EADA Business School selects Sony to transform the learning environment

Founded in 1957, EADA Business School is an independent non-profit educational institution, top-ranked and internationally accredited business school in Barcelona city centre. More than 120,000 participants from over 85 different countries have entrusted EADA with their training, the quality of which is recognised by The Financial Times and The Economist Rankings and numerous other international groups.

EADA recently undertook a holistic renovation of its main Barcelona City Centre Campus, with the goal of transforming the 8-storey building over a course of three years to create a future-proof, smart learning environment, ready for the next generation of students.

As part of this transformation, EADA enlisted the help of Sony and installer NUNSYS. EADA sought a technology solution that would provide intuitive management of digital signage and streamline work processes for administrative staff, as well as create a platform for the dissemination of outstanding news in the students’ daily lives . Sony was chosen as technology partner to provide the infrastructure, support and expertise that would support EADA’s overall growth and future student and faculty body.

Creating a smart campus

EADA wanted to create a smarter, more streamlined working environment and enlisted the support of Sony and NUNSYS to enable this transition. They were tasked with providing a solution that could help to orchestrate all elements of EADA’s AV communications infrastructure and give facilities and IT staff centralised control over displays, projectors, signage, content and meeting room resources. Harnessing the powerful TEOS suite of workspace management solutions from Sony, EADA has been able to better manage digital signage, class attendance and room bookings across its vast campus through a single intuitive and cohesive solution in order to simplify processes and remove operational friction.

38 stylish, interactive tablets have been installed outside each classroom across the campus. Powered by TEOS Book, these can be used to view class information, reserve workspaces, and in combination with a customised RFID reader designed by NUNSYS, allow students to simply ‘tap-in’ with their contactless student card to register attendance. The attendee data from the tablets is synchronised automatically with the academic management system, removing the need for inaccurate, time-intensive processes such as taking names in class and then having to manually input these to a system later.

TEOS Manage meanwhile provides a centralised system with a straightforward dashboard interface giving staff full control over all connected devices on the campus, from meeting rooms to reception areas, including tablets, projectors, screens and more. This means when not in use for a class, the tablets, for example, can be easily updated to work as digital signage displays, maximising their value by working in a secondary capacity to communicate relevant corporate or marketing information. Visitors and staff are welcomed with an automated reception while engaging digital signage provides students with the right messages, in the right place, at the right time.

The first steps of an ongoing transformation

“Working with Sony and NUNSYS has been a fantastic experience from start to finish; they instantly understood our needs and the results speak for themselves. TEOS has driven a fundamental transformation of our learning, teaching and operational processes with concrete benefits being felt across the entire EADA community – from students through to administrative staff. We’re moving toward an ever smarter, more productive workplace, and Sony TEOS is central to that. As a fully scalable, future-ready solution, we’re confident this is only the beginning of our work with Sony as we continue to build our technology-enhanced learning capabilities,” commented Dr. Marco A. Peña, Chief Information Officer at EADA.

“EADA recognises the importance of technology-enabled innovation in education and is passionate in its commitment to transforming the educational experience. Its investment in the latest education solutions from Sony will not only help to streamline operations and create a more seamless experience for visitors, staff and students, but will in turn drive down costs and optimise productivity,” added Alexandra Parlour, Corporate and Education Marcomms Manager at Sony Professional Solutions Europe.

The solution installed at EADA’s Barcelona City Centre Campus is just the beginning of an ambitious long-term digital transformation project for the educator. Looking to the future, EADA plans to roll-out additional TEOS features, using it to create a truly smart campus, drive efficiencies and further empower active and collaborative learning.