference between short-lived technical fixes and sustainable transformation.
Consultants also help leadership teams understand the opportunity cost of ignoring interoperability. Manual workarounds conceal substantial financial and human costs: time spent copying marks between systems, resolving mismatched records, or hunting for information across multiple portals. These hidden inefficiencies drain energy from teaching and student support. By building a robust business case and clarifying the benefits for different stakeholders, EdTech consultants make interoperability a strategic priority rather than a purely technical concern left to the IT department.
Before any integrations are designed, a good EdTech consultancy starts by developing a clear picture of the current landscape. Many institutions underestimate how many systems actually hold learner data, or how many “shadow IT” platforms have been adopted by individual departments or enthusiastic staff. A structured discovery phase uncovers this reality and creates a shared map of the ecosystem that everyone can understand and challenge.
Consultants typically begin by identifying the core systems of record: the student information system, the main learning platforms, finance and HR systems, safeguarding tools, and assessment platforms. They then dig deeper to find subject-specific tools, third-party content platforms and any local solutions built over the years. This process is as much about conversations as it is about spreadsheets; talking to faculty, administrators, learning technologists and IT staff reveals informal processes and workarounds that would never appear on an asset register. The aim is not to criticise existing choices, but to understand the practical realities of how data is used day to day.
At this stage, EdTech consultants often create data flow diagrams that show where information originates, how it moves, and where it is transformed or duplicated. These diagrams bring to light issues that may have been invisible: inconsistent student identifiers across systems, uncontrolled spreadsheets acting as de facto databases, or multiple systems being treated as authoritative for the same type of data. They also highlight dependencies that could affect teaching if a system is changed or retired.
A robust discovery phase usually culminates in a prioritised interoperability roadmap. Rather than attempting to connect everything at once, consultants help institutions decide which data exchanges matter most. Priorities might include syncing enrolments and course memberships between the student information system and the LMS, consolidating assessment data for progress reporting, or integrating learning analytics tools with existing dashboards. This staged approach ensures that early wins build confidence and demonstrate value, while laying foundations for more advanced use cases in the future.
To make these priorities tangible, consultants frequently translate them into a set of interoperability use cases. These describe, in plain language, what should happen and who benefits: for example, “When a learner changes programme or group, their timetable and access to all relevant learning platforms should update automatically, so teachers do not need to manually add or remove them.” Framing integration in terms of user experience, rather than only data models and APIs, keeps the organisation focused on outcomes that matter.
In many engagements, consultants will also introduce practical tools and methods for capturing requirements, such as simple catalogues and templates. These might include:
By structuring what was previously tacit knowledge, EdTech consultancy turns a sprawling digital ecosystem into something that can be reasoned about and improved systematically.
Once the current landscape is understood and priorities are agreed, attention turns to how data will actually move between systems. Here, EdTech consultancy adds value by bridging the gap between vendor capabilities, sector standards and institutional requirements. While many platforms claim to support interoperability, the reality can vary significantly – and the devil is often in the detail of how standards are implemented.
Consultants will typically begin by reviewing what each vendor already supports: APIs, data export formats, authentication methods and adherence to recognised interoperability standards. They can decode vendor documentation, test endpoints, and evaluate whether a proposed integration approach is robust enough for production use. This independent view is invaluable when institutions need to challenge supplier assumptions or negotiate roadmap commitments, especially where closed or proprietary features would limit future flexibility.
Interoperability is not simply a matter of “connecting everything to everything”. Consultants work with institutions to design coherent integration patterns that support current and future needs. For example, they might recommend using a central integration platform or middleware layer to orchestrate data flows, rather than building a spaghetti of direct point-to-point connections. They may also suggest a canonical data model to which systems map, reducing the complexity of transformations and making it easier to add new platforms over time.
The choice of standards and protocols is another area where consultancy expertise pays dividends. Rather than adopting every available standard, institutions are guided towards a pragmatic set that matches their ecosystem and ambitions. This might include standards for authentication and single sign-on, for describing learning content, or for tracking activity data from online tools. Consultants help teams understand what each standard does and does not cover, and how to combine them sensibly, instead of assuming one framework will solve every interoperability need.
Implementation involves more than technical plumbing. Data quality issues often surface once integrations are in place: incomplete fields, inconsistent coding of programmes or modules, and historic data that does not match new models. EdTech consultants help design data cleansing strategies and validation rules so that integrated systems are not simply sharing poor-quality information more efficiently. This may involve revisiting business processes, training staff who enter data, or updating forms and workflows in core systems.
Crucially, consultants help institutions design for resilience and observability. A fragile integration that silently fails creates more risk than no integration at all. To avoid this, consultants promote practices such as:
By combining standards-based design, realistic integration patterns and strong operational practices, EdTech consultancy enables institutions to move from experimental pilots to reliable, enterprise-grade interoperability.
Even the most elegant technical architecture will falter without clear governance and attention to people. Data interoperability touches sensitive information about learners and staff, and it changes how different teams work together. EdTech consultants provide an external perspective that helps institutions put appropriate safeguards and structures in place before problems arise.
A first step is often to clarify data ownership and stewardship. Many institutions discover that no one has formally agreed who owns specific datasets, who can authorise changes to integration rules, or who decides when data fields are added, removed or repurposed. Consultants help to establish roles such as data owners, data stewards and system custodians, and to define how they collaborate. This prevents ad-hoc changes that inadvertently break downstream integrations or compromise reporting.
Security and privacy sit alongside governance. Integrations increase the number of systems that hold or process personal data, and each of these must be configured in line with relevant legal and policy requirements. EdTech consultancy guides institutions through questions such as: which data items are truly necessary for a given integration; how long data should be retained; how consent is captured and honoured; and how access is controlled. They also encourage regular reviews of third-party platforms to ensure contracts, data processing agreements and technical controls remain fit for purpose.
The human dimension of change management is particularly important. Interoperability projects often alter daily routines: teachers may find that their classes appear automatically in multiple systems; administrative staff may no longer need to manually prepare spreadsheets; and IT teams may have to adopt new monitoring tools. Without careful communication and training, such changes can be misunderstood or even resisted. Consultants help to craft clear narratives about why changes are happening, what benefits staff and students can expect, and where to go for support. They also advocate for meaningful involvement of end-users in testing and feedback, rather than treating them as passive recipients.
To embed interoperability as a long-term capability rather than a one-off project, consultants often encourage institutions to adopt lightweight governance frameworks, which might include:
These structures do not need to be bureaucratic, but they provide a backbone for consistent decision-making. Over time, they also foster a culture in which colleagues ask, “How does this new system fit into our data ecosystem?” instead of “Can we just plug this in quickly and see what happens?”
Another important aspect of sustainability is skills development. During consultancy engagements, institutions often rely heavily on external experts. Forward-thinking EdTech consultants deliberately design their work to transfer knowledge to internal teams, through paired working, documentation, and targeted training. This builds confidence and reduces the risk of dependency. When staff understand both the high-level principles and the practical tools, they are better equipped to support future integrations and to have informed conversations with vendors.
For leadership teams and governing boards, the value of EdTech consultancy ultimately rests on concrete improvements. Data interoperability projects can feel abstract, especially when much of the work is “behind the scenes”. A key role of consultants is to help institutions define and measure outcomes that matter, linking technical progress to educational and organisational benefits.
One obvious area is efficiency. When integrations automate data flows that were previously manual, the time savings can be substantial. Consultants often help institutions quantify this by comparing baseline effort with post-implementation processes. For example, the time spent each term manually enrolling learners into multiple platforms, or assembling progress reports from disparate systems, can be measured and translated into cost savings or freed-up staff hours. These figures not only justify the initial investment but also support ongoing funding for maintenance and enhancements.
Beyond efficiency, a connected data ecosystem opens up new possibilities for teaching and learner support. When data from learning platforms, assessment tools, attendance systems and pastoral support records can be brought together coherently, staff gain a more holistic view of each learner’s journey. Consultants work with academic and support teams to design dashboards and reports that genuinely inform action, rather than simply presenting raw metrics. This might involve tailored views for personal tutors, programme leaders or senior leaders, each focused on the indicators that matter most for their role.
Interoperability also underpins more advanced practices such as adaptive learning pathways and early warning systems. If systems can share timely, consistent data about learner engagement and progress, algorithms and rules can be used to identify emerging patterns – for instance, students who are active in some modules but disengaged in others, or who are consistently missing formative assessments. EdTech consultants help institutions judge which of these use cases are realistic given their data quality, infrastructure and ethical considerations. They can guide pilot projects that explore predictive analytics in a responsible, transparent manner, with clear safeguards against unintended consequences.
Another dimension of impact relates to the student experience. From a learner’s perspective, a lack of interoperability often manifests as confusion: different systems with separate logins, inconsistent timetables, contradictory information about assignments, or delays in access when modules change. By contrast, a well-integrated ecosystem can offer coherent journeys where enrolment, access to resources, assessment submission and feedback all feel joined up. Consultants encourage institutions to capture learner feedback before and after interoperability improvements, highlighting reductions in friction points such as lost access, duplicate submissions or conflicting information.
To sustain momentum, consultants often advocate for a balanced scorecard or benefits realisation framework that includes qualitative and quantitative measures. This might encompass:
Over time, the narrative shifts. Instead of describing their environment as a collection of systems held together by goodwill and spreadsheets, institutions can talk confidently about an integrated digital learning ecosystem. EdTech consultancy does not “own” that ecosystem, but it accelerates the journey towards it, helps avoid costly missteps, and ensures that decisions about technology and data remain firmly anchored to educational purpose.
In a world where educational institutions are under pressure to do more with limited resources while maintaining high-quality learning experiences, data interoperability is no longer an optional luxury. It is a foundational capability that allows digital tools to function as a cohesive whole rather than a set of isolated islands. EdTech consultancy plays a crucial role in making that capability real: clarifying strategy, mapping complex ecosystems, guiding standards-based implementation, and embedding governance and skills for the long term.
By partnering with experienced consultants, institutions can move beyond short-term fixes and piecemeal integrations. They can design learning environments where data flows securely and reliably, where staff have the information they need to support learners, and where the introduction of new platforms strengthens rather than fragments the ecosystem. Ultimately, that is how technology begins to fulfil its promise in education: not as a series of disconnected tools, but as a connected landscape that supports every learner’s journey from enrolment to achievement and beyond.
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